Costa Partners with The Billfish Foundation
Costa Sunglasses announced it has signed on as one of The Billfish Foundation’s Tag and Release Program partners. Established in 1990, the TBF program has the largest, private billfish-tagging database in the world, and is the cornerstone of the organization’s conservation and advocacy efforts.
With more than 200,000 tag-and-release reports, TBF receives over 15,000 tag-and-release records annually from across the globe, which provides vital information for billfish conservation. Tag data is studied to further understand species growth rates, migratory patterns, habitat utilization, and post-release survival rates.
According to TBF, tag-and-release data also provides valuable information for stock assessments that are instrumental in a time when industrial longlines represent the largest source of marlin mortality. This data provides the groundwork for conservation-minded policy and scientific advancement and gives insight into the demographics and socio-economic benefits generated from billfishing.
Costa’s support of TBF’s tag-and-release program allows the advocacy organization to continue its tagging education and outreach efforts within the angling community. Each tag costs approximately $3. TBF sells the tags close to cost to maximize distribution. Billfish tags and tagging equipment can be purchased at www.billfish.org.
“Costa has been a longstanding partner of The Billfish Foundation,” says Al Perkinson, vice president of marketing for Costa Sunglasses. “Support of tag-and-release programs — like TBF’s and others — allows for more fish-species data collection, so we make more informed decisions in regards to sustainable sport-fishing practices and policy.”
“We’re proud to have Costa on board with our Tag and Release Program because of the company’s strong commitment to fish and ocean conservation, in addition to building the best-performing sunglasses on the market,” says Ellen Peel, president of The Billfish Foundation.
Anglers can learn the proper tag and release technique on The Billfish Foundation’s website as well as on YouTube. Instructions are available in English and Spanish.
