MARLIN MAGAZINE (National Enquirer of the Fishing Industry)

[Broadbill-Pro]

Marlin Magazine discredits itself by allowing Mike Leech to continue his sobbing and misinformation in regard to the commercial fishing industry.

Those of you who believe his opinions and figures to be accurate should be aware that you are being mislead.

His continued exaggerations have made the IGFA a frivolous organization that is not and should not be taken seriously by NMFS, ICCAT or the Commerce Department.

Efforts should be focused on the benefit to society due to Sportfishing rather than his exhuasted attempts to rat on another sector of the industry.

Since he has no real knowledge of the figures he produces, we must assume that the core (accurate?) figures come from the above listed agencies who will make decisions based on their information and not his, thus there is no need for his constant crying with the exception of fund raising for the IGFA. (I know he is supposed to be retired, so go away already)

[Relentless33]

I dont follow this guy but I see exactly what your saying....
Why can't the major associations or marine services decide on what to do.....
We dont need this guy to tell us whats going on and what we need to do to fix the problem.
Im sure he is a lot of help but only give out information if it is fully correct.

\Dont say what you want to and state it as a fact if it isnt.

[Broadbill-Pro]

I have no problem with accurate information, whether consistant with my views or not. The numbers that he prints each month in that magazine are fabricated in south florida, not the oceans that he speaks for.

His concern for conservation is questionable when his agenda is on his sleeve.

Relentless33, it's kids like you who are the future of sportfishing. Your passion for the sport is appearent. You should be given accurate information, not brainwashed to believe what the dinosaurs believe. Seldom is the other side of the coin expressed in the sportfishing circles. I have sent my comments several times over the years to SF magazines, but somehow they always get lost in the mail LOL.

This forum speaks loud and often, if that is the only way to approach an unapproachable magazine then I will use it.

This is not about SF vs LL, it is about accurate information.

BTW, the story that implies LL'ers wiped out swords off Cape Town in that same magazine is complete BS. I can take you there any month of the year, any moon phase and show you 100 to 200 fish on deck each day. Thats how thick they are. Killer whales shut down the near coastal LL swordfishery off Cape Town as fast as it developed. When the right water pushes to within sportfishing vessel range of Hout Bay (Cape Town) the fish are plentiful. Another bit of misinformation in this months Marlin Magazine.

[Relentless33]

I love when my mail gets lost, isnt it just awesome

"Its kids like me that are the future of sportfishing"

Thats why I am willing to listen to any idea and lear as much as possible. I would like to keep finding more and more info on all species. If there were more people like me that love to fish then by the time im old we will know SO much more

[Ron.38 Special]

Broadbill Pro,

What a handle,

I have complained about Mike Leech for years, but I wish I knew more about your adgenda. You sound like a comm to me.

Mike approach is the biggest problem with his articles, not the statistics. Statistics are easy to get, easy to check, and easy to BS......

Longlines are and continue to be the biggest problem with a sustainable pelagic fishery no matter what the species. There quite simply isn't room in this Ocean for longlines.

Now, is it the US fleet, not really, the foreign fleets are much worse than the domestic, but Do Mikes numbers tell the real tale, In may ways they do.

For instance right now, tonight, tomorrow night, and the next night, longlines will be making sets off Canaveral and N of the Bahamas, and the bycatch will include 5 to 10 white marlin on every single set.

While circle hooks do their thing, nothing can protect a fish hanging on a longline for 12 hours before being released.

I am definitely not a Mike Leech fan, but his numbers are not fake, they come from NMFS statistics and are verifyable.

Broadbill Pro, what's your relationship to the industry, because you don't sound like a rec.

[Broadbill-Pro]

just spent an hour answering you and it did not get posted when i clicked submit. have to let the steam go away before rewrite.

[Broadbill-Pro]

do i have to choose one?

suppose you can call me a reccommercial fisherman.

I have 30+ years invested in recreational fishing from stripers off jersey to blue marlin off st. thomas. have always owned a sportfisherman vessel.

that said 2 years ago i hung up my boots from a 24 year commercial career catching tuna and swords in 5 different oceans (hence the handle).

at the moment i only participate in the recreational industry, but i won't sit back and allow misinformation to be spread. leech consistantly publishes figures that can not be verified. his message is honorable, but his method is sickening.

[The BEAST]

Broadbill- Pro,

I don't take a lot of stock in magazine editorials, which are used mainly for self promotion. Matter of fact, I never read them.

