Marlin are special. I choose to release all the marlin I catch, and onboard Josh it is a rule. I have a few reasons for this:
- Marlin are apex predators. It is common sense that population numbers of billfish (sharks etc.), are numerically inferior to fish further down the food chain. This makes them more vunerable to overfishing, be it commercial or recreational.
- As a group, recreational anglers cannot point the finger at professional fisherman as the cause for declining billfish numbers, when we kill billfish as well. Like it or not, as long as recreational anglers kill billfish we are part of the problem.
- Marlin are not for food. While edible, there are many better fish in the sea to eat that don't average 100lb or more.
- I choose to set an example. Unfortunatley the only view much of the public sees of gamefishing is the gantry. There is only so much positive publicity that can be generated by fish on the gantry. A dead fish on the gantry is a mere shadow of its former beauty. Take a photo or a video, its a far better way to remember your catch in its living state and a better way to share the memory with those who haven't experienced these fantastic fish.
- Marlin, sharks etc are international wanderers. As such impacts on our fishery will effect the fisheries of other countries and vice versa.
- Given all the time and money I spend chasing these fantastic fish I can't justify killing something that gives me so much enjoyment.
I would like to see significant changes to the regulation and management of Australian billfish stocks. In addition to this I would like recreational anglers to use ethically correct methods in their pursuit of billfish. Some changes which I believe should be introduced:
- A complete halt of the commercial harvesting of billfish on Australia's East Coast and other areas of recruitment for our billfish stocks.
- A seasonal bag limit on billfish for recreational anglers. While I disagree with killing billfish at all it is understandable that some will die during capture. A limit of 1 or two fish per boat per year would be a vast improvement on the current 2 per species, per person, per day.
- The use of circle hooks when fishing baits for marlin. The use of the correct circle hooks has been proven to significantly reduce post-release mortaility of billfish. Aside form this there are many other advantages over traditional J style hooks which make the use of circle hooks ideal when for bait fishing for marlin.
- Further research on migration and genetic similarity of Pacific billfish stocks.