SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Costa Rica, one of the world’s premier sportfishing destinations, has named Herbert Nanne, and Monica Gutierrez to the country’s recently formed Sportfishing and Tourism Commission.…
The college football season has just begun with fall practice, who do you think will win it all this year? While you might not have a chance to actively participate…
The Billfish Foundations’ global conservation and sportfishing tourism efforts will be highlighted in an opening day presentation August 10, at Brazil’s Pesca Sportfishing Trade Show in Sao Paulo. The trade…
The 26th Annual Offshore Fishing Championships (XXVI Edicion Campeonato de Pesca de Altura) from July 28-30 in the extremely prolific billfishing arena of the Canary Islands will also be the…
Every year, The Billfish Foundation (TBF) recognizes the captains, mates and anglers (including youth and ladies) who tag and release the most billfish in each of the world’s oceans. The…
FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. USA. –The Billfish Foundation (TBF) entered into an agreement with its conservation partner, the Costa Rica Sport Fishing Federation (FECOPT) and four participating Hilton Worldwide hotels in…
We ask you to fill out our Yellow Tag Report Card which accompanies the billfish tags and submit those immediately. These yellow report cards display the series of tag report…
If you aren’t already a fan of The Billfish Foundation‘s Official Facebook page, please click on over and join now! Once you get there, “like” the page to get the…
FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. USA – Every time they fish on three oceans, these anglers are helping scientific research. Globally since 1990 they — anglers, captains and mates — have become…
The college football season has just begun with fall practice, who do you think will win it all this year? While you might not have a chance to actively participate…
The winners of TBF’s Annual Tag & Release Awards Competition were honored in a fun-filled ceremony at Jungle Island on Saturday, February 19, 2010. These Captains, Mates and Anglers (including…
You’re invited to join us for TBF’s Annual Tag & Release Awards Ceremony! We will be honoring the Captains, Mates and Anglers (including Youth & Ladies) who have tagged and…
The Billfish FoundationTAG & RELEASE AWARD WINNERS 2010 I. RELEASE CATEGORYTop Release Anglers AtlanticGray Ingram Blue MarlinCarol Ott SailfishCarole Speicher White Marlin Top Release Captains AtlanticMartin Bates Blue MarlinBertrand Bouchard…
On December 7th, 2009, The Billfish Foundation visited the Sea, Sand and Stars Science and Nature Center at Orange Beach Elementary School in Orange Beach, Alabama. TBF’s Science and Policy…
TBF receives close to 15,000 tag and release data cards each year and works hard to process them in time to tabulate for our annual Tag and Release Award Ceremony…
Watching collegiate atheltics is exciting and can leave you on the edge of your seat rooting for your alma mater or rooting against your rivals. One big problem is you…
Have you recaptured a TBF tagged billfish? Congratulations, it is a rare feat for anglers to catch a tagged fish, so thank for reporting it! By reporting your recapture, you…
In an effort to reach out to the sportfishing community of the Northeast, TBF sent Capt. Tony DiGiulian to attend the opening weekend of the 8thAnnual Hamptons Offshore Invitational. The…
On April 11, 2009 Miami-Dade County Cooperative Extension 4-H and Sea Grant Programs proudly held the county’s 3rd Annual Kid’s Fishing Clinic. This spirited event, sponsored by Florida Fish and…
For two decades across the world, captains, anglers and mates have committed to tag and release of billfish supplying data for conservation efforts critical to scientific research. Annually TBF members…
Photo Courtesy of Brian Toney The Hawaiian Islands are undoubtedly a special place for many reasons. In the eyes of many anglers, it is unique for being the only place…
An online reporting system will now be available for highly migratory species (HMS) fishing tournaments in the Atlantic Ocean, the National Marine Fisheries Service announced this week. HMS tournament operators…
One of the last billfishing competitions of the summer, the Virginia Beach Billfish Tournament concluded this past weekend in Virginia Beach, VA. The tournament hosted 75 teams this year for…
The 46th Annual Old Salt Loop Billfish Tournament concluded in Clearwater, Florida this past weekend, wrapping up the Florida West Coast Bluewater Series (FWCBS) as it was the third and…
Earlier this month U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Bill Nelson (D-FL) introduced legislation designed to enhance and protect Florida’s fishery resources and those who rely on them. The Florida…
Click here to submit comments to FL Senators Rubio and Nelson. Click here to submit comments to your US & FL House representatives and FL State Senators. Click here to…
After the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announced today its approval of the Exempted Fishing Permit that allows longline boats to fish in Florida’s east coast closed zone, Ellen Peel, President…
On Tuesday NOAA released preliminary numbers for Atlantic billfish landings in 2017. The estimates show individuals caught (and reported) thus far in 2017, from January 1st through June 30th, for blue…
The National Marine Fisheries Service announced Tuesday that they rejected a petition to list the Pacific bluefin tuna as an endangered species. A long list of environmental organizations combined efforts…
Appointed in June with support from over 55 commercial fishing companies and organizations, the new Assistant Administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has a number of pressing issues…
Interns from The Billfish Foundation spent Thursday morning at South Broward High School with a group of incoming freshmen who are part of the marine magnet program. These students have…
As fisheries regulations develop, there is often the need for enforcement of compliance—enforcing gear restrictions, enforcing size limits, enforcing the return of non-target species, and ultimately enforcing the law. Ensuring…
Welcome to our Did You Know blog! Billfish and related species, like tuna and swordfish, are amazing creatures and set themselves apart from other fish. The Billfish Foundation would like…
Seafood is big business. Not only is it an industry that exchanges billions of dollars in trade globally, but the sector also trades an abundance of resources that contribute to food…
The National Marine Fisheries serviced announced that the recreational bluefin tuna harvest in the Gulf of Mexico has reached its quota and will close June 7, 2017 until the end of the…
The quota for bluefin tuna in the Gulf of Mexico has been updated after a large individual was landed in a fishing tournament last week. Katie Gonsoulin pulled in a…
