IGFA Announces Fourth Annual SoCal IGFA Great Marlin Race Event

Local anglers and clubs can sponsor one of five satellite tags deployed on Southern California striped marlin this season, with the farthest-traveling fish taking the title

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 23, 2026

Dania Beach, Fla. - The International Game Fish Association (IGFA) is excited to announce the fourth year of the SoCal Annual IGFA Great Marlin Race event. The IGFA Great Marlin Race, in partnership with Stanford University, has been deploying tags in Southern California and Mexico since 2014. Originally an event taking place during the Master Anger Billfish Tournament (2014-2022), the incredible results and success of tag sponsorships led IGFA to expand the program in 2023 to include all local anglers and clubs, not just tournament participants. The expansion of this annual tagging event (“race”) has now resulted in the deployment of 60 Pop-up Satellite Archival Tags (PSATs) that collected 3,926 days and over 54,000nm worth of striped marlin movement and behavior information.

The fourth year of this event will run from the start of July to the end of October and will include a total of 5 PSATs for sponsorship and deployment on striped marlin in Southern California. Participants who sponsor PSATs will be entered into the 2026 SoCal IGFA Great Marlin Race competition, where the marlin that travels the farthest wins. The winner will receive their name(s) engraved on the perpetual SoCal IGFA Great Marlin Race trophy displayed at Balboa Angling Club and be entered into the overall IGFA Great Marlin Race (the marlin that travels the farthest of all IGFA Great Marlin Race tags deployed in a given year).

Striped marlin have become a particular focus for the IGFA Great Marlin Race as they have the widest distribution of any billfish in the Pacific and also likely have multiple populations throughout their range. In combination with IGFA’s current efforts to study the population structure of striped marlin across the Pacific, collecting movement data using PSATs represents the best way to track individual striped marlin to determine how connected populations might be, especially between Hawaii and Southern California. PSATs deployed during previous Master Angler Billfish Tournament and Kona, Hawaii events, have indicated more potential connectivity between Hawaii and the eastern Pacific than previously thought by fisheries managers, an important piece of information for the assessment, conservation, and management of the species. As such, the expansion and rebranding of this event has allowed an increased number of PSAT deployments as well as a longer time frame for deployments that will cover the entire striped marlin season.

For more information on how to participate in IGFA Great Marlin Race events, please contact IGFA Conservation Director Dr. Bruce Pohlot at [email protected]g.

About the International Game Fish Association
Established in 1939, the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) is a global nonprofit organization committed to the conservation of game fish and the promotion of responsible, ethical angling practices. With members in more than 100 countries, the IGFA is the world’s leading authority on sport fishing and maintains the global database of game fish world records and angling rules. Through education, research, advocacy, and angler recognition, the IGFA strives to ensure the future of fishing and sustainable fisheries around the world. To learn more or become a member, visit www.igfa.org.

Media Contact: Bruce Pohlot
[email protected]
(954) 924-4223