The results of the South Florida spring bonefish census are cautiously positive.
University of Miami researcher Jerry Ault said the count was up from the 11 previous censuses. But that doesn't mean the population of the gray ghosts necessarily has grown.
Ault said this year's count yielded an estimate of 450,000 bonefish in 1,575 square miles of the census region. The average since 1998 has been 330,000. But April's count was influenced by unusually good weather and the distribution of fishermen in the census area.