Michael Kelly, Science & Policy Specialist represented The Billfish Foundation (TBF) on the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Advisory Panel, which discussed current billfish, tuna and shark…
Regrettably, the recent La Presna article dated August 16, 2015 that quotes Ivan Flores, Manager of the Aquatic Resources and Fisheries Authority (ARAP), did not focus on the sustainable use…
Photo Courtesy of Brant Wise Despite the popularity with anglers worldwide and the research investments made by The Billfish Foundation since 1986, still a lot of biological information is not…
Photo Courtesy of Big OH & Camila Sanches Tag & Release cards are really starting to come in and TBF’s annual Tag and Release Competition is heating up with less…
TBF’s “conservation and responsible use” philosophy applauds anglers big enough to release the big marlin girls that are estimated at boat side to weigh 750 pounds and up. To honor…
Learn about all the tag and release data The Billfish Foundation received in the calendar year of 2013. The report highlights all those anglers and captains who participated in the…
Sportfishing is quickly becoming a growing force, not just in the United States, but internationally. This past July, more than 13,000 representatives of the global sportfishing industry came together once…
TBF’s Dr. Phil Goodyear, is currently advancing research to use oceanographic data and information recovered from earlier satellite tagging research to predict Atlantic blue marlin distributions in time (month, year,…
PAXSON “PACKY” OFFIELD, former chairman of The Billfish Foundation’s (TBF) board of directors, passed away Sunday June 14th at his home in Michigan. In 2011, Offield was the recipient of…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA – June 8, 2015 – Today, The Billfish Foundation (TBF), the world’s leading sportfishing conservation organization, announced the winners of its prestigious Rybovich Lifetime…
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has announced the closure of the Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) Angling category for giant “trophy” bluefin tuna (measuring 73″ or greater) in the southern…
Today, the National Park Service announced its final General Management Plan (GMP) for Biscayne National Park. Despite commitments made by Biscayne National Park officials to work with stakeholders and the…
The Billfish Foundation has received several inquiries regarding our annual tag and release competition. In response we have attached our specific rules for the competition. Additionally we have the individual…
Magnuson-Stevens reauthorization contains major provisions benefitting recreational fishing A coalition of organizations representing the saltwater recreational fishing and boating community congratulated the U.S. House of Representatives on its passage of…
The most recent Atlantic blue marlin research completed by TBF’s Dr. Phillip Goodyear was published by the American Fisheries Society, the oldest, largest and most influential association of fisheries professionals…
Anglers who are lucky enough to come across any bluefin tuna this year should make sure they know the new regulations this season. The passage of Amendment 7 brings new regulations for…
Rostrum: a funny word used by scientists to describe the “upper jaw prolonged into a long stout spear with round cross-section.” To anglers, it’s known as a bill and is…
Photo Courtesy of Chris Van Leeuwen The Offshore World Championship and The Billfish Foundation announced a partnership to advance billfish science last month. The project, including OWC, The Billfish Foundation,…
It has been more than four years since Australia began the process of designing and implementing its national system of marine reserves encompassing all of its federal waters. These reserves…
We are asking some of the top captains in the world for some of their tricks/tips, and this month, Capt. Chris Sheeder from Casa Vieja Lodge, a Tag & Release Program…
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) kept a promise made at the National Recreational Fishing Summit, February 2014, by its leader, Eileen Soebeck, Assistant Administrator in September 2014, when it…
Over 100 guests attended the exclusive member’s only The Billfish Foundation (TBF) and International Seakeepers Society joint event to promote membership and announce a partnership between both organizations to collaborate on billfish conservation. The…
Each year, TBF relies on the sportfishing community across the world to report their billfish tag and release information. Since it began in 1990, TBF’s Tag & Release Program anglers,…
Each year, TBF relies on the sportfishing community across the world to report their billfish tag and release data. Since it began in 1990, TBF’s Tag & Release Program now…
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…
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…
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…
The Billfish Foundation’s (TBF) staff proudly announces the winners of its most prestigious awards for 2020. This year’s winners include three distinguished gentlemen, who made exemplary contributions to advancing billfish…
Born and raised in Baltimore Maryland, artist George Kalwa has been captivated by the ocean his entire life. An artist since birth, Kalwa began painting and making fishing lures as…
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…
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…
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…
Love was in the air during The Billfish Foundation’s 2019 Tag & Release Awards Ceremony on February 14th, 2020 at Jungle Island’s Bloom Ballroom. The night was made possible through…
The Billfish Foundation (TBF) is excited to announce and welcome aboard Fishing Vacations as a new sailfish level conservation partner. Fishing Vacations is a travel agency that focuses on offshore…
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…
With the year coming to a close, we thank you for your support, as we reflect on key achievements in 2019. Please consider joining TBF, if not already on board,…
Each year The Billfish Foundation recognizes the best of the best in the billfishing community to acknowledge the significant effort they contribute to our Tag & Release Program and billfish conservation.…
A multitude of characters, looking like they stepped straight out of Westeros, caused heads to spin and added lots of excitement to TBF’s gala, Gamefish on Thrones. Wildlings and Night’s…
The Billfish Foundation (TBF) is proud to announce our new partnership with Release Marine! Release Marine has been a supporter of TBF for years but will now officially be solidifying…
Anglers, captains, and mates! The TBF International Tag and Release Competition will end on October 31st, 2019. All fish caught after that date will not count towards this year’s competition.…
Attention all creatives! The Billfish Foundation is now accepting submissions for the 2020 Artist of the Year! Every year, TBF chooses one artist to highlight all year long. As the…