On May 18, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation advanced Section 396, an amendment to the 2012 Billfish Conservation Act. The bill, initially introduced in February by U.S.…
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council has begun a Scoping Process to consider allowing giant trawlers to increase their excessive landings of forage species off the Mid-Atlantic region, specifically chub (Tinker)…
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has adjusted the Atlantic bluefintuna (BFT) daily retention limits that apply to vessels permitted in the Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Angling category and the HMS…
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) will close the Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) Angling category fishery for large medium and giant “trophy” BFT (measuring 73” or greater) in the southern…
NMFS released the Final Environmental Impact Statement for Amendment 5b to the 2006 Consolidated Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan in mid- February, 2017. A new Preferred Alternative (A6d) “requires…
The 2012 Billfish Conservation Act (BCA) has yet to be implemented and again is under Congressional review to attempt to resolve debated language so no Pacific billfish can be imported…
The NMFS has extended the deadline to March 29, 2017 for accepting public comments on the application for an Exempted Fishing Permit. If approved, six pelagic longline vessels will fish for three…
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission also opposes this, read their official comments below. Recently, the NMFS received an Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) application from Dr. David Kerstetter, Nova Southeastern…
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission also opposes this, read their official comments below. Recently, the NMFS received an Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) application from Dr. David Kerstetter, Nova Southeastern…
The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (and other highly migratory species, HMS) convened mid-September in Madrid, Spain specifically to discuss management of tropical tunas followed by the…
In a small coastal town on the French Riviera, fishing is now part of history, romanticized by the thousands of international holiday seekers making new use of the beaches and…
One of the last billfishing competitions of the summer, the Virginia Beach Billfish Tournament concluded this past weekend in Virginia Beach, VA. The tournament hosted 75 teams this year for…
When a Sea Shepherd boat cruised into Panama’s waters of the Coiba Special Zone of Marine Protection more than what meets the eye was at play. The U.S. environmental organization’s…
July 21, 2017 – Today Australia’s government released five Draft Management Plans for the Marine Parks within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, a UNESCO designated World Heritage site. The…
Welcome to our Did You Know blog! Billfish and related species, like tuna and swordfish, are amazing creatures and set themselves apart from other fish. The Billfish Foundation would like…
The National Marine Fisheries serviced announced that the recreational bluefin tuna harvest in the Gulf of Mexico has reached its quota and will close June 7, 2017 until the end of the…
On May 18, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation advanced Section 396, an amendment to the 2012 Billfish Conservation Act. The bill, initially introduced in February by U.S.…
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced Monday that Japan has joined 57 other States in signing on to the Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA). Entered into force…
The Fishery Commission in Panama is striving to close waters around Montuosa Island and the Hannibal Bank to recreational fishing even though those areas include some of the most productive…
The 2012 Billfish Conservation Act (BCA) has yet to be implemented and again is under Congressional review to attempt to resolve debated language so no Pacific billfish can be imported…
The Caribbean Billfish Project, a $1.95 million exercise supported by the UN and the World Bank, and executed by the Western Central Atlantic Fisheries Commission (WECAFC) in Barbados, proposes a…
Anglers from Spain are prohibited this year, as are their commercial fishing vessels, from landing Atlantic blue marlin because the nation’s commercial fishing vessels exceeded their 2015 blue marlin quota.…
Sam Williams from the University of Queensland is collaborating with Dr Julian Pepperell in mapping the global genetics of black marlin. We greatly appreciate your assistance in collecting tissue for…
Peter Chaibongsai, representing TBF at a meeting of the U.S. Advisory Committee to Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), an international organization with authority over highly migratory fish in the eastern Pacific…
The Billfish Foundation’s newest International Billfish Conservation Record is now available digitally! The Conservation Record includes the 2014 Rybovich Lifetime Achievement Award recipients, summary of all tag, release & recapture…
The Billfish Foundation regularly represents recreational interests and discusses issues surrounding management of billfish and tuna here in US Atlantic waters. This past month, a number of important topics including…
Courtesy of the Big Oh For the past several years, winners of TBF’s International Tag & Release Competition blue marlin categories have all come out of Cape Verde and it…
The Billfish Foundation is pleased to make available our annual Conservation Record, noting 2013 Rybovich Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients, 2013 Tag & Release Competition winners, and data analysis from this year’s…
Being a part of the sportfishing community and having an opportunities to work alongside our Tag & Release Program sponsors as well as captains and anglers, to put our initiatives…
The Billfish Foundation (TBF) is extremely excited to announce and welcome aboard the Marina Casa de Campo as a new Tag & Release Industry sponsor. Located in the beautiful Dominican Republic, and conveniently…
When the US was in the midst of a recession (2007 – 2009), TBF saw a significant reduction in tag and release reports, and it comes as no surprise; the…
The Obama administration recently issued new rules that allow U.S. visitors going to Cuba to travel in their own boat, whether for hire or recreation, direct to Cuba. Some requirements…
It comes as good news to learn of CFOOD, a group of well respected scientists that came together “out of frustration with erroneous stories about fisheries sustainability” to “set the record…
TBF's Winthrop P. Rockefeller's Student Ocean Intern Program awards students who support billfish conservation and believe in responsible fisheries management.
Which Way Will New Head of NMFS Sway On Longline Closed Zone?