From 25 miles offshore, the storm looked like a black tongue of night swallowing the western horizon, the direction a crew of three scientists and four fishermen would have to motor to make it back to the safety of Ponce de Leon Inlet.
Their trip earlier this week was the maiden voyage of the Florida East Coast Cooperative Red Snapper Tagging Program, a study being conducted by Florida's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute.
Commercial and recreational anglers will soon be able to receive tagging kits at training seminars on participating in the program.
Collaboration between government scientists and fishermen represents a sharp turn in their debate over red snapper bans, which fisheries managers have called "the most controversial" situation in South Atlantic fisheries management history.
Read the complete story from The Daytona Beach News-Journal.