2019 Conservation Record: Striped Marlin
The Billfish Foundation maintains the largest private tag and release database in the world, with over 260,000 records. In 2019 alone, over 11,000 new tag, release, and recapture records were added to this database, representing an enormous amount of data to help us learn more about billfish life history. Of these over 11,000 new records in 2019, 2,536 were of striped marlin, including 6 striped marlin recaptures. 84% of striped marlin were released without tags, while 16% were tagged. To learn more about how to identify a striped marlin, check out our youtube channel! 413 striped marlin were tagged
2019 Conservation Record: Black Marlin
The Billfish Foundation maintains the largest private tag and release database in the world, with over 260,000 records. In 2019 alone, over 11,000 new tag, release, and recapture records were added to this database, representing an enormous amount of data to help us learn more about billfish life history. Of these over 11,000 new records in 2019, 502 were of black marlin, including one black marlin recapture. 66% of black marlin were released without tags, while 34% were tagged. To learn more about how to identify a black marlin, check out our youtube channel! A total of 172 black
2019 Conservation Record: Spearfish
The Billfish Foundation maintains the largest private tag and release database in the world, with over 260,000 records. In 2019 alone, over 11,000 new tag, release, and recapture records were added to this database, representing an enormous amount of data to help us learn more about billfish life history. Of these over 11,000 new records in 2019, less than 50 were of spearfish, and no spearfish were recaptured last year. Spearfish, in fact, are the most underrepresented billfish species in TBF’s entire dataset. As such, every tag, release, and recapture represents an incredibly significant piece of information, helping us
TBF’s Juvenile Billfish Project
TBF’s newest project focuses on juvenile billfish for very little is known about them during their early life stages due to high mortality rates and a lack of reliable tracking methods for fish of their size. A lack of information on juvenile and newborn billfish whereabouts and habits leaves their management and advocacy for their survival in jeopardy. TBF with our research partner Dr. Freddy Arocha, TBF’s research partner and recipient of TBF’s Paxson Offield Lifetime Science Achievement Award 2019, shared that “known images from juvenile billfish are rare, and more difficult is to find an image with the
Tropical Tuna Tagging Program Extended
The Billfish Foundation (TBF) is looking for anglers and crews interested in tagging tuna in the Northern Atlantic. TBF is working with scientists from the Atlantic Ocean Tropical Tuna Tagging Program (AOTTP) to learn more about certain tuna species. This program, which is part of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), looks to study key aspects of bigeye, skipjack, and yellowfin tuna life history and movements in the Atlantic Ocean. The AOTTP partners with scientists and commercial and recreational tuna fishermen to tag tropical tuna with AOTTP-specific conventional and/or electronic tags throughout the Atlantic
Blue Marlin Satellite Tagging in the Gulf of Mexico
Because overfished Atlantic marlin receive no government research funding priority, large data gaps relating to their life history characteristics remain. Satellite tagging provides a means to fill some of the data gaps by recording a marlin’s location and movement in the water column, both horizontal and vertical. Each tag records variables in sunlight levels, water temperature and pressure that is converted to location and movement. Movement data then provides insight to such elements as whether oil rigs, which serve as large Fish Aggregation Devices (FADs), modify marlin movements and whether marlin remain in the region all year because
New Blue Marlin Study Illuminates Age-Length Relationship
A new TBF-supported study out of the University of Miami made great strides in understanding the relationship between age and growth of Atlantic blue marlin. The study examined growth annuli in anal fin spines of 1,638 blue marlin caught as bycatch in Venezuela to determine the age of each fish. Growth annuli are small rings inside of the fin spine that increase in number as the fish ages, much like the rings in a tree trunk. They then correlated this age information to the lower jaw fork length (LJFL) to determine how well LJFL predicts fish age. The study found
Satellite Tagging Expedition – Gulf of Mexico Blue Marlin
TBF’s most recent satellite tagging expedition kicked off with a fantastic crowd all interested in learning more about blue marlin in the Gulf of Mexico and how to help with tag deployment. Tag program sponsors Costa and Yeti actively participated and had a videographer capture all the action. The New Orleans Big Game Fishing Club provided the perfect location and libations at its new Club House within the confines of the Cypress Cove Marina and Lodge’s property. An over-the-top seafood extravaganza was sponsored by the Louisiana Seafood Board, thanks to Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser and the Cypress
Tagging Tuna with ICCAT and AOTTP
The Billfish Foundation is currently engaging in a research project with Atlantic Ocean Tropical Tuna Tagging Program (AOTTP) in order to further the knowledge around lifecycles of yellowfin, bigeye, and skipjack tuna. This will be accomplished by working with recreational and commercial anglers to implement traditional ‘spaghetti’ tags into these different species of tuna. This research is very valuable and important to the multiple regional and national fisheries associated with these different species. For example, this work will be very important with the yellowfin tuna fishery in the northern Gulf of Mexico. On a base level, this research will
Tropical Tuna Taggers Needed!
Photo courtesy of Trey Russo/Miles Charlesworth
The Billfish Foundation (TBF) is looking for anglers and crews interested in tagging tuna in the Northern Atlantic. TBF is working with scientists from the Atlantic Ocean Tropical Tuna Tagging Program (AOTTP) to learn more about certain tuna species. This program, which is part of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), looks to study key aspects of bigeye, skipjack, and yellowfin tuna life history and movements in the Atlantic Ocean. The AOTTP partners with scientists and commercial and recreational tuna fishermen to tag tropical tuna with conventional and/or electronic
