Announcing TBF’s Annual Gala – The Spy Who Tagged Me!
Make sure to save the date and come dressed as your favorite character(s) for our gala & fundraiser, during the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, Friday, November 2, 2018 at the Harbor Beach Marriott. Join us and celebrate 32 years of billfish conservation while honoring those who have helped make TBF all it is today! Get your tickets today! Need a room at the gala? Click here for the our blocked off rooms
TBF submitted comments in opposition to EFP off the Gulf of Maine
The Billfish Foundation recently submitted comments against NOAA’s proposed Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) opening of the Cashes Ledge and Western Gulf of Maine (WGOM) closed areas to commercial fishing. Currently, commercial vessels have opportunities to fish for haddock and pollock at many locations in the Gulf of Maine not subject to closure. The EFP should not be issued to allow the commercial vessels inside the WGOM and Cashes Ledge Closed Areas where they will kill unacceptable levels of cod bycatch. Read our official comments
Stricter Measures Not Included In NMFS Options For Longlines
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 marlin remain seriously overfished after decades of inadequate longline gear restraints, the gear responsible for much of the overfishing. The Billfish Foundation is calling for anglers and those in the recreational industry to submit comments to NMFS in opposition of a longline reinvigoration
TBF Announces 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award Winners
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 among TBF trustees to deploy satellite tags with collected data now being incorporated into stock assessments. This year’s recipient is Dr. James “Jim” Franks from the University of Southern Mississippi, Gulf Coast Research Lab, Ocean Springs, MS, who has invested 40 plus years as
NMFS Strives to Revitalize the Pelagic Longline Fishery – Why Not the Billfish Fishery?
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 longline fishery comes at the expense of marlin, the recreational billfish fishery, and bluefin tuna. For one, aiming to reduce the regulatory burden on the PLL fishery while striving to reduce bycatch of Atlantic bluefin tuna are contradictory objectives. The severely overfished Atlantic bluefin
Member Survey Helps Focus Priority Areas
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 the survey simply asked why the respondent became a member of The Billfish Foundation. A large majority of respondents had the expected answer—to help conserve or preserve billfish—while others cited the pure enjoyment of fishing for these species. Another expected answer came when respondents
Okaloosa County Moves Forward With FAD Buoy Project
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 County also anticipates greater sportfishing activities and possibly increases in billfish and other tournaments in the county. Project funding includes $500,000 applied for from the Restore Act Fund, created after the Deep Water Horizon settlement. Two applications in that amount have been submitted
Assessing Florida’s Sailfish Population
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 Florida, anglers interact with the western Atlantic sailfish stock, which was found to be overfished and likely undergoing overfishing. The most recent assessment, done in 2016, states that both sailfish stocks of the Atlantic Ocean suffered the greatest declines in abundance prior
Bluefin Tuna Angling Fishery Closes In Southern Atlantic
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 Egg Inlet, NJ (39°18’N), but excluding the Gulf of Mexico. NOAA Fisheries has determined that the Angling category southern area trophy bluefin tuna subquota has been reached and exceeded, prompting the closure. The decision is based on reported landings of 2.1 mt of bluefin
2017 Recreational Billfish Landings Posted
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 from the Atlantic Tournament Registration and Reporting system, catch card reports from North Carolina and Maryland, and individual billfish intercepted by the Large Pelagic Survey and Marine Recreational Information Program. Estimates may change due to late reporting. The U.S. recreational billfish fishery is limited
