in the water, and the trail of air bubbles created by 

 the lure, are all very important factors. In our ex- 

 perience, the artificial lure also has taken more of the 

 large fish than the skipping bait or the live bait. Each 

 area seems to have one favorite fishing method which 

 is considered to catch the most fish. 



Mr. R. Johnson (Sports Illustrated): 



Question to Dr. Robins. Does the hookless lure ex- 

 tend the life of the fish after it has been released? This 

 is apart from any questions of tournament rules. 



Dr. Robins (USA): 



I am not familiar with this particular lure. I am per- 

 sonally convinced that the reason a lot of fish, par- 

 ticularly blue and black marlins, die after release is 

 the build up of lactic acid in the body after they have 

 been "played" for a long time. To investigate this 

 problem we need to use sonic lures and track the fish 

 after release. 



Mr. R. Johnson: 



Does Captain Parker consider it possible to main- 

 tain a charter business with customers going out with 

 the understanding that they are to use a hookless 

 lure? 



Captain Parker: 



Yes. Trying to build a lure that will hold the fish on 

 the end of the line has been the desire of man ever 

 since fishing began. May I remind you of the advent of 

 nylon lines, the glass fiber rod, and the two-hook lure. 



Mr. Lewis: 



As there appear to be no further questions, I will ask 

 Peter Fithian to summarize this session. 



Mr. Fithian: 



Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Dr. Robins talked about 

 the valuable information that could be derived from 

 good photographs and how these should be taken to 

 avoid distortion. An identification tag showing loca- 

 tion and time of capture, and weight and length 

 should be visible in the photograph. He said that 

 scientists must follow up on what they request from 

 the sport fishermen and I agree that this is a very im- 

 portant point. 



Mr. Goadby spoke of the active manner in which 

 Australian oceanic game fishermen have cooperated 

 with marine scientists, especially in tagging 

 programs. Results from these have already suggested 

 some interesting migration patterns for the black 

 marlin off the east coast of Australia. 



Mr. Craig commented on the value of records and 

 other data in fishing club files and how useful club 

 yearbooks can be to the scientist. I know that Mr. 

 Harry of the IGFA always asks clubs to send in their 

 yearbooks and it occurs to me that this might be the 

 simplest way for scientists to get hold of them. 



Mr. Stroud spoke about the activities of the Sport 

 Fishing Institute. In particular, he summarized the 



history of the conflicts between the Japanese commer- 

 cial longline fishery for tunas and billfishes and the 

 recreational fisheries in the Western Hemisphere, and 

 how some of the problems were resolved. Finally, Mr. 

 Stroud stated more funds were needed for game fish 

 research and how this might be achieved. 



Mr. Squire indicated the type of catch and effort 

 data scientists need from the angler. He outlined the 

 type of surveys he makes on an annual basis for the 

 eastern Pacific Ocean area. He also emphasized the 

 need to know how much effort (time) is deployed 

 which results in no catch. 



Captain Parker commented that he believed the 

 charter boat captains and crew can provide a lot of 

 good data for the scientists, both on the fish and the 

 environment, if only they took the time to record it. 

 He was also very concerned about the lack of revenue 

 from the sale of the fish following the mercury 

 problem, as this is a serious economic problem in the 

 Hawaiian charter boat industry. There was a very in- 

 teresting discussion of the hookless lure, which might 

 be useful for tagging purposes as it causes no damage 

 to the fish, apart from other conservation aspects. 



The general discussion ranged widely, both on 

 points raised by the panelists and from the floor. The 

 most important related to requests for printed infor- 

 mation on the correct way to measure billfishes and 

 take photographs of them for scientific purposes; 

 detailed standardized logs for sport fishing vessels; 

 tagging methods; international fishery agreements 

 and the billfishes; identification of rare species like 

 the "hatchet" marlin or "roundscale" spearfish; and 

 the "lighting up" of billfish at certain times. There 

 was a long and lively discussion of the merits or 

 otherwise of the hookless lure for angling and scien- 

 tific purposes, and the official position of the IGFA 

 with regard to this device from the sportsmanship 

 standpoint. 



Mr. Chairman, with your permission, I would like 

 to advise this group of some resolutions which the 

 Board of Governors of the HIBT intends to consider 

 and present in a final form at a later date. The first, in 

 draft form, is really addressed to NMFS, which has 

 the authority and responsibility for matters dealing 

 with marine sport fishing throughout the United 

 States of America: "It has been established at the 

 International Billfish Symposium that the successful 

 work on billfishes to date has arisen as a by-product of 

 other research, and whereas the billfish are generally 

 conceded to be the ultimate fishing quarry though lit- 

 tle is known about their biology and distribution, the 

 Board of Governors of the HIBT resolves that the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service be requested to 

 focus attention on billfish research over the next 5- 

 year period in order that a system for rational inter- 

 national management may be realized by a 

 cooperative effort of all those parties involved." 



The second will be a very self-serving resolution in 

 which we suggest that the Secretary of Commerce 

 consider appointing to the advisory committee of 



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