sailfish challenge - Charity
"The Billfish Foundation's mission is to work worldwide to advance the conservation of billfish and associated species to improve the health of oceans and economies. "
Our conservation strategies are forward-looking, adaptive, and aimed at tackling current and future threats to billfish conservation and ecosystems. TBF employs a multi-tiered, proactive suite of initiatives involving research (both biological and socioeconomic), education, and advocacy projects. As billfish and other highly migratory species are not confined to the territorial waters of any one nation, these strategies must also take into account the differences in culture and law inherent to the international arena. Empowered by an internationally diverse constituent network, The Billfish Foundation is uniquely equipped to advocate for conservation and angler's rights."
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
The Billfish Foundation is recognized globally and has continued to distinguish itself from other fish conservation organizations through a sustained emphasis on synthesizing science and policy into effective, yet reasonable, fishery management solutions- solutions that are good for the fish but not punitive to recreational anglers.
TBF has been central to the following:
- Advancement and improvement of stock assessments for Atlantic and Pacific billfish
- The transition of the recreational billfish fishery to catch/tag/release
- Management and conservation regulations that prohibit the commercial retention and sale of Atlantic billfish in the U.S.
- Socioeconomic studies to establish a value for billfish species left alive in the water
- Scientific conferences that brought scientists from around the world to focus on the role billfish serve in the ecosystem
- Closing Areas to longline gear to protect crucial nursery habitats for fish and other species
- Adoption of the use of non-offset circle hooks
- Increasing the Angler Category for Atlantic Bluefin Tuna and getting the Gulf of Mexico an incidental catch quota
- Advancement of stock assessment methodology science for all highly migratory fish (TBF leads the world in this research)
- Development and maintenance of the world’s largest, most comprehensive private international billfish database
- Implementation of regulations moderating the commercial tuna and swordfish longline and purse seine vessels, which represent a major source of billfish mortality
- Assessed marine habitat in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans that are oxygen-depleted
- and Looking at viable solutions for the Atlantic shark depredation problem the sportfishing community is encountering
