Nautilus Marine Tags Monster Marlin
Nautilus Marine Insurance has sponsored the Great Marlin Race, a prominent event dedicated to billfish research and conservation. Scientists and Pacific Blue Marlin both benefit from the Great Marlin Race made possible with the support of sponsors like Nautilus Marine.
Pacific Blue Marlin, one of the most magnificent billfish to swim the open ocean, have begun giving up some of their mysterious secrets to researchers. Thanks to this “catch and release” tournament, new data has begun to surface about the migratory journey of marlin.
In its most simple form, the Great Marlin Race involves a tag and release tournament among sponsors. However, the underlying focus surrounds the gathering of vital research data on marlins.
Game fishermen from around the world descended on Kona, Hawaii for the Great Marlin Race. This year Nautilus Marine sponsored the race that was created to help commemorate the 50th Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament (HIBT).
Avid angler, Ian Frith, Chairman of Nautilus Marine, on board The Northern Lights caught an 800 pound Pacific Blue Marlin, the biggest ever tagging in the history of the Great Marlin Race.
“We are very proud to be involved with the Great Marlin Race,” said Lyndon Turner, CEO of Nautilus Marine. “It’s a unique competition that combines the thrill of a world class game tournament with the real benefits of essential research into these magnificent creatures of the ocean.”
Although Nautilus Marine tagged Marlin was by far the biggest fish tagged and released in the competition, the winner of the Great Marlin Race has not yet been decided.
With the use of electronic tags to follow the movements of the Marlin, the winner is determined 120 days when the tags pop off the marlin and float to the surface, transmitting data back to the laboratory. The tags will record where the various tagged marlin have travelled, how deep they dive and what water temperatures they encounter. The winner of the Great Marlin Race will be awarded to the Marlin that has travelled the furthest.
“At Nautilus Marine we get quite excited about these kind of events as they really give something back to the conservation and research communities. It is a wonderful association for everyone in the business to be involved with as we are all genuinely interested in preserving our future.”
“We at Nautilus Marine believe it is an aspect of our social responsibility to support this kind of event so that future generations can also enjoy the sport of game fishing.”
From the nine tags deployed in 2010, the tags demonstrated a broad range of migratory paths with the winning Marlin travelling 2,282 nautical miles. Some tags were found across the equatorial region, which is very unusual for animals to migrate across, due to the combination of high-temperature surface water and oxygen-poor water below.
The Great Marlin Race is part of the longer-term tagging program Global Tagging of Pelagic Predators (GTOPP), a multi-disciplinary research initiative to study the migratory behaviour of different kinds or sea animals.
Nautilus Marine is the name rights sponsor of the annual Interclub Game Fishing tournament staged at Port Stephens. This is one of Australia’s highest profile and long standing game fishing events and is based on a solid tag and release footing.
With over 125 years of marine insurance expertise between the senior Nautilus Marine executives, Nautilus Marine is absolutely committed to providing high levels of customer service, backed by local knowledge.
Nautilus Marine Insurance Agency is a wholly Australian owned insurance agency that provides insurance programs for boat owners and for the marine industry. This insurance is issued by Nautilus Marine Insurance Agency Pty Ltd (ABN 34 100 633 038 AFSL 227186) on behalf of certain underwriters at Lloyd’s. Nautilus Marine has offices across Australia
