Hawaiian International Billfish tournament underway

The Hawaiian International Billfish tournament began Monday as it has for more than 50 years, with the now legendary phrase: "Start fishing, start fishing, start fishing!"

Taking place through Friday off Kona, the 51st annual "grandfather of all big game fishing tournaments" has 31 teams from around the world -- including five from Australia and Japan, four from New Zealand, U.S. teams from California, Hawaii, Florida and North Carolina plus teams from Canada, Korea, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, and Tahiti -- competing for the prestigious HIBT Governor’s Trophy, awarded to the team scoring the highest number of billfish points.

By the end of Day One, 11 teams had put points on the scoreboard, with 15 catches including three boated fish and 12 fish tagged and released. HIBT teams do not boat Pacific blue marlin weighing less than 300 pounds, instead scoring points for their catch and then tagging and releasing them.

Early in the day, the Korea Game Fish Assn., fishing aboard Northern Lights, had a double hook-up. Not quite ready for the double, the team disqualified the first marlin and concentrated on the second. In just 50 minutes, angler Kim Sung Su had boated a 390-pound Pacific blue marlin, winning his team valuable tournament points. "This is my best personal record catch," said Sung Su. "And it’s only the first day of the HIBT!"

Just before noon, Olympian Dream Fishing Club from Japan, aboard JR’s Hooker captained by Kevin Hibbard, boated a 395-pound Pacific blue marlin. Team captain and angler Yasuhiko Kagabu took just under an hour to boat the fish. "The team fished on 50-pound test and caught the marlin on a lure they brought from Japan. Yasuhiko took his time and brought the fish in nice and slow," said Hibbard. "He was an excellent angler."

Laguna Niguel Billfish Club rounded out the day by boating a 175-pound yellowfin tuna. Bob Dudley, who has caught large marlin in previous HIBT tournaments, had a surprise when the ahi appeared at the back of the boat. "We did not know we had an ahi. We played it like there was a marlin on the other end of the line," said Dudley. "This ahi was a tough fighting fish! Tomorrow, I want to go catch a marlin."

Daily Catch (Monday -- Day One)
10 Pacific blue marlin tagged and released
Two Pacific blue marlin weighed
Two shortnose spearfish tagged and released
One ahi (yellowfin tuna)
Team Standings
Place, Team, Points
1 Game Fishing Club of South Australia, 900
2 Olympian Dream Fishing Club, 625
3 Old South Marlin Club #1, 600
4 Team KGFA-Korean Game Fish Assn., 519
Captain Standings
Place, Captain, Boat Points
1 Lance Gelman, Long Ranger, 900
2 Kevin Hibbard, JR's Hooker, 625
3 Boyd DeCoito, Foxy Lady, 600
4 Kevin Nakamaru, Northern Lights, 519

In the event of point ties, place standings are determined by the time the fish is boated.

-- Kelly Burgess
twitter.com/latimesoutposts

Photo: Angler and 
Olympian Dream Fishing Club team captain Yasuhiko Kagabu, center, poses with the 395-pound Pacific blue marlin he boated. With him is 
Hawaiian International Billfish tournament’s 2010 Miss Billfish, Sonja Ascino
, and JR’s Hooker crew member David Crawford. Credit: Hawaiian International Billfish tournament

Comments

[Blue Planet Society]

Hunter

I assume you are referring to the IUCN red list of endangered species?

They are very slow at listing threatened species as it takes so long to collate the data, but I can assure you of one thing, all the species you mention will appear on the red list within the next five years or so.

In the mean time could I draw your attention to this? http://www.bigmarinefish.com/marlin.html

It looks like we are going to have to agree to disagree, but can I suggest that if you wish to have a sportfishing industry that your children and grandchildren can enjoy sportfishing will have to change its current philosophy entirely.

