September 18, 2024 — Under a sky glowing orange from the dawn sun, Martin Grosell gunned his twin-engine sportfishing boat toward the Gulf Stream one morning in August, in search of one of his and South Florida’s favorite fish: mahi.
On board, sprawled on a beanbag, was one of his best anglers, his youngest daughter Camilla, 12.
“She’s born and raised doing this and she’s caught a lot more fish than most in South Florida,” Grosell said, then admits: ”Most of the time, it’s actually her telling me what to do.”
Grosell is an ichthyologist — a marine biologist who studies fish — at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School where he specializes in mahi. As one of the principal investigators for a research project studying lasting impacts from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, his lab looked at how the massive spill harmed two of the state’s most popular trophy fish – bluefin tuna and mahi.