The Skillie Project: Tagging White Marlin with the Billfish Foundation

This previous summer season, I checked off a significant merchandise on my fishing bucket checklist: catching a white marlin on spinning sort out. I did it aboard the On The Water Skeeter 25-foot Bay Boat – not your typical billfishing vessel. The fish, one in all six we noticed that day, had moved far contained in the canyons, the place it was feeding on halfbeaks and flying fish over the inshore waters of Southern New England.

Not a lot is understood about these inshore marlin, apart from they present up in various numbers every summer season from Block Island to Nantucket. Fishermen again within the day referred to as them “Skillies,” a nickname for white marlin that appears totally localized to Southern New England.

Across the time I used to be celebrating my catch, the oldsters of the Billfish Basis – a nonprofit group that works globally to advance the conservation of billfish by way of analysis, advocacy and schooling – was ramping up their initiative, “The Skillie Venture.”

By satellite tv for pc tagging and dealing with native captains, The Skillie Venture guarantees to show us greater than we’ve ever recognized about our white marlin. The efforts started within the late summer season of 2024, with 5 marlin tagged, and can proceed into 2025.  You may learn extra about it beneath:

THE BILLFISH FOUNDATION LAUNCHES LARGEST WHITE MARLIN SATELLITE TAGGING MISSION TO DATE: THE SKILLIE PROJECT

Neighborhood-Primarily based Analysis Initiative Goals to Advance Conservation of an Understudied White Marlin Inhabitants off the coast of New England

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (Dec. 4, 2024) – The Billfish Basis (TBF) publicizes the launch of The Skillie Venture, a brand new initiative devoted to advancing the conservation of a white marlin inhabitants, discovered off the coast of southeastern New England and domestically known as “Skillies.” Utilizing cutting-edge satellite tv for pc tagging expertise, The Skillie Venture hopes to achieve a greater understanding of one in all Nantucket’s traditionally prized recreation fish and drive sustainable administration practices to guard them.

By a novel collaboration with the native fishing communities of Cape Cod and the Islands, famend captains and fishery pioneers, main billfish scientists, and {industry} sponsors, the community-driven challenge marks TBF’s largest white marlin satellite tv for pc tagging mission up to now.

The Nantucket fishery, as soon as famend for its swordfish, started evolving right into a key habitat for white marlin within the Nineteen Eighties. By the late twentieth century, anglers have been experiencing document numbers of those larger-than-average fish. Nevertheless, their annual return has turn into much less constant in recent times, prompting the neighborhood to take motion. A cellphone name to TBF within the spring of 2024 led to the creation of The Skillie Venture, which rapidly gained momentum.

“The Skillie Venture is a testomony to what will be achieved when passionate people, {industry} leaders, and the higher fishing neighborhood come collectively for a typical trigger,” mentioned Peter Chaibongsai with The Billfish Basis. “Drawing inspiration from the mannequin of our profitable Marlin Fly Venture, the concept of a analysis mission – absolutely devoted to understanding the migratory secrets and techniques of those elusive fish whereas highlighting this historic neighborhood – immediately turned a actuality.”

In simply 4 months, the challenge rapidly gained the backing of passionate stakeholders, the College of Maine’s Pelagic Science Lab, and industry-leading manufacturers (MidAtlantic Event, Viking Yachts, Valhalla Boatworks, Nomadix, Costa Sun shades, and Yeti), ensuing within the donation of 17 satellite tv for pc tags for its inaugural 12 months.

Captains John Galvin and Rob Goodwin led the trouble, piloting two Viking 72s – El Diablo and Scup Slayer, respectively. Constructing on many years of historical past with Nantucket’s fisheries, the duo labored with TBF, Captain Martin Scanlan, and the College of Maine to execute the tagging. Regardless of the challenges of an unpredictable fishery and a slender tagging window, The Skillie Venture efficiently deployed 5 satellite tv for pc tags in 2024.

“Ask anybody that’s ever fished round right here, discovering Skillies within the unpredictable waters of Nantucket Shoals is not any straightforward feat, not to mention catching one. Success requires a fragile stability of preferrred situations, experience, and sheer luck. So to deploy 5 tags in our first season is basically particular and a big step ahead,” shared Capt. John Galvin of Nantucket. “This challenge is a outstanding instance of neighborhood collaboration and scientific teamwork, and I’m assured it’s going to result in some unimaginable discoveries.”

Satellite tv for pc tags used for The Skillie Venture are programmed to stay on the fish for eight or twelve-month durations. The info collected from these tags will present very important insights into the fish’s migratory conduct, serving to inform conservation methods for the species’ future.

Trying forward, The Skillie Venture will proceed in 2025 by deploying extra tags and analyzing the primary 12 months’s information. The analysis gathered will play a key position in shaping sustainable administration practices, making certain that Skillies stay a prized a part of New England’s marine heritage for generations to come back.

For extra data on The Skillie Venture, please go to www.theskillieproject.com.

ABOUT THE BILLFISH FOUNDATION

The Billfish Basis (TBF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit group that works globally to advance the conservation of billfish and related extremely migratory species by way of analysis, advocacy and schooling. Based in 1986 by Winthrop P. Rockefeller, Dr. Eric Prince, and a gaggle of fifty founding members, The Billfish Basis (TBF) fosters robust billfish conservation ethics to teach anglers of all generations and supply a voice for billfish and the worldwide leisure sport fishing {industry}. TBF’s Tag & Launch program, which started in 1990, has grown to be the most important worldwide non-public billfish tagging program with over 280,000 experiences, and serves as a cornerstone of its mission. With a deal with integrating science and coverage, TBF continues to be a frontrunner in influencing efficient fishery administration options that profit each billfish populations and the angling neighborhood. For extra data, go to www.billfishfoundation.org or comply with on social media @TheBillfishFoundation.