THE 30 BY 30 MOVEMENT

Big-game fishermen in the United States have been on the forefront of fisheries-management issues for years. The recreational-fishing community has not only been essential in conveying a better understanding of billfish and other pelagics to scientists and policymakers, but it also has been a staunch steward for species conservation.

Special-interest groups such as The Billfish Foundation are hyperfocused on the advocacy for responsible fisheries management, an increase in bluefin quota allocations, and congressional review of federal shark management, as well as issues plaguing the West Coast of the US. TBF’s efforts have helped to realize commercial bycatch-landing reports, the early adoption of circle hooks—several decades before NOAA mandated their use—as well as more than 60 years of traditional and satellite tagging. TBF was also responsible for securing the year-round closed zones in the Gulf of Mexico and off Florida’s east coast to reduce pelagic-longline bycatch of overfished and protected species such as juvenile swordfish, billfish, bluefin tuna, sea turtles and marine mammals.

The International Game Fish Association, Wild Oceans and others have contributed to the passage of the Billfish Conservation Act of 2012 and its 2018 amendment—a law that prohibits both the importation and sale of billfish on the US mainland and in the Caribbean. The IGFA has also helped lead the way by its own billfish satellite-tagging and tracking endeavors in order to gain the scientific data necessary to back up billfish behavior analyses and conservation efforts. These achievements are certainly admirable, but unfortunately, marine-management issues are not limited to