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16 facebook.com/BlueWatermagazine NEWSLINES A black marlin originally tagged in September 2012 in the productive waters of Cape Bowling Green, off Townsville, by the Townsville Game Fishing Club boat Maverick, was recently recaptured in northern NSW waters. The fish had been at liberty for 512 days and had covered a straight- line distance of 769 nautical miles when recaptured this summer by Passion fishing the well-known fishing grounds close to Trial Bay Gaol at South West Rocks. On release, this fish was estimated at 13kg and on recapture was estimated at a healthy 55kg. The fish was re-released with the original tag in place to hopefully be recaptured again. A sailfish originally released by My Way of Sunshine Coast GFC in September 2010 and that missed out on being reported last year was also recaptured in late September of 2013. It had grown from a reported 25kg on release to approximately 45kg on recapture. Despite being at liberty for 1098 days, the sailfish was recaptured only seven Black marlin goes to gaol nautical miles from its original release location off Mooloolaba in Queensland. This is quite common for sailfish tagged under the program, with more than 90 per cent of fish being recaptured within 100NM of their release location. The general lack of long-distance movements of sailfish has also been reported in other studies throughout the world, where the majority of fish have been recaptured within a short distance of the release point. Electronic tagging studies, however, have demonstrated that sailfish regularly move several hundred nautical miles over periods of 30 to 100 days at liberty and further emphasise the influence of dispersal (particularly offshore movements) on recapture rates. This season has so far been another good year for black marlin heading into NSW. The strong East Australian Current pushing down the coast has delivered fish to the usual hotspots, including South West Rocks, Port Stephens and Jervis Bay. The 2012-2013 season saw more than 3000 black marlin tagged, the highest number since 1998-1999, and hopefully this year will give that total a run for its money! If you want to see information about last year’s tagged and recaptured fish, check out the summary report for 2012-2013 on our website: www. dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/recreational/ saltwater/gamefish-tagging The NSW DPI Game Fish Tagging Program issues tags free of charge to individuals and fishing clubs and works in close association with the NSW Game Fishing Association and the Game Fishing Association of Australia. Over 400,000 fish have been tagged under the program so far. The program is run using funds from the NSW Recreational Fishing Trust. If you would like to get involved in the program please phone (02) 4424 7417 or email: [email protected] – Phil Bolton Fisheries Manager, NSW DPI The 2012-2013 season saw more than 3000 black marlin tagged in Australia, which was the highest number since 1998-1999. Hopefully, the good run this year will be even higher. This arcle is provided courtesy of BlueWater Boats & Sportsfishing magazine. It originally appeared in Issue 103, 2014. Copyright © 2014 BlueWater Publishing
