feet the feeding, vertical and horizontal move- 

 ments, and general behavior of both the billfishes 

 and their food. Most of all, these data are needed so 

 that the scientist can reduce them into terms readily 

 understandable to the angler. The term "fisheries 

 oceanography" has been used to describe the appli- 

 cation of oceanographic principles so that the com- 

 mercial fishing boat skipper can locate commercial 

 concentrations offish (Hela and Laevastu, 1971). 

 However, this concept has seldom been used either 

 by captains of Sportfishermen or by scientists to 

 locate good billfishing grounds for the angler. This 

 seems to me one of the mutual goals of scientists 

 and anglers. 



Fishing grounds can sometimes be improved 

 through artificial habitats. Artificial reefs are bot- 

 tom structures used to attract bottom or midwater 

 game fishes, yet the tsiike rafts of the Japanese 

 — bales of straw or other floating or anchored 

 structures — could be used to attract small fishes 

 upon which billfish feed. 



Possibly the greatest threat to our billfish sport 

 fisheries resources in not overfishing but manmade 

 environmental changes. Billfish sport and com- 

 mercial fishery interests must join together in re- 

 ducing present pollution levels and preventing new 

 sources of marine pollution. Pesticides, PCBs, 

 heavy metals, sewage wastes, and various hy- 

 drocarbons (mostly oils and tars) not only are poten- 

 tially dangerous to various stages of the life cycle 

 of billfish and the organisms on which they feed, 

 but these compounds are concentrated sublethally 

 in various parts of the billfish, making them poten- 

 tially dangerous to human consumers (Wilson and 

 Mathews, 1970). Pollution damages not only the 

 living resources but also the fishing grounds by 

 removing oxygen, adding toxins which may cause 

 fish to change their behavioral, migratory, repro- 

 ductive, or feeding habits, and increasing turbidity 

 so that billfish cannot see baits trolled from boats. 

 In Palm Beach County, Florida, the latter 

 phenomenon apparently has forced billfish anglers 

 to go much farther away to find sailfish, with a re- 

 sulting increase in fuel costs and a lessened amount 

 of time which can be devoted to actual angling. 

 Dredging, filling, and the disposal of untreated 

 sewage all combine to turn Palm Beach's once-blue 

 sailfish waters to the shade of weak coffee. The 

 basic problem is that such environmental degrada- 

 tion is not being documented, which is sorely 

 needed if appropriate restorations are to be made. 



A special occupational hazard of billfish and 

 tuna anglers is the shark problem. A single shark 

 bite will disqualify a potential record game fish 

 from qualifying under IGFA rules and, hence, the 

 angler needs to boat his fish safely and rapidly. 

 Sharks occur wherever billfish swim, but their ten- 

 dency to attack billfish is not well understood. In 

 very clear tropical waters they tend to attack less, 

 while in murky or polluted waters they become 

 fierce, frequently going into the so-called "feeding 

 frenzy." A knowledge of why sharks attack a bill- 

 fish might aid the angler in avoiding areas of poten- 

 tial shark attack and, hopefully, lead to some effec- 

 tive shark repellent. 



Habitat improvement, pollution reduction, and 

 shark deterrents are all important goals to billfish 

 anglers which could be cooperatively studied by 

 anglers, boat captains, tackle and boat maufactur- 

 ers, local, state, and federal governments, and sci- 

 entists. Such cooperation, at all levels, should be 

 one of the goals of this Symposium. 



The Boat Captain 



Like all ship captains, the captain of a Sport- 

 fisherman is stubborn, brilliant, cantankerous, ded- 

 icated, independent, and unshakable in his habits. 

 If he is an unusually competent fish-getter, his be- 

 liefs are even more entrenched, while if he does 

 not produce for the angler consistently, he can 

 blame his poor catches on wrong tides, poor 

 weather, lack of baitfish on the grounds, bad bait, 

 too low water temperatures, pollution, nuclear 

 fallout, or Japanese longliners. 



With all his other problems of keeping his ship 

 operating perfectly, catering to wealthy and often 

 difficult anglers, catching fish, and getting back to 

 port, the skipper actually has little time to learn 

 new techniques or to search for new areas even if 

 he wants to. Scientists stress the need for accurate 

 log books to be placed aboard Sportfishermen so 

 that strikes, water temperatures, bird flocks, and 

 sea and wind conditions can be recorded. Many 

 skippers actively tag billfish in cooperation with 

 tagging programs of Woods Hole Oceanographic 

 Institution or the Tiburon Fisheries Laboratory, 

 though the maintenance of carefully maintained 

 logbooks is frequently beyond the physical capabil- 

 ity of the captain. 



Most billfish captains are intelligent, friendly, 

 and inquisitive about marine science, and espe- 

 cially about the fish upon which they depend for 



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