Dear Sir,

Lots of pictures, social media, high-fives and congratulations at the dockside, while a massive dead blue marlin hangs over a celebratory crew in the cockpit — “Well done, we won!”

Won what exactly? What was the expectation — that the great fish ever had a fair chance at ending the angler’s day the way its day ended? No, there is nothing fair or sporting about it: an eight-figure, state-of-the-art fishing machine versus a pelagic giant that avoided innumerable risks during its lifetime only to end up as chum, pot and hook bait.

The strain on marine resources and their effects is well documented. Modern sportfishing, which emerged in the late 1930s, is a relatively recent concern in marine environmental challenges, alongside issues such as carbon emissions from Atlantic-crossing sportfishing boats.

Another view is from the perspective of direct and trickle-down economics. These groups of visitors bring significant foreign exchange to our island, for which we should be extremely grateful. Additionally, these world-class events and their global media outreach give us free, instant marketing, even if the events' roots are offensive to some. To most, perhaps even those offended, it is a seasonal spectacle with well-crafted sportfishing boats, impressive camaraderie and local engagement.

The key is balancing staying relevant as a destination for this bandwidth of valued customers against what the environment must sacrifice to sustain it; fewer or no more gamefish means fewer of these customers, or none. In that light, the marlin remains the focus, as it is an unmarketable food source that, if killed, becomes only bait in various forms, as noted above.

Initial pressure on the stock stemmed from unmarketable bycatch from longlining and trawling. Growing awareness of that pressure led to the first conservation measures, which began only in 2000. Additionally, catch-and-release, prize-incentive tagging, the Billfish Foundation, and the International Game Fish Association's strict compliance rules for marlin catching are efforts to be applauded.

Advocates, including those of prize money tournaments, clearly understand the pressure on the resource, yet the question remains: if several credible sources identify the resource as in decline, why add further unnecessary negative pressure?

Eliminating prize money and, for that matter, camaraderie and local engagement as consequential motivators, the focus turns to sport and the resource that sustains it: marlin. A reasonable analogy is the impact of European motivation and methods for hunting the North American plains buffalo, compared with those of the native tribes and nations. The result was a near-extinction event, driven by the aggressive application of previously unused forces, which overwhelmed what the balance of nature could sustain.

The context here is arguably similar; the firearm, etc, is to the buffalo as the longline, trawl and sportfishermen are to the marlin — utterly defenceless and stock-depleting, with blue marlin populations listed as vulnerable and declining as of 2021.

In summary, this is not to suggest a hardline approach in either direction, but rather to identify an issue that needs to be addressed to balance benefits and risks. Options might include making the event every other year, bonus points for not boating the fish, and a “red card” for boats that boat fish.

HAROLD CONYERS

Pembroke