The first action plan from National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is a proposed Amendment 13 for Atlantic Bluefin Tuna that included a tremendous array of options to modify how Atlantic…
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…
If you are captured by the passion, suspense and drama in the HBO Fantasy Series, Game of Thrones, step into that drama, costumed, on November 1, 2019, at the Harbor…
Over 30 award winners from all over the world came to be recognized as some of the top anglers, captains and mates for tagging and releasing the most billfish in…
WELCOME ABOARD! The Billfish Foundation is proud to announce the new Winthrop P. Rockefeller Student Ocean Program Interns for Spring 2019. This initiative carries on Win’s vision of responsible ocean…
NEEDS ALL ANGLERS ATTENTION – The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) launched a new and very comprehensive process for evaluating the success or inefficiencies of current Pelagic Longline Closed Zones…
NOAA just released the 1st quarter landing update for the recreational fishing community. While only 1 blue marlin has been landed in the 1st quarter, we expect the number of…
NOAA Fisheries has determined that the subquota of 1.8 mt for the Angling category Gulf of Mexico trophy bluefin tuna fishery has been reached. Trophy bluefin are those measuring 73…
The Billfish Foundation submitted our comments to the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council to consider Bullet Tunas, Auxis rochei, and similar Frigate Mackerel, Auxis thazard to the dolphin/wahoo fishery management plan…
NOAA Fisheries is adjusting the Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) daily retention limits that apply to vessels permitted in the Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Angling category and the HMS Charter/Headboat category…
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Southeast Fishery Science Center, is further diminishes support for billfish research, now by not facilitating funding of a respected billfish scientist! This is a…
EPA & Corp Proposal to Repeal Clean Water Rule – Anglers & Hunters Oppose The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Assistant Secretary of the Army, Corps of…
Saltwater ecosystem dynamics include not just the marine habitat, but also the creatures, overfishing, predator/prey interaction, pollution, temperature changes, etc. Yet the primary fishery management law of the U.S., the…
TBF joined many other recreational fishing organizations in calling on House Subcommittee on Energy and Water to approve $210 million dollars for the Army Corps of Engineers in support of…
The table below provides the total number of billfish (January 1, 2018, through, December 31, 2018) landings in numbers of fish for Atlantic blue and white marlin, roundscale spearfish, and…
NOAA Fisheries determined that the Angling category southern area “trophy” bluefin tuna (measuring 73 inches or greater) subquota of 1.8 mt had been reached and exceeded and therefore closure of…
The Proposed Okaloosa County (north central Gulf of Mexico) recreational fishing Buoy/Fish Aggregating Device (FAD) System was approved as a means to improve catches of billfish and other species. The…
The Billfish Foundation recently submitted comments again to The South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council regarding the future management of a dolphin (mahi mahi) and wahoo fishery. The Amendment looks to…
The Billfish Foundation was honored to be a part of Costa Sunglasses’ Conservation Village, within the Miami Boat Show this year. The venue provided the platform for many conservation organizations,…
Courtesy of Jasen Gast – Rehab The Modern Fish Act (MFA), signed into law at the end of 2018, is to improve recreational fishing landings data, increase allocation of fish…
How many blue marlin are in the ocean? Counting them isn’t exactly feasible (though you could have fun trying!) so scientists rely on catches and how much effort these catches…
Fly Navarro and Adrienne Katz with a nice mahi-mahi The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC) is considering management options to Amendment 10 on the Dolphin Wahoo Fishery Management Plan. The…
Beginning January 1, 2019, all Atlantic highly migratory species tournaments will be required to submit catch summaries. An Atlantic highly migratory species (HMS) tournament is a tournament that awards points…
Deep-set buoy gear finally has management alternatives for use in a swordfish fishery off southern California, where the fishery will be a limited entry to approximately 300 commercial vessels. Once…
Illustration courtesy of DRNEC of Delaware Chub mackerel, which are important prey species for billfish and other apex predators and to the healthy functioning of the ecosystem, are being considered…
Very late in the year and not anticipated, landing limits for Atlantic marlin were raised in the international arena. It was the overfished status of Atlantic billfish that became the…
The table below provides preliminary 2018 (January 1, 2018 through September 30, 2018) landings in numbers of fish for Atlantic blue and white marlin, roundscale spearfish, and western Atlantic sailfish. …
Atlantic blue marlin are considered by many in the sportfishing world to be THE pinnacle gamefish. A species targeted by tens of thousands anglers each year. But what do we…
TBF was very pleased when the National Marine Fisheries Service staff announced the 2018 amended Billfish Conservation Act (BCA) must comply with the agency’s official Guidelines. The amended BCA prohibits…
For years, we have all heard about the amazing fishery and waters in Magdalena Bay, Mexico. From the hookups of doubles, triples, and quads of striped marlin with daily releases…
Western & Central Northern Pacific striped marlin, whose abundance, especially spawning-stock biomass, and size are greatly diminished and retain low priority within the Western & Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC).…
The proposed sale is part of the leasing project announced by the DOI in 2021 to meet the Biden administration’s goal to deploy thirty gigawatts of offshore wind energy capacity…
Last week, the American Sportfishing Association (ASA) released the 2023 Economic Contributions of Recreational Fishing: U.S. Congressional Districts report, an update of previous data in partnership with Southwick Associates. The…
NOAA and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) are collaborating on a 5-year project to “evaluate the feasibility of bycatch hotspots” via communication networks in the Gulf of Mexico.…
A Step in the Right Direction for Sailfish in Costa Rica If you’re expecting to come across sailfish meat in the Costa Rican Canasta Basica, then you’re unfortunately going to…
TBF's Winthrop P. Rockefeller's Student Ocean Intern Program awards students who support billfish conservation and believe in responsible fisheries management.
Action Alert – Comments due for Forage Fish soon!