The success of TBF’s Tag & Release program is attributed to the dedicated anglers, captains, and mates around the globe that voluntarily tag, release, and report their billfish catches. The deployment of traditional tags provides the groundwork for conservation-minded policy, scientific advancement, and gives insight into the demographics and socio-economic benefits generated from billfishing. This valuable data, much of it impossible to measure without the use of traditional tagging, provides essential information for stock assessments, which is instrumental in a time when industrial longlines represent the largest source of marlin mortality.

Captains and anglers on the water represent the first line in billfish conservation, illustrating a direct link between catch and release fishing and marine conservation. To recognize their efforts, TBF hosts an annual International Tag & Release Competition, which is capped off with an annual awards ceremony. TBF believes it’s important to recognize our members who not only catch and release a great number of fish, but also embody and share a common conservation ethic.