Marlin in the Media: The Benefits of Social Media to Igfa's Billfish Tagging Program

As pelagic, apex predators, billfishes play a vital role in maintaining healthy marine ecosystems, but their highly migratory nature provides unique challenges for management. Enter the IGFA Great Marlin Race (IGMR), a partnership between the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) and Stanford University, which joins recreational anglers with satellite tag technology to investigate the biology and ecology of billfish by examining how they utilize their open ocean habitat. Social media and strategic communications have encouraged anglers to actively engage in the IGMR, which have helped it to become one of the largest citizen science billfish satellite tagging projects in the world. It is our hope that through audience and program insights, the IGMR will continue to grow so that we will more fully understand marlin migratory patterns, vertical habitat use, and the oceanographic conditions that influence their distribution. This, in turn, will lead to effective management strategies to preserve the future of these magnificent sportfish.