me an opportunity to join the "blood-and-guts" detail 

 and to see what a striped marlin looks like. I had, of 

 course, every cooperation from the local sport fishing 

 clubs in California, as otherwise it would have been a 

 monumental task to try to gather all these specimens 

 of striped marlin for determination of mercury con- 

 tent. I might go back and say it was a mandate from 

 the big-game sport fishermen in southern California 

 that made the Department undertake a program to 

 try and clarify the situation with regard to mercury. 

 We collected striped marlin samples and delivered the 

 results of the mercury analyses to the sport fishing 

 clubs. Cooperation can be obtained from sport fishing 

 clubs by working with them but reiterating what Dick 

 Robins said, do not ask for something unless you can 

 follow up on it. 



Additionally, I would like also to indicate the value 

 of club yearbooks. Some clubs just report their annual 

 catches and their annual buttons and awards, while 

 others present historical data on catches and in- 

 cidents that took place. One particular club yearbook 

 contains a couple of articles by lawyer members that 

 contribute much to our knowledge. I wish to call these 

 types of publications to the attention of scientists 

 because there is certainly a great deal of merit in what 

 the sport fisherman has to offer from his on-the-spot 

 observations. I brought these particular two yearbook 

 issues for Dr. Ueyanagi, because they contain some 

 data on the marlin weight-frequency distributions in 

 the southern California fishery. These data were 

 collected since the publication of his joint paper with 

 Colonel Howard. My small mercury program last 

 summer, which was just a "news note," was picked up 

 and published in this little booklet. If club articles 

 warrant it, and are called to our attention, perhaps we 

 can see that they obtain wider distribution than the 

 clubs themselves can provide. 



D. Lewis 



Thank you very much, Bill. I next call on Mr. 

 Richard Stroud, the Executive Vice-President of the 

 Sport Fishing Institute, who will make some remarks 

 on the role of that organization. 



R. Stroud (USA) 



It's a great pleasure to be here, first because it's the 

 first time I have ever been to Hawaii and secondly, 

 because I guess I am unique at this gathering since I 

 am the only official "hybrid" to appear before you. 

 Although I am sitting on the sportsmen side it is hard 

 for me to determine whether I am really a sportsman 

 or scientist — perhaps a little of both. I have worked in 

 both areas and I enjoy and participate in sport fishing 

 to a great degree. Nevertheless I would like to take a 

 little time to acquaint you with my organization. On 

 the table I have put some propaganda which explains 

 the nature and purpose of our organization and also 



some application blanks. I have also prepared a few 

 mimeographed comments on the role the Institute has 

 played over a long period of time and I invite you to 

 take a copy later. 



The Sport Fishing Institute is the only national non- 

 profit, tax-exempt conservation organization devoted 

 wholly to the conservation of fisheries resources, and 

 it was designed to help fishing and, consequently, 

 fishermen. It was established in 1949 and functions as 

 a research, education, and professional service type 

 Institute, and is staffed entirely by fisheries scientists. 

 It was designed to be a catalyst for development and 

 promotion of the application of all types of progressive 

 fish conservation programs in order to enhance the 

 sport of fishing. 



In the course of general overviews of fish conserva- 

 tion it became very apparent, a couple of decades ago, 

 that very little was being done in the inshore area 

 between the seashore and the high seas. The existing 

 institutional agencies were concerned either with in- 

 land types of resources or high-seas resources. There 

 was real diversion of interest away from the very 

 critical and sensitive area of the coastal zone and es- 

 tuarine areas which are vitally important to the con- 

 tinued survival of many of our game fishes. Conse- 

 quently, we attempted to stimulate a lot of activity in 

 this area and founded a research program of our own, 

 small in size but designed to stimulate interest. I 

 think we were successful in doing that. We began 

 making grants as early as 1952. Our first research 

 grant in the billfish area was a small one made in 1958 

 to an investigator at Yale University to work at an 

 east coast tournament similar to this one. We made a 

 follow-up grant later to South Carolina University in 

 1959 to develop further studies on the life history of 

 the blue marlin and white marlin. Then we became 

 interested in the work that Frank Mather was doing at 

 Woods Hole, the Cooperative Game Fish Tagging 

 Program, and for more than a decade have provided 

 small but continuing annual support to that program. 



Based on the research we have done, and the ob- 

 vious problems and needs that existed, we felt it was 

 necessary to enlist the support of the Federal and 

 State governments as much as possible. We have 

 great interest in the Dingell-Johnson Program, which 

 is supported by an excise tax you pay when you buy a 

 reel or big rod. These funds are channeled to the 

 States, which were stimulated to use some of this 

 money for marine game fish research, but there was 

 nothing being done at the Federal Government level. 

 The then Bureau of Commercial Fisheries was in- 

 terested almost exclusively in the high seas. So we 

 drafted a bill, which eventually became known as the 

 Marine Game Fish Research Act and this was passed 

 in 1959. This marked the formal entry of the Federal 

 Government into this area of concern which had been 

 previously neglected. 



Early in the 1960's, as you are all well aware, 

 Japanese longlining exerted fishing pressure on the 

 stocks with an evident adverse impact on sport 



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