Let me preface this by saying, this is not a dig at you but simply a question searching for an opinion from an X-LL. I always like to hear both sides before formualting my own opinions. Here is the question: If LL's are not a detrement to a good fishery, how do you explain the low Swordfish numbers in the NE where the LL's are still present and the drastic increase of numbers in the Florida Straits where the LL's have been removed?

I personally believe that commercial fishing is, for lack of a better term, "a necessary evil" to feed the non-fishing public. The difference is being in control. The old days of "take all you can take today and worry about tomorrow, tomorrow" just doesn't work. I believe we can exist in harmony if both sport and commercial are regulated. That is becoming more evident every day.

Capt. Jim
The BEAST

[RiskTaker]

Broadbill Pro:

Thanks for staying "Pro"-active on these subject matters. Your informed opinions are greatly appreciated to help keep a balanced perspective on a weighted recreational forum. Without that balance, recreational anglers are subject to believe what they see and hear. For me it is according to the proportions my Mama told me about, 50% & 10%: see and hear.

Balanced perspectives should be mandatory: if not, many people may actually believe that the heavens and the earth were created in 6 days! :shock:

I have no opinion on the Marlin Magazine and Mike Leech situation since I am not knowledgeable in this arena, at this time. So you guys are the guiding light, to opine here.

I have been very busy over the past few Months fishing/catching in the Bahamas, working, and vacationing in Jamaica, to have too much focus on the swordfishing subject matter, or fishing in South Florida for that matter.

Gotta go help a friend with a leaky roof now, more later.

[Captain Ollie]

For a different perspective I suggest checking out a magazine called "National Fisherman." It may give you some insight as to the trials, tribulations, and beaurachracy that we one the commercial side face. Its definitley not all palm trees and pina coladas for us as some of the forces on the recreational side of things would lead you to believe.

A real good example would be something called "fisheries rationalization."

In case anyone out there wants to give me any grief because I am commercial........ I can only say that that in my opinion some of the methods used to harvest fish in the commercial sector need to be modified or.....even........ (and I could be shot for saying this in some circles).......eliminated. There are some of us that realize that the ocean is not a bottomless barrel. Gear that is destuctive to both the environment, overeffecient, and kills indescriminately should really have no place in sustainable fisheries management. Unfortunately many of the ways we harvest fish today have been brought about by that most wonderful of all human charateristics called GREED. Its only natural to want more and more of something......but the real key, and difficulty, is finding a true balance between the number of participants in fishery, use of gear that kills a limited amount of bycatch, and sustainable quotas that allow a fisherman to make a decent living and at the same time allow a family to go out and be able to catch their own fish for dinner or sport as well.

Granted many strides have been made in the right direction over the last few years in fisheries management but we still have a LONG way to go before we have any sort of real handle on what, when, where, and just how much we can take from the oceans while still trying to maintain some sort of fair balance. Throw in other problems such as pollution, and habitat destruction and it becomes even more of a challenge to figure this out before its too late.

[Tuna Devil]

[quote="Captain Ollie"]For a different perspective I suggest checking out a magazine called "National Fisherman.

:thumleft:



In case anyone out there wants to give me any grief because I am commercial........ I can only say that that in my opinion some of the methods used to harvest fish in the commercial sector need to be modified or.....even........ (and I could be shot for saying this in some circles).......eliminated.

ThaT's it Captain Ollie, I am loading the 306 as we speak. What's your address. :lol:


That was well said.

[Broadbill-Pro]

Originally Posted by The BEAST

Broadbill- Pro,

I don't take a lot of stock in magazine editorials, which are used mainly for self promotion. Matter of fact, I never read them.

Let me preface this by saying, this is not a dig at you but simply a question searching for an opinion from an X-LL. I always like to hear both sides before formualting my own opinions. Here is the question: If LL's are not a detrement to a good fishery, how do you explain the low Swordfish numbers in the NE where the LL's are still present and the drastic increase of numbers in the Florida Straits where the LL's have been removed?

I personally believe that commercial fishing is, for lack of a better term, "a necessary evil" to feed the non-fishing public. The difference is being in control. The old days of "take all you can take today and worry about tomorrow, tomorrow" just doesn't work. I believe we can exist in harmony if both sport and commercial are regulated. That is becoming more evident every day.

Capt. Jim
The BEAST

Do you remember a time when swords were caught as consistantly in the NE Canyons on rod and reel as they are here? I don't. To compare fishing in the gulfstream in a highly migratory area and fishing the NE Canyons where it is almost necessary to be somewhere close to an eddy is not a good comparision. The methods of fishing are quite different as well. Most of the fish enroute for the Grand Banks stay on the edge of the gulfstream and bypass most of the recreational vessels as the stream turns east well offshore of the 100 fathom curve.

