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Hawaii International Billfish Tournament’s marlin race update
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The idea was to “spice up” the 50th running of the Hawaii International Billfish Tournament in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii last July by adding what was billed as the “Great Marlin Race.”
The rules were simple: all anglers and teams entered in the HIBT could purchase satellite tags that, once attached to any Pacific blue marlin caught during the tournament and then released, would measure its mileage away from Hawaii at the end of 180 days.
The winner of the race is to receive a free entry for up to six anglers in the 2010 HIBT, plus the overall results of the race data will contribute to the research of a joint venture between the Pacific Ocean Research Foundation, Stanford University, and Global Tagging of Pelagic Predators.
Barbara Block, Ph.D., and her graduate students/technicians from Stanford University either deployed or assisted the teams and boat crews in deploying the satellite tags, and Dr. Block will determine the winner.
To date there have been two satellite tags to pop up just days apart. And it is thought that in both cases, the tags fell off the fish prematurely rather than that they were due to mortalities.
The Pajaro Valley Game Fish Club, Teams 1 and 2 and the Monterey Bay Anglers had tagged “Fish 7”, and its tag was the first to be located a mere 62 nautical miles from the Big Island.
The second tag on “Fish 4,” caught by the Laguna Niguel Billfish Club of Calif., however, popped up some 2,225 nautical miles away near the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia. Researchers say they will be able to create a track of where this marlin went and learn about its diving habits during its travels over the past 90-plus days as the data is analyzed.
With the Great Marlin Race just barely half over, and with five tagged fish still swimming somewhere in the Pacific, the final results should prove to be remarkable.
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