Document Type

Article

Department/Program

Virginia Institute of Marine Science

Publication Date

2006

Journal

Fishery Bulletin

Volume

104

Issue

3

First Page

434

Last Page

444

Abstract

To estimate postrelease survival of white marlin (Tetrapturus albidus) caught incidentally in regular commercial pelagic longline fishing operations targeting swordfish and tunas, short-duration popup satellite archival tags (PSATs) were deployed on captured animals for periods of 5-43 days. Twenty (71.4%) of 28 tags transmitted data at the preprogrammed time, including one tag that separated from the fish shortly after release and was omitted from subsequent analyses. Transmitted data from 17 of 19 tags were consistent with survival of those animals for the duration of the tag deployment. Postrelease survival estimates ranged from 63.0% (assuming all nontransmitting tags were evidence of mortality) to 89.5% (excluding nontransmitting tags from the analysis). These results indicate that white marlin can survive the trauma resulting from interaction with pelagic longline gear, and indicate that current domestic and international management measures requiring the release of live white marlin from this fishery will reduce fishing mortality on the Atlantic-wide stock.

Keywords

Satellite Archival Tags; Makaira-Nigricans; Blue Marlin; Postrelease Survival; Recreational Fishery; Striped Marlin; Telemetry; Caught; Hooks

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