The harpoon fishery on Browns Bank was taken from the Americans 15 or 20 years ago with the border dispute with Canada. Those fish continued to be caught from mostly Nova Scotia until it became economically unfeasible.

I don't recall saying that LL'ing was not harmful to the sword stock. I think my view has been that all phases of fishing have some impact, but that rec's must share the blame however small or large it may be.

And to answer your question more directly, if the longlines continue to fish in the NE, then the fish must be there and in the quantity that makes it profitable.

[The BEAST]

"Broadbill-Pro" I think my view has been that all phases of fishing have some impact, but that rec's must share the blame however small or large it may be.

Thanks for you input. I agree whole heartedly with the above quote. That is why I don't understand the "flop 'em on the deck" attitude that some of the rec guys have on each trip. If they truly eat all these fish they will have enough mercury in them to tell the temperature without a thermometer. Oh well, I guess that is why I am overly conservative in my release efforts.

Thanks again for your views.

Capt. Jim
The BEAST[/quote]

[Relentless33]

It was pretty awesome to see that pup that could have been barely pushing legal size and to watch him swim away.

[knothome]

Originally Posted by Ron.38 Special

Broadbill Pro,

What a handle,

I have complained about Mike Leech for years, but I wish I knew more about your adgenda. You sound like a comm to me.

Mike approach is the biggest problem with his articles, not the statistics. Statistics are easy to get, easy to check, and easy to BS......

Longlines are and continue to be the biggest problem with a sustainable pelagic fishery no matter what the species. There quite simply isn't room in this Ocean for longlines.

Now, is it the US fleet, not really, the foreign fleets are much worse than the domestic, but Do Mikes numbers tell the real tale, In may ways they do.

For instance right now, tonight, tomorrow night, and the next night, longlines will be making sets off Canaveral and N of the Bahamas, and the bycatch will include 5 to 10 white marlin on every single set.

While circle hooks do their thing, nothing can protect a fish hanging on a longline for 12 hours before being released.

I am definitely not a Mike Leech fan, but his numbers are not fake, they come from NMFS statistics and are verifyable.

Broadbill Pro, what's your relationship to the industry, because you don't sound like a rec.

MORE MISINFORMATION!!!!MY BROTHER WAS FISHING OFF CANAVERAL-BAHAMAS(BLAKE RIDGE AREA)DURING THE TIME PERIOD YOU SPOKE OF,JUNE 20-JULY 2ND 2006.TALLY FOR MARLIN ON THE TRIP WAS AROUND THIRTY FISH.THREE BLUES DIED ON THE HOOKS,AND THE REST WERE HONESTLY RELEASED.HERES THE REAL DEAL,THE TRIP SUCKED WITH ONLY THREE DOLPHIN,ONE SWORD :shock: :shock: A FEW ALBYS,BIGEYES AND YELLOWFIN.BOYS THAT WAS A WEEKS FISHING AND I'M NOT SURE HOW MANY SETS,MAYBE 7 OR 8.IT'S NOT ALL FISH FLOPPING ON THE DECK OFF FLORIDA THATS FOR SURE.

[reel life]

quote]MORE MISINFORMATION!!!!MY BROTHER WAS FISHING OFF CANAVERAL-BAHAMAS(BLAKE RIDGE AREA)DURING THE TIME PERIOD YOU SPOKE OF,JUNE 20-JULY 2ND 2006.TALLY FOR MARLIN ON THE TRIP WAS AROUND THIRTY FISH.THREE BLUES DIED ON THE HOOKS,AND THE REST WERE HONESTLY RELEASED.HERES THE REAL DEAL,THE TRIP SUCKED WITH ONLY THREE DOLPHIN,ONE SWORD :shock: :shock: A FEW ALBYS,BIGEYES AND YELLOWFIN.BOYS THAT WAS A WEEKS FISHING AND I'M NOT SURE HOW MANY SETS,MAYBE 7 OR 8.IT'S NOT ALL FISH FLOPPING ON THE DECK OFF FLORIDA THATS FOR SURE. [/quote]
sounds like either hear say or your bro just could not find the fish
maybe both.
and how many of those released fish turned into lawn darts?

[knothome]

EXACTLY,THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN OFF CHARLESTON.BAD MOVE.MY BROTHER DOESN'T RUN THE BOAT.I GUESS YOU WERE ON FIRE THAT WEEK,HUH???OH YEAH,"SKIPPA ALWAYS FINDS THE FISH"