All Release Tournament adds optional kill catagory

[tabasco]

I'll probably get slammed for saying this but....i'd bet my ass that the guy releasing 4 small blues and the guy weighing in one 500+ pound blue just killed the same number of fish. We like to think all releases just swim happily away but they don't. Its fishin and sh#t happens so don't start sounding like the release guys are angels and the guy that boats a legal fish is the devil. Make it a decent size fish to be weighed (?450+ minimum) and up the minimum with every days fish (day 1 a 475 is caught then day 2 minimum is now 475) or just pay ONE winner take all big fish, no second/third place weighed fish. And I would nut up and say any boat weighing a marlin that doesn't make minimum disqualifies that boat for the entire tournament. I have released all billfish for years but one but I have brought one in and got no problem with that and would do it again. You want to fish all release, cool, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're a better resource manager than the next guy.

[Sterling]

I think that kill tournaments are a great thing for the sport and everyone in it. My logic is that we are almost entirely release for recreational billfishing and we need to be as we would have issues if we all started landing billfish. Tournaments provide a very level playing field and limited window where you do have a chance to take a billfish. This is great for the long standing tournaments and the sport in my opinion.

A few things however IMO. Boats that weigh in an undersized fish should be disqualified. Boats should not be permitted to land more than one billfish in one day. Minimums should be significant. The number of tournaments should be capped. Every boat should have a representative at the captains meeting and they should spend 5 minutes on techniques for measuring and estimating (fully redundant for most but clearly some need it).

[Mark Ray]

Sterling, my point exactly, a fish was brought to the scales that was clearly under length that was brought to the scales at Big Rock. Dead for the wrong reason. Also remember that your not just killing the one fish that's weighed but all her eggs as well. I'm not totaly against kill tournaments, my point was that The Bay Point Invitational made a big hoopla about going all release last year and had The Billfish Foundation on hand to promote catch and release and then changed/added the ruling this year.

[SJ-Rick]

Realistically Gents, overly harsh penalties on undersized fish at the scales are only going to cause people to cull and highgrade. Sure, we won't see the fish at the scale, which is nice for sport fishing's overall image and gives activists an "I did something", 'feelgood', kneejerk, response. However, from a protector the species, biological, standpoint - I'd bet an equal to increased number of fish would be dead, you just wouldn't see them.

Sure, I could add a rule saying that any fish dead at the boat (intentional or otherwise) MUST be landed. Soon I would need another rule to close the loopholes that leaves, and so on until we end up with an independant third party observer on everyboat. What a fun day - you, your family, your best friends, and the fish auditor.

No, I think the right solution is the jawboning and educating solution. At our events we try to keep reasonable minimums, encourage abiding by them, and offer materials to help people judge the fish better.

As for daily bag limits or capping the number of tournaments, we are already operating under a 250 fish cap for the TOTAL number of marlin landed on the East Coast. Since this cap was created nearly a decade ago we haven't even come close to hitting it. On a stockwide basis this represents a fraction of a fraction of a percent of total landings. If you eliminated landing marlin entirely, you would have done NOTHING for the species you care about.

The conservation groups are working on a new campaign called "Take Marlin Off The Menu". They are starting here in the US but hope to take it international, reducing the marketability of all marlins and thus their commercial value.

You can find more on the campaign at TakeMarlinOffTheMenu.org . And to see where we rank in the world as it comes to damaging the Atlantic marlins stock, poke through the 'Statistics' section of ICCAT.int .

Rick Weber
South Jersey Marina and Tournaments

[rarhomes]

I don't have a problem with killing a fish IF it's put to good used (like feeding the hungry) I am all for it as a matter of fact I think it's a great thing. Just think about all the bi-catch from commercial fishing. Although I don't have a lot of faith in our Government programs (NOAA and REEF) I don't believe BM are endangered and taking a few a year should cause no harm.

Now on the other hand, a public weigh in is probably not the best idea (like dragging a deer around on the hood of your car).
Peta and friends will exploit fish weighin's in there favor to help stop fishing (kinda like this Whale Wars DB) so maybe weightin's should be private

QUOTE TOBASCO:

"I'll probably get slammed for saying this but....i'd bet my ass that the guy releasing 4 small blues and the guy weighing in one 500+ pound blue just killed the same number of fish. We like to think all releases just swim happily away but they don't. Its fishin and sh#t happens so don't start sounding like the release guys are angels and the guy that boats a legal fish is the devil".

And I will guarantee you any fish brought to the scales has a
"0" chance of living at least a released fish has some chance.


Capt Rick