Pisces Support Billfish Conservation Program

Pretty much all of our crews have been working with us for over a decade and understand the sense of conserving billfish to secure their futures. Unfortunately not all Cabo crews think like this and end up killing a lot of fish.
At Pisces are release rate for marlin averages 98-99%, with only some anglers deciding to keep a fish, which is fine by us.

Before you can conserve something you need to know more about it, how many are there, where do they live, how do they reproduce, what areas do they reproduce in?

We have developed relationships over the years with scientists from La Paz our state capitol.  We give them daily information in regard to what is being caught, conditions, types of bait etc. Pisces has been keeping statistics for decades now, in regard to what we catch aboard our boats and this information is very valuable, because as far as we have seen it is the only true data recorded. We understand that to protect marine sources you have to present facts, not feelings. To be able to defend our marlin we have to go before the decision makers with facts and scientific studies in our hands.
The captains have asked on many occasions what they can do in a concrete way, to preserve the sportfish and actively participate, so when we were approached by Dr. Rogelio Armas from the Fisheries Institute to participate in a study and to train our crews to take samples we were thrilled.

The objective of the study is to try and prove that marlin reproduce and spawn in the areas of Los Cabos, so the main idea is to collect billfish larva. If it can be proved that our shores are an area for reproduction and spawning of marlin, then it would have to be closed to commercial fishing, which would be a HUGE benefit to sportfishing.

The crews went out in different groups for training sessions and learned how to use a special net to collect samples; they then got to look at what they collected on board, with the scientific microscope, as what they collected just looked like sea water to them. However, under the microscope was a whole world of life that had them jabbering excitedly like school children; they were amazed at what they saw. They then learned how to “fix” the samples and seal them correctly for scientific study.

One very exciting sample was taken that we thought was a sailfish larva, as it looked like a tiny billfish, however back at the lab it turned out to be a flying fish larva.

Some sampling will be done during charters with the prior consent of anglers at certain times of year and we hope to have your cooperation and support whilst we do this, as it will only take fifteen minutes but what we collect could be of great benefit in our fight to preserve the species, the great fishing and our crews’ jobs long term.

Here is a brief slideshow of the work being carried out by our captains.

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