Newslines
Mike’s tag popped up on March 12 this
year after 234 days on the 115kg blue
marlin, revealing a remarkable 2658
nautical miles (nm) travelled from
Bermuda to a location three degrees
above the equator and about 600nm
northeast of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.
Not only did this fish win the 2017
Bermuda race, it is the longest distance
ever recorded by an IGMR-tagged blue
marlin in a race from Bermuda.
Once the data has finished transmitting to
Argos satellites, a track will be generated
for the winning fish. It will be exciting to
see if the winning blue marlin travelled
through Cape Verde before heading south,
a migratory behaviour we observed in
a few of the fish tagged in the 2015
Bermuda IGMR.
BERMUDA BLUE MARLIN TAKES THE LEAD
Our third year of satellite-tagging marlin in Bermuda officially concluded when the final tag detached from its fish,
floated to the surface and reported to a satellite, moving its sponsor, Reel Steel’s Mike Verzaleno, into first place to
win the 2017 Hamilton Bermuda IGFA Great Marlin Race. It is also currently in the lead of all 58 fish tagged in the
entire 2017-2018 race year!
Interestingly, three of the other marlin
tagged last summer headed north within
their first month of deployment, as was
the case with fish tagged in the Bermuda
IGMR in 2016. One blue marlin, estimated
at 180kg, swam north towards Nova
Scotia until it hit the continental shelf,
then turning east. The tag then popped
up 950nm away, putting its sponsor in
second place.
So far, the fish tagged in Bermuda during
the 2015, 2016 and 2017 Triple Crown
Billfish Tournament have swam a total of
16,463nm, with the 2017 Bermuda IGMR
contributing 30% of the total distance.
The IGMR would like to thank Bonnier
Corporation’s Dan Jacobs and Lynda
Wilson as well as Frank Rodriguez of
Fa La Me, Lainey Jones of Mama Who,Spencer Butterfield of Foreign Exchange,
Marc Verzaleno of Reel Steel, Dan Devine
of Seamaster, Wally Whitley of Que Mas,
Dan Murphy of Last Stall, Dan Doyle of
Blank Check, Byron & Laura Russell of
Hit N Run, and Art Favre of A Work of
Art for their generous support of this
significant conservation project. Their
personal generosity and involvement in
sponsoring and deploying tags makes
this cutting-edge scientific endeavour
possible.
We look forward to growing and improving
this important research program and are
excited to kick off the 2018 race season
by deploying tags on healthy blues in the
upcoming Triple Crown Billfish Tournament
this July.- Leah Baumwell
The final satellite tag has now
popped-up and reported
from all the blue marlin
tagged during the 2017
Bermuda IGFA Great
Marlin Race. The
winner travelled
a remarkable
straight-line
distance of 2658
nautical miles.