First Observations on the Re-Established Southeast Florida Recreational Swordfish Tournament Fishery

Authors

Juan C. Levesquee, Nova Southeastern University
David W. Kerstetter, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow

ORCID

0000-0002-4440-8767

ResearcherID

I-5396-2012

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Florida Scientist

ISSN

0098-4590

Publication Date

Summer 2007

Keywords

Swordfish, Recreational fishery, Southeast Florida, Tournament

Abstract

Recreational tournaments for swordfish (Xiphias gladius) existed in the Florida Straits between 1977 and 1983 before disappearing due to low catch rates and an overexploitation of the stock. The first recent swordfish tournament occurred in 2001 off southeast Florida with 13 participating vessels. In 2002, three swordfish tournaments were observed and anglers were interviewed to determine catch and gear characteristics of the re-established recreational fishery. A total of 156 vessels participated in these three tournaments, catching 112 swordfish and hooking an additional 48 animals. The combination of the recovery of the North Atlantic swordfish stock and the continuation of the 2001 closure of the Florida Straits to commercial pelagic longline fishing gear is expected to result in the continued expansion of the southeast Florida recreational swordfish fishery.

Volume

70

Issue

3

First Page

284

Last Page

296

Comments

©Florida Academy of Sciences. 2007

NSUWorks Citation

Juan C. Levesquee and David W. Kerstetter. 2007. First Observations on the Re-Established Southeast Florida Recreational Swordfish Tournament Fishery .Florida Scientist , (3) : 284 -296. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_facarticles/537.