Pepperell, 1990:

"Over 11 000 black marlin have been tagged by volunteer anglers throughout this range, mainly in northern Queensland, from 1968 through 1986, and 120 recaptures have been recorded.

Recaptures indicate a tendency for distance moved to increase with time at liberty during the first year after release. Recaptures of fish near their points of release after one, two, three, and four years, however, strongly suggest annual homing.

Black marlin can be classified as being highly mobile, but not necessarily migratory in that movement is not entirely predictable. A relatively high proportion of recaptured fish have been taken at considerable distances from their point of release, and fish covering a wide size range have moved considerable distances.

A southward directed movement of one-to two-year-old fish, from northern Queensland to central New South Wales, is indicated by an annual appearance of this group in the north, and then at more southern latitudes through time. An increase in modal size of the group also occurs with latitude and time.

One or two older groups of fish also apparently undertake this southward movement, although not every year. These larger fish are normally encountered at the edge of or beyond the continental shelf. Tag-recapture data have not as yet entirely supported this hypothesis, but a number of fish tagged in northern Queensland, and recaptured in southern Queensland and New South Wales, fit the proposed movement route.

Because recaptured rates are low, and many gaps still exist in the knowledge of black marlin movements, tagging of large numbers of all sizes throughout their range should continue to be encouraged."

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Citation and/or URL

Pepperell, J.G. 1990, Black marlin off eastern Australia, In Planning the future of billfishes: research and management in the 90s and beyond. Proceedings of the 2nd international billfish symposium, ed. R.H.Stroud, National Coalition for Marine Conservation, Savannah, USA.

Spatial Coverage

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and Australian East Coast.

Temporal Coverage

1968 - 1986 

Update Frequency

 Not applicable 

Other Information

 None