The Billfish Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that works globally to advance the conservation of billfish and associated highly migratory species to improve the health of oceans and economies. TBF combines data collection, research, and advocacy into one collective voice on behalf of anglers, the fishing community, and billfish.
Created in 1986 by the late Winthrop P. Rockefeller, Dr. Eric Prince, and a group of fifty founding members, The Billfish Foundation (TBF) was founded with the mission to conserve billfish worldwide. TBF’s Tag & Release program, which began in 1990, has since grown to be the largest international billfish tagging program in the world and a cornerstone of our mission.
As a globally recognized nonprofit, The Billfish Foundation continues to distinguish itself through a sustained emphasis of synthesizing science and policy into effective and reasonable fishery management solutions that are good for both the fish and recreational angling community.
Since its inception, TBF has been central to the following.
As a science-based sportfishing conservation organization, TBF invests in a wide variety of billfish research—tagging, population dynamics (spawning, migration, feeding, mortality); stock assessments; genetics, biology, statistics, oceanography and economics. Some of TBF’s research accomplishments include the following
The Billfish Foundation with captains, anglers, mates, boat owners, academics and research institutes, undertook:
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Working in 1986 with Dr. Eric Prince of Southeast Fisheries Science Center, TBF agreed to its first research investment, a $25,000 annual commitment to the only international Atlantic billfish research program, to collect data and conduct stock assessments, the calculation of relative abundance of billfish remaining in the water. The support continued for twenty years, at which time other nations began to contribute and TBF hired a top scientist.
in Venezuela with the Universidad de Oriente and Dr. Freddy Arocha created a billfish data collection program with the artisanal gillnet fishery targeting billfish.
with Dr. Anne Barse, Salisbury State, to identify parasites found on marlin.
in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean by TBF scientist, Dr. C. Phillip Goodyear, who placed oceanographic data on top of movement data, such depletions make fish more vulnerable to capture for they take refuge in an oxygen bubble near the surface.
with the late Dr. Bob Ditton, Texas A&M, which compiled expenditure data reported by fishing tourists and tournament participants. The results help officials understand that good conservation returns economic benefits to nations—more fish in water, more anglers come to catch and bring their money.
at many professional gatherings and International Billfish Symposiums; annual gatherings of regional fisheries institutes; international conferences focused on specific billfish issues; socio-economic and ecotourism trade conferences; international regional management organizations’ science workshops; and regional tourism conferences around the world.
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Congressional billfish research funds made available through competitive research grants.
for the University of Costa Rica and Dr. Helena Molina and funds for socio-economic workshops for students.
Dr. C. Philip Goodyear to improve methods used to assess relative abundance of billfish remaining in the water, the improved methodologies benefit more species than billfish.
the late Dr. Russell Nelson, a fish ecologist with expertise in synthesizing science into cogent fishery management solutions.
of Atlantic blue marlin and swordfish by assessing methods to measure their population distribution depth within the water column based on physical and biological oceanographic data, including environmental features of temperature, dissolved oxygen by depth, gradients in sea surface height, zooplankton abundance and other features.
by funding recovery of daily catch and effort and sex specific size data for each billfish species and some tuna, data that was originally reported by Venezuela fishers.
Prioritization given to student education is a smart investment for the future of billfish, billfishing and conservation of marine resources. It is shared primarily through school presentations, interactive games and two publications, Spearfish and Sailfish, which are posted online for free access. Encouraging youth fishing is a key message for the experience and provides a platform to teach the value of teamwork, discipline, practice and patience. For college students, TBF offers internship opportunities within the sportfishing conservation community, and a scholarship for PhD graduate students pursuing billfish research. We want students exposed to TBF’s educational outreach to enjoy fishing, be citizen stewards of the oceans, become academics, scientists, fishery managers and leaders in the next generation.
Educational outreach for adults and interested students includes sharing our research, advocacy, socio-economic information and new techniques through workshops, presentations, and publications in the U.S. and other nations, including Japan, Australia, Cuba, Colombia, Caribbean nations, Bermuda, Dominican Republic, Portugal, and France.
Recognizing constituents’ exceptional contributions is an annual highlight through presentation of lifetime achievement awards and tag and release, and catch and release awards to captains, anglers, youth, female anglers, and mates from around the world.
Whether through litigation, legislation, regulation or negotiations, no entity fights harder and smarter than The Billfish Foundation for billfish and billfishing opportunities, the results of which generate positive economic returns for related sportfishing businesses. Our successes provide insurance for tomorrow’s billfishing as positive economics return to sportfishing boats, tackle, equipment and the wide array of other related product manufacturers, sales and service businesses. They know TBF supports conservation that pays. TBF’s decades of contributions made while serving on the U.S. government’s Atlantic and Pacific billfish/highly migratory species advisory panels and committees have improved U.S. billfish management and conservation. Some successes include the following.
Having representation on and contributing to U.S. negotiating teams, science committees and advisory committees raised the critical need for billfish conservation and management before worldwide audiences at a time when most nations completely ignored billfish, such that today, billfish are included on agendas of all international regional fishery management organizations;
Having representation on Atlantic international negotiating teams, the first restraint was secured on longlining to reduce billfish mortality, followed by measures to strengthen data reporting and compliance by nations;
Partnering and using science and economics with government representatives and sportfishing organizations in Mexico, Panama, Peru, the Caribbean, Columbia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Australia and Kenya raised the importance of billfish conservation as a tool to grow a strong sportfishing eco-tourism trade;
Partnering with local partners in Mexico, community-based enforcement was initiated in Baja Sur, including outreach and education, plus government authorization of $3 million for new fisheries research directed to problems created by drift gillnets and longline gear.
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Working worldwide to advance the conservation of Billfish & associated species to improve the health of oceans & economies.
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