FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 70, NO. 2 



Oceanographic Institution began tagging mar- 

 lins and other pelagic fishes in the western North 

 Atlantic in 1954. Preliminary results of the pro- 

 gram, pertaining to marlins, were described by 

 Mather (1960, 1967, 1969). In 1956, Japanese 

 longline vessels began fishing for tunas and bill- 

 fishes in the Atlantic Ocean; this fishery soon 

 expanded to cover all of the tropical and tem- 

 perate Atlantic. Tag returns and records of 

 catches from the longline fishery have provided 

 detailed data on the distribution, movements, 

 and relative abundance of white and blue marlins 

 in the Atlantic. The results of our study of these 

 data are presented here. 



SPORT FISHERY 



Sport fishing for marlins and other big game 

 fishes developed along the Atlantic coast of 

 North America and off the Bahamas and Cuba 

 during the 1930's (Figure 1). After 1945, fish- 

 ing spread to the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, 

 and more distant areas. The growth of the fish- 

 ery was aided by the widespread prosperity of 

 the era and by improvements in fishing boats 

 and equipment. More white marlin than blue 

 marlin are taken by sportsmen; however, the 

 comparative scarcity and the challenging size 

 and power of blue marlin make them the more 

 highly prized trophy. 



White and blue marlins share a vast habitat 

 in the Atlantic Ocean. The white marlin ranges 

 farther into the temperate zones during the 

 warm seasons and congregates seasonally in cer- 

 tain coastal areas in much greater numbers than 

 does the blue marlin. Along the east coast of 

 the United States, white marlin are abundant 

 during the warm season from Cape Hatteras, 

 N.C., north to Cape Cod, Mass., but blue marlin 

 are rarely caught north of Cape Hatteras. 



Fishing for white marlin off the middle At- 

 lantic coast of the United States originated in 

 Maryland in 1935, and spread to Cape Hatteras 

 and Cape Cod. The greatest fishing effort and 

 the largest catches are still made off Maryland, 

 Delaware, and adjacent parts of New Jersey and 

 Virginia. The major fishing centers are Ocean 

 City, Md., and the New Jersey ports from Cape 

 May northward to Atlantic City. The most pro- 



ductive fishing grounds are Baltimore and Wil- 

 mington Canyons. Boats from nearly all ports on 

 or near the Atlantic Ocean from northern Virgin- 

 ia to Cape Hatteras take white marlin, but Ore- 

 gon Inlet, N.C., is the major fishing center south 

 of Ocean City. White marlin are relatively scarce 

 in coastal waters off northern New Jersey and 

 western Long Island, N.Y., but often provide 

 good fishing at Hudson Canyon, and from east- 

 ern Long Island to Nantucket, Mass., the north- 

 eastern limit of their coastal range. As noted 

 above, the occurrence of white marlin from Cape 

 Hatteras to Cape Cod is generally limited to sum- 

 mer. 



The first sport fishery for blue marlin off the 

 U.S. coast developed at Hatteras, N.C., in the 

 late 1930's. Another major center for blue mar- 

 lin fishing off North Carolina is at Morehead 

 City, also mainly in late spring and summer. 



White and blue marlins are occasionally taken 

 off southeastern Florida and the Florida Keys, 

 usually by anglers seeking sailfish, but the num- 

 ber caught is small compared to the fishing ef- 

 fort. The best fishing for white marlin in the 

 Florida area is in spring. 



Marlin fishing developed off the northwestern 

 Bahamas in the 1930's. Both species of marlin 

 are fished from a number of localities in the Ba- 

 hamas throughout the year — white marlin being 

 most abundant in spring, blue marlin in late 

 spring and early summer. Sport fishing for 

 marlins has been excellent off Havana, Cuba, in 

 seasons similar to those in the Bahamas, but this 

 activity has diminished in the past decade. 



White and blue marlins are available through- 

 out the Caribbean Sea, and sport fishing facilities 

 have been developed in many localities. The 

 oldest and most important center is the Venezu- 

 elan coast in the vicinity of La Guaira, where 

 marlin fishing became popular soon after 1945. 

 Fishing is excellent for white marlin in late sum- 

 mer and early fall, and for blue marlin in winter 

 and spring. Fishing facilities for marlin also 

 exist at many other localities, including the Vir- 

 gin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica. Blue 

 marlin usually are more abundant than white 

 marlin off these islands. The best seasons usu- 

 ally are fall for small blue marlin, spring and 

 early summer for large. 



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