The FAD Fad: Impacts on Fishing

In recent years, crews in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans have been tagging and releasing fish in numbers never seen before, sometimes wiping out impressive records set just a year or two prior. Between Big Oh in Cape Verde and Carol Libby fishing off Costa Rica, the numbers have been downright staggering.

Cape Verde, known for many years as a hot spot for both large and abundant blue marlin, was made famous by a talented group of charter boats and captains. It made headlines over the past several seasons due to traveling operations like Big Oh and Dreamin’ On. where single-day numbers and season totals have eclipsed anything seen before by crews fishing on natural seamounts.

On the other side of the world, Costa Rica is typically known for its great sailfish bite and the possibility of a grand slam on any given day. An easier destination for travelling operations, incredible blue marlin catches have recently drawn the attention of many captains and anglers to this newly discovered fishery, where the fishing primarily takes place on distant seamounts and man-made fish-attracting devices (FADs) off of Costa Rica.

Crews routinely see more than 50 blue marlin in a day, and it’s not uncommon to raise more than 70. During the course of the 2014 season, Carol Libby raised 1,470 blue marlin, releasing 884 and deploying a total of 589 Billfish Foundation tags. Fishing like this, even in the good ol’ days, has never been seen before. This asks the question as to whether this type of fishing can be sustained, or if fishing on FADs is simply a fad. None of us wants to see FAD fishing become something that ends up biting the sport-fishing community where it counts.

In my recent column, “FADs of the Dominican Republic ”, I discussed the social issues surrounding fishing on FADs primarily constructed and deployed by the artisanal fishermen of the DR. In contrast to these, the FADs off Costa Rica are built almost entirely by members of the sport-fishing community. It is no secret that billfish anglers will go to great lengths when chasing blue marlin, with cost generally not being the limiting factor. The production and deployment of FADs is no different.

Many of these FADs were originally constructed to be used among a small group of private individuals. Inevitably, the locations of many of these original FADs became widely known, resulting in new FADs being constructed and deployed in other areas. At times, different groups of boats were organizing the construction of FADs, with some of the marinas even getting involved. The amount of money invested in the establishment of the recreational FAD fishery shows the lengths many will go to increase their blue marlin fishing opportunities, and the numbers we have seen show that their investments are paying off. While I have mixed feelings on the use of FADs, the dividends stimulated by the investments in constructing FADs in Costa Rica reach far beyond their desired outcomes, now producing year-round socioeconomic benefits for those within the impacted communities.

Sure, you can go down to Costa Rica at any point throughout the year to find sailfish, but the traffic from visiting anglers significantly decreases during the summer and fall months — and with it the amount of money injected into local economies. With year-round opportunities created by the distant blue marlin fishery off Los Sueños, Quepos and Golfito on FADs, neither charter nor private boats stay tied to the dock for long. The socioeconomic benefits of this multiply through the local communities, reaching all the way from the captains and mates to the hotels and restaurants where anglers stay and eat.

While these were not the intended benefits of investing in FADs, they have certainly injected valuable benefits into the economy — and they have drawn the attention of sport-fishing advocates, in particular the National Sportfishing Commission in Costa Rica, raising the question of if and how fishing around these FADs should be managed.

As with all things that seem too good to be true, we must keep our eyes open to the long-term impacts on the fishery and determine whether this type of pressure can be sustained. The inevitable increase in the number of FADs and the increased fishing pressure from commercial boats now targeting fish on FADs could have significant impacts on the health of the fishery due to the high abundance of aggregating blue marlin.

This past August, I received several concerned emails and phone calls regarding the increased amount of longline activities around FADs, hearing stories about the number of blue marlin being hauled onto longline vessels. The use of live bait by the longline boats concerns us as well because it is highly effective and easy to acquire due to the natural aggregation of bait around the FAD. It could be only a matter of time before this type of fishing takes its toll and has devastating impacts on the blue marlin fishery, and the fishing seen now will not continue.

While no current laws regulate longlining around FADs, the situation has been brought to the attention of the National Sportfishing Commission in Costa Rica. Herbert Nanne, The Billfish Foundation’s conservation director of Central America, has called for an extraordinary meeting of the commission to discuss this topic. He has also consulted with fishery officials about the potential for legislation to restrict longlining on FADs.

Initial discussions stemming from these meetings seem positive, and the socio-economic benefits generated by sport fishing are well understood. Costa Rica now has a unique opportunity to compete with other top fishing destinations because of the attention brought as a direct result of this newly established fishery.

Potential management options such as a buffer zone banning longlines around FADs or the possibility of a moratorium banning longlining within a certain distance of land (as previously proposed) will only be as good as available enforcement. In many cases, it would require that the location of FADs be known and/or registered, which is something I don’t see the recreational‑fishing community embracing.

As the FAD fishing fad continues to grow in Costa Rica and other locations, we must look at potential long-term impacts on the fishery in relation to the banner days and the record-breaking seasons that we’re now experiencing.