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

2019 Tag & Release Competition Winners

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. Since its inception in 1990, the program has grown to accrue over 260,000 tag and release records to become the largest private billfish tagging database in the world. In the last year alone, TBF has collected over 11,000 records! The information gathered through tag and release efforts is invaluable to increase our understanding and better our management of billfish and preserve the sport we love. This is only possible

Updated English and Spanish Atlantic HMS Compliance Guides

NOAA Fisheries has released updated compliance guides for recreational fishing of highly migratory species in the Atlantic Ocean. These guides include detailed anatomical figures, identification charts, and species-specific bag limits, landing information, and reporting requirements. The guides also include information on permitting, gear restrictions, sale restrictions, chartering, and tournaments. We recommend fishers keep copies of this guide on hand (either printed out or on their phones) when they’re out fishing. This way, you can ensure that you’re following all the necessary regulations to ensure that billfish and other highly migratory species are around for generations to come. A summary

International Tag and Release Competition Update

TAGGING CAPTAIN: RELEASE CAPTAIN: TAGGING ANGLER: RELEASE ANGLER: TAGGING LADY ANGLER: RELEASE LADY ANGLER: TAGGING YOUTH ANGLER: RELEASE YOUTH ANGLER: Blue Marlin Tagging Captain: Sailfish Tagging Captain: Swordfish Tagging Captain: White Marlin Tagging Captain: Blue Marlin Tagging Angler: Sailfish Tagging Angler: Swordfish Tagging Angler: White Marlin Tagging Angler: Blue Marlin Release Captain: Sailfish Release Captain: Swordfish Release Captain: White Marlin Release Captain: Blue Marlin Release Angler: Sailfish Release Angler: Swordfish Release Angler: White Marlin Release Angler: Black Marlin Tagging Captain: Blue Marlin Tagging Captain: Sailfish Tagging Captain: Striped Marlin Tagging Captain: Black Marlin Tagging Angler: Blue Marlin

Billfish Conservation Act Amendment Update

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 Pacific billfish landed by U.S. vessels from Hawaii and U.S. island areas from being sent into the continental U.S. Compliance to the government guidelines prohibiting the redirection of those billfish from being sent to other nations’ markets. Prohibiting the redirecting of U.S. landed Pacific marlin increases the conservation benefits gained from the amended BCA. TBF will remain vigilant to any challenges that may arise to guideline compliance. Generally, government

Passing of a Legend – Capt. Ron Hamlin

Hamlin was recognized not only for his expertise at placing anglers from all over the world on billfish, but also for his contributions to billfish conservation.  His expertise at the helm won him awards year after year, including the Billfish Foundation’s Top Captain Award, for which he stopped competing. After landing billfish for years during the early part of his career, he later recognized that continuation of his profession depended upon the availability of healthy stocks of fish in the water for clients to catch. He turned to catch and release fishing and became a voice for billfish conservation

Tag & Release Competition Update

Our annual Tag & Release competition is about 3/4 over and we will crown this year’s winners later this year at our Tag and Release Award Ceremony in February. We are highlighting the “Top Five” in many of the competition categories. This list constitutes the tag and release records processed by TBF as of July 16, 2018. We will post an updated version soon with the regional competitions. Do you know anyone on there? Are you in the top five and want to be recognized by the who’s who in the billfishing community at our ceremony? The end

Why Are Billfish Threatened?

The Billfish Foundation was the result of a movement led by anglers who began noticing there were fewer big fish to catch. At the time, billfish tournaments featured piles of dead fish and commercial vessels sold billfish on the docks. Win Rockefeller, Dr. Eric Prince, and a group of 50 founding members recognized the unsustainable way billfish were being managed, in addition to the low priority they had with the government, and sought to protect these species through research, advocacy, and education. Today’s billfish tournaments look a lot different. Many release the fish that are caught, abiding to the

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

Successful Buccaneer Cup Despite Wild Weather

The Billfish Foundation was honored to join the 55th annual Buccaneer Cup Sailfish Release Tournament as a benefiting charity this year. The tournament, held at Sailfish Marina in West Palm Beach, FL was a fun and well-organized event in our local south Florida community. Captains and their teams gathered at the marina Thursday evening for registration. Fishing commenced Friday, Jan. 26 and lasted through Saturday, and despite the extremely “sporty” conditions 26 boats braved the seas to catch sailfish. All participating teams were congratulated for facing strong winds and massive swells, extreme even for south Florida winters. It paid off considering over 400