Take Marlin off the Menu

The International Game Fish Association has recently partnered with The Billfish Foundation and the National Coalition for Marine Conservation on a proactive campaign to ban the importation and sale of billfish (marlin, sailfish and spearfish) in the United States.

Titled “Take Marlin off the Menu,” the campaign is educating people about what billfish are, their role in the ecosystem, and their imperiled state from commercial over-fishing.

“Through education and political advocacy our ultimate goal is to end the commercial harvest, sale and importation of marlin, sailfish and spearfish in the United States,” said IGFA Conservation Director Jason Schratwieser.

Why is this a problem?

“Billfish stocks are in poor shape globally. As top predators, these fish are naturally less abundant than the species they prey on, yet commercial over-fishing has caused precipitous declines in their abundance,” reported Schratwieser. “In 2007, the IGFA commissioned a report to find out which countries were harvesting, exporting and importing the most billfish.

“What we found shocked us,” he stated. “The United States has the dubious distinction of being the world’s largest importer of billfish. What’s worse is that this entire industry results in few jobs and little revenue. In fact the total US billfish harvest and trade is only 0.07% of the total income of all commercial fishing in the US.”
Need another reason to stop eating billfish?

“They can contain harmful levels of mercury,” Schratwieser said.

“The United States Environmental Protection Agency health guidelines for fish consumption indicate that any fish with a mercury level greater than 1.5 parts per million (ppm) should not be consumed in any amount. Marlin, especially large specimens, have been found to have mercury levels as high as 15 ppm, and a recent study reported an average mercury level of 4.08 ppm for blue marlin sampled in Australian waters. Some fish are just more prone to accumulating mercury. King mackerel and sharks are also culprits,” added Schratwieser.

“The US billfish trade just doesn’t make sense.”

To join the three organizations in the fight to ban billfish importation and sale, visit the “Take Marlin off the Menu” web site at http://www.takemarlinoffthemenu.org/home to get more information on the campaign and to find out how you can help.

Big Fish!

The fish weighed in at 90.60 Kg on our Certified Scales (Matava Resort being an IGFA Weighstation) and is a pending new Fiji National All-Tackle Record. www.GamefishingFiji.com

Matava - THE True Eco Resort in Fiji

Matava - THE True Eco Resort in Fiji. www.Matava.com Matava is the genuine eco-adventure lodge, beautifully set off the beaten track, minutes from the Great Astrolabe Reef on Kadavu Island. Our intimate resort has beautiful, comfortable bures, outstanding cuisine and offers a full range of adventure and cultural activities. Dive or take a course with our PADI dive professionals. Experience fantastic fish, pristine corals, Mantas and sharks. Try big game fishing, snorkeling, sailing, sea kayaking, trekking, and join in authentic cultural and village events! No roads, solar power, low carbon footprint make Matava the ideal and environmentally responsible location to relax and unwind.

Kadavu Island: Matava - Fiji's Premier Eco Adventure Resort - Traveller Reviews - A lovely fijian hideaway - TripAdvisor

I began my stay at Matava only planning to stay a week or so before venturing onward to explore the rest of Fiji. However, in the end I stayed just over 3 weeks and now I wouldn't have planned my holiday any differently. I chose Matava because I wanted to dive the Astrolabe reef, and I was looking for a remote and fairly rustic resort (to weed out the people that expect chocolates on their pillows) with some interesting people to drink some beers and chat with during dinner. Also, as a solo traveler, costs at most resorts were out of my budget, so accommodation was also an issue.

Given that it was the wet season, the diving did not disappoint. Colorful hard corals, some soft corals, nudi branches, and great shark and manta dives. The dive staff are wonderful and do a great job of keeping things organized and efficient while maintaining a fun atmosphere - and catering to the particular needs and desires of the divers that come through and whatever nature had delivered for the day. Due to the sheer size of the reef there is a lot of diversity in the dives that are offered – and the “exploratory” dives were some of my favorites.

I was fairly impressed with the grounds of the resort given the remoteness of the island and the inherent challenges that comes with the humidity. They have just added (sometime in 2008) a lovely main bure with a nice bar and a deck where most meals are eaten. There is no beach actually attached to the resort - so you do have to motivate to paddle to the nearby island (15 minutes or so). Meals are served on a (mostly) fixed schedule - although they will keep your food for you if you for some reason miss it. As a fish-eating vegetarian - they did an excellent job feeding me. Most of the food was handmade and the most memorable dishes featured fresh fruit, produce from the organic garden, and whatever fish was caught that day (bit of luck required here) with some chilies thrown in for good measure. And I discovered that even fresh tuna gets tiring after three weeks! Although the toasted coconut chips served during happy hour never got old.
My stay was really made so enjoyable by the staff. When I came down with a bad cold on my second day (perfect for a diving vacation!) I was immediately force fed fresh pineapple and given a selection of sudafed from their personal stash to ease my suffering. Most of the guests that came through were friendly and fairly adventurous – and made for some enjoyable evenings. Due to the lack of electricity at night (bring a headlamp!), and the long days in the sea and sun, most people went to bed fairly early. The nights were normally hot and humid. There were usually lizards rustling the thatching, mosquitoes lurking around the netting with spiders waiting in anticipation, and occasionally a crab or some other creature would make its way into my bure. But that’s the fun of sleeping in the tropics! Luckily I could also hear the water and there was usually a breeze to help with the heat.

Overall, I had a fantastic stay at Matava. I loved the remoteness, the basic and natural feel of the place, the amazing staff, and the friends I made during my stay. So I recommend it for the adventurous people of the world that want a relaxing holiday with some good diving and fishing without the crowds or the frills and the expectations of fancy resorts.

