Comments on large marlin

We have received several aggressive emails from anglers berating us for the dead, almost 900 lb marlin – which we didn’t kill. This fish was caught at the East Cape aboard a boat called Rude Baby. Yes, we are still pro-conservation, yes we still actively promote catch and release. Our release rate is 98.5% and we release thousands of marlin a year. However, the law in Mexico allows each angler holding a fishing license to kill one marlin per day. In Cabo we have a self imposed agreement, which lowers this to one marlin per boat per day, between local fleet owners. We talk to anglers ahead of time and suggest that they release their billfish, but, if they decide to keep one, they are within their rights. Nearly all anglers prefer to release. Some fish die, some anglers want the meat. The tiny percentage of what is kept by sportsfishing is not even a drop in a bucket to what commercial boats take. It’s funny but during big money tournaments like Bisbee, nobody says a word about the fish being killed. Even pro conservationists participate in these tournaments and that is their decision. You can be a conservationist, but it does not mean that you never kill a fish.