The Billfish Foundation was the result of a movement led by anglers who began noticing there were fewer big fish to catch. At the time, billfish tournaments featured piles of dead fish and commercial vessels sold billfish on the docks. Win Rockefeller, Dr. Eric Prince, and a group of 50 founding members recognized the unsustainable […]
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) recently issued a plan (Scoping Document, March 2018) to reinvigorate the longline fishery rather than proposing stricter conservation measures. If actions to reinvigorate the longline industry are approved, the seriously overfished Atlantic spawning bluefin tuna and marlin will continue to decline. Atlantic bluefin tuna and both white and blue […]
The Paxson H. Offield Lifetime Science Achievement Award The award is named in honor of a former TBF board member, who believed passionately in the value of science to support responsible conservation and management. Offield’s support of billfish science guaranteed TBF’s billfish advocacy remained firmly grounded in science, as it remains today. Offield was the first […]
The Billfish Foundation objects to the goal of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to revitalize the pelagic longline (PLL) fishery. Instead, TBF is calling for options that continue to reduce marlin and bluefin bycatch in the PLL fishery, as well as options that revitalize the recreational billfish fishery. NMFS’ preferential treatment of the pelagic […]
The Billfish Foundation recently sent a survey to its members in order to better understand the concerns and wants of our constituents. Over 100 responses have been recorded, which TBF intends to use in refining our approach to our mission of advocating for sustainable billfish policies and fighting for anglers’ rights. The first question of […]
Will Okaloosa County’s (in Florida’s panhandle) planned recreational fishing buoy system perform as a collection of fish aggregation devices (FADs) and draw lots of fish to significantly improve billfish catches like those experienced off Costa Rica? If so, the project might be the beginning of an economic boom for sportfishing eco-tourism in the region. The […]
Last year’s halting of the federally permitted longline research inside a zone closed to the gear for 16 years off Florida’s east coast was a positive step for conservation and productive sportfishing opportunities. Unfortunately, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is again considering authorizing the project. Nova Southeastern University (NSU) is not on the new […]
Management of sailfish in the Atlantic Ocean falls under the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT), which is responsible for tuna and associated species like billfish. The first official stock assessment for Atlantic sailfish was completed by this management body in 2009, and identified two separate stocks: the eastern and western. In […]
NOAA Fisheries has decided to close the Angling category fishery for large-medium and giant, “trophy,” Atlantic bluefin tuna in the southern area, beginning March 17, 2018 and lasting the rest of the year. The size applies to Atlantic bluefin measuring 73” or greater, and the southern area refers to the Atlantic Ocean south of Great […]
The National Marine Fisheries Service this week released its fourth quarter update on 2017 recreational billfish landings, rounding out landing estimates for the year. These landing numbers come from a variety of sources including self-reported angler reports from the Highly Migratory Species (HMS) non-Tournament Recreational Swordfish and Billfish Landings Database, as well as tournament landings […]