Kadavu Island: Matava - Fiji's Premier Eco Adventure Resort - Traveller Reviews - A lovely fijian hideaway - TripAdvisor

Fiji Islands Saltwater Fishing Report – May 2009

An nice black marlin tagged & released by angler Brett Perryman
Photo by Renae Perryman

The Fiji Autumn has seen some excellent marlin fishing alongside the last of the summer Yellowfin run.

The average size of the blue marlin was down a little at around 150kg but the occasional larger black added a little extra spice to the heavy tackle fishing. Throw in a few 100lb yellowfin tuna and the odd mahi mahi and you have a recipie for a pretty good days gamefishing.Blue marlin for Graeme Robinson aboard Bite Me

The GT popper casting has been fabulous with frequent GTs to 70lbs and several around the magical 90lb mark. The bite is still good but we expect the weather conditions to turn more breezy as winter moves in and there won't be so many of those glassy calm days in the coming few months.

We have been doing quite a bit of deep water jigging on 50lb and 80lb class tackle and the reef slopes around Kadavu have offered up some spectaculor dogtooth tuna. Average size has been around 75lbs but the trophy fish of the month goes to angler Bill Busch from the USA and his monster 200lb doggie. A new Fiji All-Tackle Record.

Anto from Italy with a nice dogtooth tuna

The water temp is now cooling rapidly and the first winter wahoo and sailfish have already started to arrive. By July, large packs of wahoo should be frequent with many anglers opting to bait and switch packs of sails along the outer reef slopes on lighter line classes.

Expect wahoo to 40kg, sails to 60kg and a winter run of Yellowfin tuna to keep anglers lunging for screaming reels.The first winter wahoo of 32kg for Stacey Lethlean

APS Kadavu, Fiji Trip (Apr/May 2009)

After our very successful trip recently, we are very confident to organize equally successful trip for our customers. The season is ending shortly and we have 2 sets of date for those who wish to fish Kadavu with us.

5 days fishing with Capt Adrian Watt on the Bite Me, a 31' Sportsfisher on Kandavu Island.

This is a GT popping and Dogtooth Tuna jigging trip, it will be 3 anglers plus myself.

The following itinerary is based on departure from Los Angeles Airport, at present the airfare with Air Pacific is about $830.00 both ways, Los Angeles to Kadavu.

The 2 sets of dates are:

Itinerary No.1:

26 Apr - LAX ETD 2330hr - Nadi ETA 0530hr (+2 days) (Fiji is a day ahead of N.America)
28 Apr - KDV ETA 1325hr, transfer to lodge
29 Apr - Fishing
30 Apr - Fishing
1 May - Fishing
2 May - Fishing
3 May - Fishing
4 May - KDV ETD 1345hr - LAX ETA 1320hr (7.3hr Transit) (Same Day Arrival at LAX)

Itinerary No.2:

9 May - LAX ETD 2330hr - Nadi ETA 0530hr (+2 days) (Fiji is a day ahead of N.America)
11 May - KDV ETA 1325hr, transfer to lodge
12 May - Fishing
13 May - Fishing
14 May - Fishing
15 May - Fishing
16 May - Fishing
17 May - KDV ETD 1345hr - LAX ETA 1320hr (7.3hr Transit) (Same Day Arrival at LAX)

LAX - Los Angeles Int'l Airport
KDV - Kadavu Airport

The cost of this trip is US$1800 per angler. This includes all transfers, accomodation, meals and fees. Flights are not included. Tips - $100 per angler for the crew.

This is a very good opportunity to fish pristine waters, our last trip saw us fishing the eastern reefs and only a fraction of the reef was covered. The north western Great Astralabe Lagoon is still untouch yet!!!!

With low airfares, the trip cost less than $2,700 for 5 days of all inclusive fishing!!!

For first timers who do not have gears for the trip, let us know and we can sort something out.

Interested please email me at randy@anglers-proshop.com NO PMs PLEASE, THANK YOU.

__________________
Randy
Administrator
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90% dreams of fishing, 10% fish their dreams

APS Kadavu, Fiji Trip (Apr/May 2009) - Jigging and Popping Forum

Undersea Productions - Stock Footage from Bite Me

17551
+ Add To Bin

Subject	Fish: Coryphaenidae (Dolphinfish) Coryphaena hippurus (Common dolphinfish, Mahimahi), adult, swimming
Clip Properties	Aspect: 16:9, Format: DVCPRO HD 720 25p, 25/27fps, 88MB, 13 seconds,
Location	Fiji Islands (South Pacific) day bluewater
The Shot	reveal unusual shot
Quality Rating
Comments	fish hooked and fighting, shot reveals fisherman on game fishing boat

Undersea Productions - Stock Footage

Record Dogtooth Tuna

Now I am back ashore, some more info on the big doggie.
It was caught jigging on a Shimano 325g butterfly jig by angler Bill Busch aboard Bite Me using a Zenaq jig rod and Shimano Trinidad spooled with Power Pro 80lb spectra.
Fight time 45 minutes.
It was actually one of four dogtooth tuna we caught that afternoon, (3 others released) the morning being spent popper casting for GTs (we released 16)
The fish weighed in at 90.60 Kg on our Certified Scales (Matava Resort being an IGFA Weighstation) and is a pending new Fiji National All-Tackle Record.

Well done Bill ! Our biggest doggie so far. Just 9.9Kg off the M-36 IGFA World Record and 15kg off the IGFA All-Tackle World Record...

Nearly took the All Tackle Dogtooth Tuna world record today...

Nearly took the All Tackle Dogtooth Tuna world record today...

This one is a world beater. 

I don't want to even think about the Dogtooth Tuna fishermen! 

They will go bananas.

AW