tant for the governments to work closely with scien- 

 tists. Also, anglers and boat captains are seldom 

 represented at government levels or are advisors to 

 them. Finally, all levels of government should sup- 

 port scientific research, exploratory fishing, and the 

 development of angling for billfish. More coopera- 

 tion is needed among the anglers, scientists, and 

 governments. Possibly here is where private organi- 

 zations such as the Sport Fishing Institute can be a 

 catalyst to motivate cooperative efforts. 



The Scientist 



The greatest hindrance to the development of bill- 

 fish research has been the scientist, partly because of 

 lack of funds and partly because of a lack of interest. 

 With the exception of the Japanese research pro- 

 grams, there have been no well-funded, long-term, or 

 comprehensive studies on billfishes. Most scientific 

 publications on billfish have been done on a financial 

 shoestring or are a spinoff pirated from another pro- 

 ject. Anglers, commercial fishermen, boat captains, 

 and scientists must urge that adequate funds be made 

 available for long-term comprehensive studies. A 

 scientist must convince funding agencies that re- 

 search on billfish is needed; he can be aided morally 

 by anglers, captains, commercial fishermen, the 

 sport fishing industry, and local governments in his 

 quest for support. And, most important, the scientist 

 must clearly communicate his research interests 

 with the granting agencies, as well as the persons 

 from whom he seeks collateral support. During 

 these studies, if he receives financial support, he is 

 continually obliged to report his findings — including 

 those relating science and billfishing — to the 

 sportsmen, boat captains, and the sport fishing in- 

 dustry in understandable language. Supporters of 

 billfish research want and deserve results. 



What are some of the directions billfish research 

 should take? The pure scientist should rightfully be 

 interested in billfish systematics and evolution, re- 

 production and development, behavior, food and 

 feeding, life history, ecology, and any facets of the 

 broad fields which he wishes to pursue. 



It is presently impossible with our knowledge and 

 facilities to capture, transport, and maintain in 

 capitivity an adult billfish. However, behaviorists 

 using submersibles and even scuba should attempt 

 to study the daily activities of billfish in their natural 

 habitats including their horizontal and vertical mi- 

 grations. Such observations might offer clues to the 

 visual and olfactory senses of billfish, information 



which would be valuable to billfish anglers. Rearing 

 of eggs and larvae can probably be done to at least 

 the juvenile stage, and such information should re- 

 veal valuable information on the physiological re- 

 quirements and behavioral ecology of billfishes. 



Tagging studies should be intensified to include 

 tagging of smaller specimens of billfish (i.e., those 

 with a potentially longer life span ahead of them) 

 concomitant with genetic and morphometric studies 

 of subpopulations. By studying catch rates from an- 

 glers' logbooks and tournament records, fluctua- 

 tions in catch per unit of effort can be detected. 



The problem of the fishing grounds has already 

 been discussed, but this problem should be reviewed 

 here to stimulate further study. 



Environmental (i.e., physical, chemical, and 

 biological) information should be obtained about 

 billfish habitats, including information on environ- 

 mental fluctuations, hopefully at the same time span 

 and in the same areas that biological data are being 

 gathered on billfishes. Knowledge of temperature, 

 salinity, turbidity, density, thermocline structure, 

 and plankton patterns in relation to billfish distribu- 

 tion can be jointly analyzed by biologists and physi- 

 cal oceanographers. 



The effects of pollution on billfishes should be 

 studied, including the transfer of contaminants 

 through the food web. Heavy metals, chlorinated 

 hydrocarbons (including DDT and PCBs), sew- 

 age and industrial wastes, various hydrocarbons and 

 their fractions, and radionuclides may adversely af- 

 fect billfish at some stages of their life history, or 

 may interfere sublethally with metabolic processes, 

 such as reproduction or migrations. Finally, man- 

 made contaminants may build up via the food web to 

 high concentrations in various parts of billfish flesh, 

 at which levels they are a potential hazard to the hu- 

 man consumer. 



Who is going to do all this work? There are already 

 many needy research projects going unsolved and 

 unfunded. The problem is particularly difficult with 

 the hard-to-study big-game fishes because of the ex- 

 pense and time involved, and the good possibility 

 that the investigator will end up with few or incon- 

 clusive data. Hence, this type of study is likely to be 

 done by a technician working 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. during 

 the week, and it is virtually impossible to study bill- 

 fish on such a schedule. The alternative is to attract 

 imaginative young students to these problems. Yet, 

 few students will embark upon a master's or doctoral 

 program unless there is some assurance that they 

 will obtain their degree in a reasonable time, and 



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