Billfish Conservation through Community with Costa’s Marlin Fly Project
Eugene L. 11.20.23
Costa Sunglasses has excitedly announced the Marlin Fly Project. The first of its kind billfish research mission that solely used fly tackle to land the billfish. This mission was done with two of Costa’s pillars in mind, conservation and community. The project involved the locals of San Carlos, Mexico, The Billfish Foundation (TBF), and the International Game Fish Association (IGFA). The Marlin Fly Project team successfully deployed all 15 satellite tags and 20 additional spaghetti tags on striped marlin during the two days of fishing in Magdalena Bay. All of this effort is to help better understand and protect these highly understudied billfish species. Teams of scientists from the Billfish Foundation, IGFA, and the University of Southern Mississippi Center for Fisheries Research & Development, were on board to ensure the health of all the billfish that were landed. They also vetted all the billfish were viable candidates for being tagged, all the fish landed and tagged were healthy and swam off strong.
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“The epic fishing tales coming out of Magdalena “Mag” Bay alone attracted us to the region in 2021, but what we found there was an authentic community, rich with culture, built alongside an untamed ecosystem,” said Jed Larkin, Brand Director for Costa Sunglasses. “That trip sparked a trailblazing idea – what if we brought our global community of scientists, partners and pros together with the local community of San Carlos to research and protect this special resource? And that’s how Marlin Fly was born. Rooted in both community and conservation, this project is everything we stand for as a brand.”
The Costa Marlin Fly project was done back in December of 2022 in the Southwestern part of Baja, Mexico. Standing as the realized goal of bringing together community and conservation, Costa brought Costa Pro Anglers and Guides, leading billfish scientists, conservation organizations, and community partners all together. So hand in hand with local captains, guides, and the community of San Carlos they could all work together to help the fish and people of San Carlos. The community-first nonprofit Indifly, also joined in the project to meet up with the community of San Carlos. Inspired by the people and project, Indifly plans to work beyond just this initial project. They along with the people of San Carlos, the Marlin Fly Project, and Los Locos Magbay Lodge plan to innovate ways for the local community to take charge of their future.
Of the 15 short and long term satellite tags that were deployed during the project, Costa resourced three tags to support IGFA’s Great Marlin Race, and seven were donated by TBF. The tags will track post release survivability, migrational patterns, swimming depth, and water temperature. An additional 20 spaghetti tags were deployed, which will provide important ongoing recapture data. The discoveries from Costa’s Marlin Fly Project will help fill crucial data gaps and aid in global and local efforts to conserve this highly migratory species (HMS).
