LET’S HAVE DISCUSSION ON MARLIN
WHAT would happen if we outlawed killing marlin?
What if Queensland and the Gold Coast became known as the marlin capital of the world and led the charge in protecting these incredible fish?
I started thinking about this after I was contacted this week by a disgusted member of the public who had an argument with a fisherman after confronting him about his killing of a small black marlin.
After asking why the fish hadn’t been released the fisherman allegedly told him to “go hug a tree”.
I was asked my thoughts on the matter. Although I could never keep a billfish, the fisherman was well within his rights to keep the fish.
It’s not illegal and although the vast majority of recreational fishermen already release their catch, some choose to keep it.
The most common reasons given for recreational fishermen keeping a marlin are that it wasn’t able to be revived, the fisherman wants it mounted as a trophy or the catch is headed for the dinner table.
Of course it’s not the recreational fisherman who is putting a major dent in the billfish population, it’s the longliners.
And as much as I’d love to see the outlawing of catching billfish by commercial operators, recreational fishermen can still play a part in helping grow the billfish population by releasing every fish.
Some might say: “What’s the difference between a marlin and say a mackerel? Why should I release one but the other is OK to eat? They’re both just fish.”
It’s a fair enough question but I say “why not a marlin”?
There would still be hundreds if not thousands of other fish you could catch for dinner but if we protected this species, what would the downside be?
We would become known as the leaders of sustainable fishing, we would grow the industry through increased numbers of both fish and fishermen, maybe we’d even attract those currently turned off by seeing a dead fish and we would be protecting a fish that is clearly worth more to us alive than dead.
In short what we lose via commercial selling we pick up via increased fishing charters.
As a fisherman you would still have the excitement of the scream of the reel, still feel the power of the fish at the end of the line and still get the video and photo that lasts a lifetime.
And you’d get to do it more often via more billfish.