What Happens to Fish That Are Killed

Pisces is very much conservation minded and we ask anglers to release all billfish that they do not intend to eat, in fact our release rate is 98.6%, we believe this to be one of the highest release rates in Mexico. It was not always so and over the years we have educated our crews and clients to see how releasing favors the long term health of sportfishing. Unless a fish is injured beyond the ability to survive or the angler wants a skin mount or wants to take the fillets home, pretty much all are released. Locally and culturaly marlin is considered a good source of protein, especially in these hard economic times - one marlin can feed a lot of families. This year has been one of the best we have seen in a decade for blue and black marlin with a lot of large fish caught or nearly caught. We were sent the pictures below by Mario Bañaga of a fish caught out of San Jose  by local Juan Carlos Castro aboard a private boat. It is a black marlin that weighed 480 lbs...he caught on 100 lb test line whilst trolling an 18 lb tuna as bait aboard the boat "Fisherman" with captain "Perico" Sanchez ...this is a boat to watch they place pretty much in every tournament they enter. Sounds like they were practising for the October tournament season. The photos show the fish and then how it is filleted to distribute to local families.