[Hunter]

Sorry Blue Planet, the sell job on your blog is very hollow.
First, blue marlin specifically are NOT endangered, neither are striped marlin or sailfish.
Most of the "high profile" sportfishing events have over 80 percent release rate, and in many cases its closer to 95 percent.
Also, those few fish that are taken ARE consumed by humans, and in places like Mexico the food value is a massive issue.
The effort put forth to demonize sportfishing would do far more good if directed at industrial level commercial operations, and in fact shouldn't "keep and eat" sportfishing be praised under the now-popular "Eat Local" principle?
The giveaway to your true position is equating "keep" sportfishing with big-game hunting, which is tightly regulated and biologically viable, but has become a non-starter totally due to the "Animal rights/vegan agenda" crowd, including non-vegans who believe that the meat at Ralph's dives under the plastic on it's own.
Do some real good for the fish and the oceans, stop industrial-level fishing.

[Blue Planet Society]

Hunter,

I'm not even a vegetarian and would not consider myself to be an animal rights activist either, in fact I am an angler.

You may be missing the point. Hundreds of people turn up at these events to see the weigh-ins (many of them children) and the media give sportfishing events huge coverage (in comparison to land hunting which is a no-go area) and the message is 'it is OK to kill endangered animals for sport'.

It has nothing to do with the numbers killed and more to do with the high profile of these events and the example it sets. The irony is, unlike hunting on land, you can have your cake and eat it by releasing the fish relatively unharmed (although the stress still kills many, but that's a whole new area).

You can read my reasonings here - http://blueplanetsociety.blogspot.com/2009/06/sportfishing-must-change-its-image.html

[Hunter]

The actual catch numbers here were 14 billfish caught, with 12 released, nearly 90 percent.
Every bit of edible meat on the two kept fish was utilized [as always in Hawaii].
In similar events held in Mexico, not only is every scrap of meat used, the head and skeleton is used to make soup, and the backbone simmered for long hours to get every bit of broth possible.
In an area of the Eastern Pacific that was recently closed to fishing, recreational anglers caught about 6,000 tuna and 7,000 wahoo per year, while commercial boats caught approximately 33 MILLION tuna per year in the same area.
The HIBT has killed fewer marlin in the past 10 years combined than a single longline boat kills in a single night.
Equating a Russian Trawler with an 8-mile wide net, and making that equivalent to an 8-year old boy going fishing with his Grandpa is simply preposterous.
The responses here demonstrate that it is an animal rights/vegan agenda issue, and not one of conservation.

[eschwets]

Interesting debate, here is an older view from Marlin sportfishing magazine that I found very interesting.

http://www.marlinmag.com/article.jsp?ID=16884&typeID=102&categoryID=285

[Blue Planet Society]

Hunter,

I think I understand your viewpoint but the sight of a mature blue marlin hanging from its tail for the sake of a prize does not set a very good example does it? The prize for some should be to see this magnificent animal continue to thrive on earth in its natural environment.

Bison and other land animals were hunted commercially and this put them on the brink of extinction but that did not mean that it was still acceptable to continue to shoot them for sport.

Conservation is as much about what is tolerated/acceptable, and in the 21st century it should now be unacceptable to kill endangered animals without a very good reason, especially ones that have been decimated by the desire to make money.

[Hunter]

Blue Planet,
The 90-percent figure is not exactly true.
For certain species that are heavily fished COMMERCIALLY it is absolutely true.
Bluefin Tuna, Atlantic Cod, Broadbill Swordfish, Orange Roughy, Patagonian Toothfish [Chilean Seabass], and several others have been nearly obliterated by industrial-level commercial operations.
Of these, only bluefin have ever been recreationally caught in any significant numbers.
Recreational anglers take less than 1-percent, while commercial fishing takes over 99-percent.
Recreational take is virtually all consumed by humans [including these Hawaiian fish], while much commercial take is used as pet food, fertilizer, or just dumped back overboard as undesirable bycatch.

[Blue Planet Society]

Wth 90% of all large predatory fish now gone from our oceans due to overfishing tournaments like this should now be totally catch & release. The irony is that invariably the largest fish, and so the ones landed, will be breeding females thus compounding an already serious problem.