Marlin may be listed as endangered - Boat US Reports

One of big game fishing's saltwater icons, the white marlin, may be hooked by the federal endangered species list this month. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is expected to announce its decision on whether this premier open-ocean fish warrants inclusion under the federal Endangered Species Act.

The agency says white marlin have been overfished for 30 years and mortality is seven times higher than acceptable levels. In the Atlantic, the population is less than 15% of what it should be for fishing to continue. It is already illegal for U.S. commercial fishermen to harvest the white marlin, or its cousin, the blue marlin, and if caught, the fish are to be released alive.

Endangered status would mean white marlin would be off-limits to recreational angling as well, even to catch-and-release fishing. That could put a serious crimp in the offshore charter boat business throughout U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico waters. And instead of hauling in thousands of dollars for trophy fish, tournament anglers hooking a white marlin could land $100,000 fines.

The fisheries service review comes in response to a petition filed last September by the Biodiversity Legal Foundation in Louisville, Colorado. The agency had one year to make its determination, due Sept 3, and if listing is deemed warranted, a 60-day public comment period must follow. Final listing would have to occur by September 2003.

Meanwhile, three members of Congress have called on President Bush to use trade sanctions if necessary to enforce international conservation measures approved but not enforced for high seas fishing on white and blue marlin stocks. Many observers lay the blame for overfishing on foreign longline vessels.

Reps. Wayne T. Gilchrest (R-MD), Walter B. Jones (R-NC) and Jim Saxton (R-NJ) introduced a joint resolution to that effect June 26.