NCMC Conservation News - NCMC launches new campaign to end the sale of Pacific billfish, Take Marlin Off the Menu

NCMC JOINS NEW CAMPAIGN TO END THE SALE
OF PACIFIC BILLFISH

11/08 NCMC joins the International Game Fish Association in launching Take Marlin Off the Menu, a campaign aimed at getting marlin and other billfish out of supermarkets and off menus. We're reaching out to chefs, restaurants, seafood vendors, consumers and anglers to go "marlin-free."

Federal law has made it illegal since 1989 to sell overfished Atlantic billfish - white marlin, Atlantic blue marlin and sailfish. The regulations exclusively reserve billfish for the highly valuable recreational fishery because nearly all fish are released alive.

For the same reason, California outlawed the sale of striped marlin many decades ago. And yet, marlin caught in the Pacific can enter US markets, creating an enforcement problem - namely, a black market for illegal Atlantic-origin fish - undermining conservation of the Atlantic fishery. On top of that, a continued US market for billfish places additional pressure on Pacific stocks that are subject to uncontrolled fishing.

Although the status of Pacific billfishes isn't well known, NOAA Fisheries biologists say blue marlin are probably under as much fishing pressure as they can stand. In fact, given that the conditions are so similar to the Atlantic - most Pacific billfish are caught and killed as bycatch by large and expanding international fleets of longliners - there is good reason to believe they may be overfished.

Longline-caught marlin in the central and eastern Pacific are taken both for local markets and for export, many to the United States. The paper trail required of restaurants selling marlin - to prove the fish are from the Pacific - indicates movement through Central and Latin America to points of entry in Texas, Florida and elsewhere.

The National Coalition for Marine Conservation believes the biggest contribution the US can make to conserving Pacific billfish at this time - in addition to seeking international fishing agreements - is to close our markets.

OUR PLAN OF ACTION

carry out an educational and grassroots campaign to raise awareness of the threat of the continued commercial sale of Pacific billfish, and
prohibit the importation and sale of Pacific marlin and sailfish within the United States.

Read more about the Billfish Conservation Act of 2011, introduced July 2011.

Learn more at www.takemarlinoffthemenu.org

Read more about NCMC's efforts to conserve big fish in the Pacific.