There is very exciting news this week for the Exmouth Game Fishing Club.
The annual Gamex tournament at Exmouth will this coming March 2012 be part of the International Game Fishing Association (IGFA) Great Marlin Race. The Great Marlin Race is a partnership between IGFA and the USA’s Stanford University that pairs recreational anglers with cutting-edge science to learn more about the basic biology of marlin and how they utilise the open ocean habitat. The goal of the program is to deploy 50 pop-up archival tags (PAT) in marlin at billfish tournaments around the world each year, and a limited number of these tags will be available to Gamex anglers, with the tournament running from March 9-17. Gamex and Exmouth is the ONLY Australian Tournament and location that has been chosen for 2012. (We feel very privileged!!) This effort will increase understanding of distribution, population structure and biology of marlin and engage anglers and the general public in the research process.
By increasing the understanding of where these animals go and how they use the pelagic ecosystem, it will provide valuable information to the resource managers and policy makers responsible for ensuring their long-term conservation. One hundred and twenty days after each tag is deployed, it automatically releases itself from the fish and transmits information such as the fish’s path, depth profiles, and sea temperatures to earth-orbiting ARGOS satellites. Tag sponsors, anglers and the general public will be able to view the migration routes of tagged marlin through Google Earth-enabled maps on the Great Marlin Race website where pop-up tag locations and animal tracks are displayed.
The subsidised cost of each tag is $4000. The marlin, and sponsor, whose tag travels the farthest of all 50 tags will be recognised at the annual IGFA International Auction and Banquet in January 2013, while the angler who tags the winning fish in the Exmouth leg of the 2011/12 Great Marlin Race will receive a free five-year membership to EGFC and free entry to Gamex 2013.
The Exmouth Game Fishing Club believes it is fantastic opportunity to place Exmouth firmly on the international game fishing map and to support scientific research and marlin conservation. To sponsor a tag email Exmouth Game Fishing Club at secretary@egfc.com.au, with tags sold on a first come, first served basis. For more information visit go to http://igmr.igfa.org .
