A blue marlin can live up to 27 years; a tarpon apparently can live up to 50. Has anyone ever attempted to determine the number of times an average large game fish like these fish will be hooked and boated in its relatively long life? Do they get better and better at evading anglers as they get older?
Less than 1, because the ones that are caught are almost never released. As long as some are never caught (which is almost certainly the case), the average must therefore be less than 1.
Are the majority of big saltwater gamefishes really killed? I got the impression most of them nowadays were released.
I don’t know. I don’t fish for those. I go for small fresh-water fish. I’m just guessing, because you always see fishermen getting pictures of them standing next to their hanging, obviously dead marlin. Still, I would guesstimate that there are many more than are ever caught by a person. I seriously doubt you can find any actual reliable research that will give an actual number.
If the sharks were smart, they would eventually learn to hang about and let that fish be caught, knowing that after it is released, it will be too exhausted to escape from them.
Yep, it’s somewhere between 0 and 1.
I have been deep sea fishing several times in different countries and the catches were all killed, which surprised me because game fishing is a tourism-based industry and you would think catch and release would help to sustain the industry.
Secondly, all other catches would be for human consumption.
So large game fish either get caught or they don’t, so they question is really, How many are left that don’t get caught?
It’s been proved by fisheries scientists that crocodiles do follow to feed on exhausted fish after release and sharks certainly do follow the marlin fishing boats on the Great Barrier Reef.