Blue Marlin in the fish section at the grocery store

[lawaia]

The local fishermen are the ones who have to be shown that the resource "billfish" are worth more alive as a sportfish to be caught and released by a recreational ,charter fisherman on the locals boat. Than to be killed and sold for $1.00 a kilo. Promotion of catch and release billfishing and incentives for the locals would be a start. This is a worldwide problem.

Pete - I understand what you're saying, but I think you did not fully understand what I said. I don't say that in an argumentative or confrontational way, so please let me clarify.

The commercial, i.e. long line, boats catch the vast majority of all fish here, including marlin. The local fishermen wish they (the long line boats) would just go away. The locals don't long-line fish,

...artesinal (sic)...

or otherwise. If government would ban the sale of billfish (as Capt. John says all other states have) but let the locals continue to recreational/subsistence fish then IMHO the marlin would sustain themselves just fine.

Now please understand that if all sales were banned the few billfish still caught could only be taken home to be eaten, not sold. And also please understand that the local guy on a small boat catching maybe one marlin a year, if he's lucky, sees no benefit from a billfish

...caught and released by a recreational ,charter fisherman on the locals boat.

because that can never happen - the local small boat guy is not USCG certified to take charters, nor is he even interested in doing so. He fishes for the pleasure of being on the water with friends or family, and to put food on the table.

The

...worth more alive as a sportfish to be caught and released...

you describe may be seen by the local charter boats, but not by the guys I was talking about.

alex n - Not disputing what you said about Hawaii's billfish landing allowing the rest (I don't know about that one way or the other), just wanted to distinguish between the locals taking onesy-twosy marlin home for the family to eat and the long-line boats killing 'em all for the world to eat.

Aloha all...

[alex n]

Capt. John ,
Are you sure there are laws in all of the states that prohibit the commercial sale of billfish.

[boatliftman]

I think it is good, they kill the fish alot of times anyway, why not let them sell the fish instead of waste it. I doubt there will ever be a large market anyways. You guys nedd to fish more instead of haggle back and forth on the computer,your blood presure will prob. drop a little bit.

[FASTWATER]

I have been fishing with the locals in Hawaii for over 20 years not on the charters, these are individuals that were born raised and die fishing the Islands going back generations,very very few MARLIN are actually boated and killed for market to most Islanders they are revered as the white elephant in their heritage and not targeted in probably over a 100 days of fishing over there through the years and countless days just hanging out I personnelly have only seen 1 killed and marketed and believe me I hang with the big dogs!!! In retro respect you can walk down to the Harbor any given day in Kona and see blacks and blues hanging from the scale headed to market coming off the charters,HHUUMMM, and this is reality!!!PEACE

[Capt_John]

Capt. John ,
Are you sure there are laws in all of the states that prohibit the commercial sale of billfish.

When I was in Hawaii, we sold fish that were caught on charters. When we would sell the marlin to the wholesalers, they told me that the marlin were mostly sold locally(Hawaii). They could ship fish to restaurants,markets,etc. in other states. However, the other states weren't allowed to harvet billfish in their waters to sell commercially.