Marlin tagged at Fraser Island caught at Port Stephens

As the game fishing season, or at least the main billfish action, begins to wind down in most areas, it's a good time to reflect of some of the remarkable recaptures and statistics that make the NSW DPI Game Fish Tagging Program one of the biggest and most successful citizen-science and rec-fishing initiatives in the world today.

Among this year's remarkable recaptures was a juvenile black marlin that swam from Fraser Island to Port Stephens.

Newcastle & Port Stephens Game Fishing Club boat Old Mate recaptured a tagged juvenile black marlin while fishing off the Gibber Reef, Port Stephens, in late March, 2017.

The NSW DPI database revealed that the marlin was originally released off Fraser Island, QLD.

Sunshine Coast GFC boat Pole Dancer tagged the fish on June 21, 2016, while chasing juvenile black marlin inshore.

The small marlin grew from a tiny estimated 5kg to a chunky 30kg (100cm to 145cm lower jaw fork length) after spending 281 days at liberty and travelling about 469 nautical miles in a south-westerly direction.

The fact the marlin went from the Fraser Island fishery that attracts big trailerboat interest in Queensland to the marlin fishing capital of NSW, that is Port Stephens, and was recaught in good shape, underscores the value both in scientifically and economically of catch-and-release fishing and the tagging program.

The Old Mate crew must be doing something right as they've recaptured two tagged black marlin and released a black marlin which went on to be recaptured — all in the past two seasons. As NSW DPI says, remarkable results!

TAGGING NUMBERS RISE
The number of fish tagged during 2015/16 exceeded 11,000 for the third year in a row while the number of reported recaptures was the highest in nine years. Overall, 11,397 fish were tagged (nearly 400 more than the previous year) and 184 recaptured (39 more than the previous year).

Following a rapid increase in tagging during the 1970s and early 1980s, numbers of fish tagged each year have fluctuated around an average of about 12,300, made up of varying proportions of species of fish tagged in different years.

The numbers of fish tagged each year vary for many reasons, not least, the availability of certain species of highly mobile pelagic fish at different times and locations.

For example, the Program’s two peak tagging years of 1990/91 and 1997/98 coincided with strong La Nina conditions on the east coast of Australia, resulting in greater than usual numbers of some species becoming available to anglers.

Compared with the previous year, in 2015/16 numbers of southern bluefin tuna tagged increased considerably, as did blue marlin, striped marlin and whaler sharks.

On the other hand, species tagged in lower numbers included black marlin, dolphinfish and yellowtail kingfish.

ALMOST HALF A MISSION FISH TAGGED
As at the end of June 2016, the grand totals of fish tagged and recaptured on the program stood at 446,345 and 7660 respectively, continuing the program’s status as the largest of its kind in the world.

The single species tagged in the highest numbers continues to be black marlin with over 64,500 tagged (14.5 per cent of all releases) followed by yellowfin tuna, yellowtail kingfish, sailfish, striped marlin, dolphinfish and southern bluefin tuna.

Other prominent key species are albacore, whaler sharks (as a group), blue marlin and mako sharks.

This information and the statsitics were derived courtesy of the NSW DPI Game Fish Tagging Program, Annual Report, 2015-2016.