swimming with marlin

06. May 2008

Last week we had the ITM fishing show from New Zealand onboard along with local boys, Sputt, Burn and young Nathan (aka sea puss).  The ITM fishing show is NZ’s best fishing show which is being aired all over the world, its latest contract will see the show aired in the US to an audience of 30 million.  Look out Hollywood….Here come Sputt and Burn! Apart from Oscar performances, the main aim for the trip was to implant a satellite pop off tag into a free-swimming marlin.  Easier said then done!

As mentioned in an earlier article, we have successfully sat tagged 20 marlin on the wanganella bank, and found some interesting results.  This involved catching the marlin quickly and attaching two tags.  However in order to record natural behavior of a striped marlin, we would somehow have to come up with a way to attach the tag to the fish with out catching it.  Here comes the tricky bit!  We employ a technique called teasing, where lures with out hooks are trolled behind the boat, and once a marlin or group of marlin is raised, we stop the boat and entice the fish to the boat.  Then, our cameraman, and underwater spearfishing enthusiasts enter the water in the hope to get closer enough to attach the tag via a specially made spear gun and projectile.

We spent two days trolling hook less lures and raising countless numbers of marlin with out being able to catch any!  Much to the frustration of the crew and guests I might add.  Our chief marlin catcher/expert, Sea puss, had no option but to down tools and retire to the upstairs lounge to either play computer games or watch movies, all the while consuming all the chocolate and soft drinks, only occasionally coming out to give instructions to the crew.

 Finally, on the last hour on the last day we raised a couple of fish and the crew sprung into action, divers deployed and after a minute of waiting, a mighty cheer came up from the divers…..was it attached…?  Up came the signal that indeed the tag had been successfully attached to a marlin.  What happened next was interesting.  A fish suddenly came jumping out of the water next to the boat, and proceeded to jump 3 times.  Known as free jumping (fish jumping with out being hooked up) the fish looked to be trying to dislodge the tag, which was firmly attached to the shoulder.  This would indicate natural behavior for a fish, and something we havnt noticed in fish that we tag the conventional way,(ie catching first and then tagging).

So, now the waiting game.  The tag is programmed to de-ttach itself from the fish in 3 months and float to the surface.  Once on the surface it will then transmit the information gathered to the sat light which can be recovered by a team in NZ.  Some of the information recorded is, seawater temp, depth and position.  With this information we can learn more about the habits of the striped marlin, which will hopefully be used to protect and manage the species and put a stop to nations still harvesting this fish commercially.

Now while this was going on, and unbeknown to the divers, the crew were casting out hook less teasers and teasing up more marlin, we now had 4 marlin charging around the boat grabbing at the lures the boys were casting and retrieving, as the camera returned he quickly started to record again, and what turned out to be amazing footage of free swimming marlin.  So stay tuned to the up coming screening of the ITM Fishing Show on Ultimate Lady.

The footage of the entire trip will be aired in New Zealand sometime towards the end of the year.  Overall the trip was a huge success.  We ended up releasing 24 marlin and implanting a sat tag.  Our next adventure has started already, as I type this, I am sitting in my wheel house chair steering a course north to explore off shore sea mounts 240 miles north of Norfolk and then on to Vanuatu, if the next 2 months are half as successful and fun as the last, then it will be a blast!

A very special thanks must go out to all that were involved in our stay at Norfolk Island.  The support, friendliness and can do attitude of the entire island was second to none.  We were made to feel like locals, so much so that I cocked an eyebrow every time sputty spoke Norfolk to me!

We are forever grateful for the time and effort of Chris Magri, Hose, Monique, Basil and the refueling team, the suppliers of veggies, fruit and other services, ooh and Sea puss as second captain.
We look forward to seeing everyone next year.

Cheers Tom.