this tournament have shown people what the Kona 

 coast can be like and why it's so easy to enjoy a day at 

 sea and land a billfish, if you're lucky enough to hook 

 into one. 



Lately we have heard a lot of discussion on conser- 

 vation of fish and possibly the mercury in billfish 

 scare has emphasized this. The belief is now that 

 there is a dangerous level of mercury in the blue 

 marlin and here in Kona we catch more blue marlin 

 than anything else. As I have said before, and I will 

 say again, part of the revenue in the charter service is 

 the sale of fish, if and when the angler leaves it with 

 the skipper. We depend on that sale and it has been 

 some help in holding down our charter prices and 

 without it we are seriously hurt. The blue marlin 

 revenue is shared between the skipper and the crew 

 and some of the boats have gone out of service because 

 they could not take that decrease in the share of the 

 profit. However, it is an ill wind that does not blow 

 some good, and here the good is concerned with con- 

 servation of billfish. 



I think it's a general trend at Kona that if a person 

 catches a billfish and it is his first fish, we usually 

 keep the fish because the ego has to be built up with a 

 photograph of the fish hanging at the dock. We can 

 well understand that and it is worthwhile, as well as a 

 beautiful advertisement for the Hawaii tourist in- 

 dustry. So we take that first fish, but how about the 

 second and subsequent fish? The skipper and crew 

 ask the angler if it is just another fish as far as he is 

 concerned or does he care to have the fish mounted. 

 This may be a little expensive for him so they ask if he 

 would like to release the fish and let him fight again. 

 The angler often agrees. Of course there is always the 

 person who can afford to have the fish mounted, so the 

 fish is landed. 



The next question relates to the type of tag we can 

 put into the fish and how it can be found later. A tag, 

 such as a small dart, can be put in the dorsal muscle 

 of the fish and the time between the first and second 

 capture will show the distance traveled, growth, and 

 possibly conditions under which he is caught. I think 

 we are all fairly familiar with the dart tag procedure, 

 but the previous speaker, Mr. Squire, alluded to 

 something which made me feel I should talk about a 

 type of lure that is able to bring the fish to the boat 

 without injury. Without any blood being shed, and 

 without any interference with his swimming or 

 breathing, the fish can be brought to the boat and 

 kept almost stationary though you have to act quickly 

 if you're going to tag and release the fish. A lure was 

 developed here in Hawaii about 3 yr ago, and has been 

 improved since then. The concept of taking a billfish 

 with this lure is just the reverse of a normal lure in 

 that this lure has no hooks at all. This new lure was 

 developed with the idea that the billfish already 

 provides the hooks on his bill. The bill in each billfish 

 is covered with a lot of fine teeth and when proper 



material is applied to that bill you can hold him with 

 the bill and bring him to the boat. As a matter of fact 

 you hold him so well and can guide him to the boat 

 much easier than if he is hooked in the mouth. You 

 can use much lighter tackle to do it. I think that's 

 what we're after. 



I understand from a discussion last night with one 

 knowledgeable person that probably it is not the hook 

 or the dart tag which kills the fish or shortens his 

 lifespan, but an accumulation of lactic acid from use 

 of oxygen during the fight. I understand that oxygen is 

 stored in the red muscle of the fish for an emergency. 

 Then during the fight on rod and reel if he uses it all 

 he is at the same point as the boxer when he is hang- 

 ing on the ropes. Possibly this is what we have to 

 avoid when we tag a fish, that is, we have to eliminate 

 the fight on rod and reel. We go out purposely to tag a 

 fish, possibly with a sonic transmitter in it, and then 

 perhaps the fish will live no longer than 48 h. I believe 

 when the last taggings were done here with sonic 

 transmitter, the billfish did not survive long enough to 

 get the information that was really wanted. We had a 

 special boat down here with all the sonic gear and it 

 seems a shame that these fish appeared to die so soon. 

 I suggest that the new type of lure with a transmitter 

 could be used to tag the fish without a fight; the 

 leader would break after the fish had taken the lure 

 and then the chase with the listening devices would go 

 into effect. 



Again I want to welcome you all to Kona on behalf 

 of all the skippers, even those who aren't here this 

 morning. I know they think sport fishing has 

 developed to a very fine point, when these scientists 

 will spend their time and their energy to come and 

 hold a symposium on billfish. I think sometimes we 

 underestimate the importance of the billfish here in 

 Kona, and it was not until the international billfish 

 tournament, originated by Peter Fithian, that we real- 

 ly started to make some strides and realize the impor- 

 tance of the billfish fishery. I take my hat off to Peter 

 Fithian who has brought this to fruition. 



D. Lewis 



Thank you very much, George. The meeting is now 

 open to questions from the floor. 6 Please identify 

 yourself as this session is being recorded. 



Discussion 



Mr. Lewis: 



In my privileged position as Chairman, I would like 



B For purposes of brevity, the question and answer section has 

 been abbreviated and in some instances paraphrased. Also, ques- 

 tions relating to the mercury problem were similar to those raised 

 during the special session on mercury; thus these have been omitted. 



15 



