WMO- your thoughts?

[scattered_grass]

so there has been some threads on here lately talking about killing bill-fish. i have been looking at pictures from the WMO and seeing the white marlin being weighed. personally i am suprised that there is still a tournament that you would bring in a white marlin to weigh. i understand that this is good for sporfishing in that it draws a crowd to watch the fish actually being weighed and can spark interest in the sport as a whole. not to mention that it boosts sales for industry related products with the vedors that are on hand. but you can draw these crowds with the meat-fish categories on the weigh-ins just as well as a puny little 60lb white marlin. now this is just my opinion, but i think it should be based on # of releases on the whites. people will still flock to the docks to count wm flags flying and to see the big dolphin, wahoo, tuna, and sharks hanging up. i just see absolutely no point in weighing a white marlin. again, this is my humble opinion. what do you think? and yes, i know it is legal but still i see it as wasteful.

[captnemo]

so there has been some threads on here lately talking about killing bill-fish. i have been looking at pictures from the WMO and seeing the white marlin being weighed. personally i am suprised that there is still a tournament that you would bring in a white marlin to weigh. i understand that this is good for sporfishing in that it draws a crowd to watch the fish actually being weighed and can spark interest in the sport as a whole. not to mention that it boosts sales for industry related products with the vedors that are on hand. but you can draw these crowds with the meat-fish categories on the weigh-ins just as well as a puny little 60lb white marlin. now this is just my opinion, but i think it should be based on # of releases on the whites. people will still flock to the docks to count wm flags flying and to see the big dolphin, wahoo, tuna, and sharks hanging up. i just see absolutely no point in weighing a white marlin. again, this is my humble opinion. what do you think? and yes, i know it is legal but still i see it as wasteful.

I agree it is a bit disheartening to see the whites hanging there, killed for display, but rational thinking the whites are doing good, population numbers are up, according to NMFS they have been removed from threatened species list, and the VAST majority of the whites caught at the WMO were released. I didn't add up the numbers, but every day there were between 50-60 whites released to 3-4 boated. Its on the www.whitemarlinopen.com site where you can see the releases.

As said before, killing a dozen or 2 white marlin once a year is NOTHING compared to the slaughter we put on the bluefin tuna who WILL be extinct in our lifetime, but for some reason we put the bills on a pedestal. Until we deal with that issue, I have hard time listening to anyone complain about a handful of whites at the scale.

Although I will repeat I know what your saying, I hate to see them hanging there, but next year when I'm all in and a 80lb'er hits the deck, he doesn't have much chance of being released

[Squidnation]

There is a reason why the WMO lures the most boats on the coast. The fact that is a big fish kill tournament gives everyone an equal chance of catching THE money fish. If it were a release tournament then they would lose 60% of the entrants that know fully well they cannot compete with the traveling circuit guys for the release points.

[bobdu11]

There is a reason why the WMO lures the most boats on the coast. The fact that is a big fish kill tournament gives everyone an equal chance of catching THE money fish. If it were a release tournament then they would lose 60% of the entrants that know fully well they cannot compete with the traveling circuit guys for the release points.

BINGO !!!

[scattered_grass]

There is a reason why the WMO lures the most boats on the coast. The fact that is a big fish kill tournament gives everyone an equal chance of catching THE money fish. If it were a release tournament then they would lose 60% of the entrants that know fully well they cannot compete with the traveling circuit guys for the release points.

oh i see. never thought about that..good point

[absolutly]

On Thursday we had a 71-72" fish that earlier in the week would have been hanging. We felt it was to thin so I cut it loose. Now, we weren't across the board either. So, for us it was an easy call. For all in boats, a 2nd or 3rd is some nice change. So I can see why they do it. Rules are rules and money is money.

[Anders]

Just thinking.... Would you say there are more billfish killed off the east coast from kill tournaments or boating the fish, taking a picture, non circle hook use, bad reviving techniques, and/or leaving our of the water too long or some combination of these?

I would say the second one, and if I was upset about the billfish numbers I would be focusing on solving this problem and not the kill tournaments.

I also don't think it is fair to say "I can kill one white because I released 3,4, or 50 yesterday." To kill is to kill, each fish counts and should be taken into consideration before killed. If you kill it, itd oesn't matter how many you release, that fish is dead.

[Tuna Tyme]

Having been on many boats as a Observer in release tournaments I have seen alot of Bill Fish killed from the fight and rough handling from the crews. Seeing a fish with its stomach out of it's mouth leaving a blood trail from its gills go down you know whats going to happen. So release or kill fish die, and in the end at least in OC they go to the food bank. When I was in Belize I watched a men clean and fillet a big Tarpon. From the looks of the meat I will eat a white any day.

[Sportsman]

betcha billfish killed at WMO is a slim percentage of the number of billfish that wind up as bycatch from long liners. now, do i think the white marlin whacking at WMO is cool....No I do not but, I ain't freaking out about it either. I do think that if we as sportfishermen are gonna whine and complain and fight the long liners off the East Coast, we need to start with our own sport and cut out the killing....at least cut it down. I am all for upping the minimums for blue marlins to 500 lbs, maybe 600 in some tournaments. I don't know what the minimum weight is for decking a white one, but I'd like to think 75 lbs would cut down the killing.....but would still be well with in reach when fishing. Trust me, I am no tree hugging, dolphin saving, liberal but I would much rather be able to take my kids and grandkids to see 10 or 15 in a day than sit around showing them pictures of them and wishing we could just see 1 in a trip.