2023 Tag and Release Ceremony Recap

TBF’s Annual Tag and Release Award Ceremony, held in February, was again a high-energy event during which top captains, anglers, and mates were honored for their conservation releases and data collection.  In Jungle Island’s Treetop Ballroom young guns exchanged stories, some meeting in person for the first time, while others were known from media coverage of their individual billfishing exploits.  With open bars, hors d’oeuvres, and great mojo throughout the room, each became silent when Costa presented its teaser video of their recent Striped Marlin satellite tagging expedition in Magdalena Bay. The footage included extraordinary imagery where they deployed

2022 Tag & Release Competition Winners

Were you selected as a winner for the 2022 season and would like to attend TBF’s International Tag & Release Awards Ceremony? Here’s everything you need to know! Regardless of whether you plan on attending, email us a photograph and short bio at [email protected] to be included with the ceremony! As a reminder, to accept your award, all captains, anglers and mates must be a current member of TBF. If you have any questions, please reach out to us at [email protected]. See below for the 2022 Winners! With 2022 officially complete, it’s now time for The Billfish

Tag Card Completion Guide

The Tag & Release Program is the cornerstone conservation program of The Billfish Foundation. Created in 1990, it was established to remedy the large gaps in knowledge of billfish life history. As a result, it has created the largest private billfish tagging database in the world, with over 270,000 records.  The Tag & Release Program relies on Captains, anglers, and mates across the world to tag, release, and recapture billfish. It is a global citizen science effort that relies on the collective dedication of thousands of participants. However, it is not enough just to tag or release

TBF’s Top Taggers of the Decade

The Billfish Foundation’s Tag & Release Program is the cornerstone of our conservation and advocacy. We are proud to maintain the largest private tag and release database in the world, with over 260,000 records. Billfish tagging, and the recaptures that occur as a result, provides valuable scientific data to help us understand more about billfish life history, habitat utilization, migrations, and more. It is also used in stock assessments and to bolster global advocacy efforts for the conservation of these fish. Without tag and release, much of what we know about billfish today would still be a mystery

2019 Conservation Record

The Billfish Foundation’s Tag & Release Program. We received over 11,000 new tag, release, and recapture records for billfish and tunas. These data are used by researchers and management organizations across the globe, helping us learn more about these great fish and how best to conserve them. Below is a link to a PDF of the final 2019 Conservation Record, including black marlin, blue marlin, sailfish, spearfish, striped marlin, swordfish, white marlin, bluefin tuna, and yellowfin tuna. 2019 Conservation Record Final This feat of citizen science would not be possible without the generous support of our Tag &

Sailfish Conservation Record 2019

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, 5,280 were of sailfish, including an incredible 34 sailfish recaptures. 73.6% of sailfish were released without tags, while 26.4% were tagged. To learn more about how to identify a sailfish, check out our youtube channel! An incredible 1,385 sailfish were tagged

2019 Conservation Record: Swordfish

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, 304 were of swordfish, including 13 swordfish recaptures. 17.3% of swordfish were released without tags, while 82.7% were tagged. To learn more about how to identify a swordfish, check out our youtube channel! A total of 224 swordfish were tagged

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