IGFA Great Marlin Race

The IGMR, presented by Costa Sunglasses, is a research collaboration between IGFA and Stanford University and is sponsored by Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s Outdoor Fund, EdgeWater Boats, and Release Boatworks.

Recreational anglers, armed with cutting-edge satellite tag technology, become citizen scientists and deploy tags on the billfish they catch. These tags transmit data to researchers who learn more about billfish biology and how the fish interact with their habitat.

Since the program launched in 2011, we have tagged over 400 billfish in 21 countries and logged over 218,000 nautical miles of movement. Understanding where these animals go and how they utilize their habitat provides invaluable data to scientists and resource managers to help ensure long-term billfish conservation. The IGMR has fundamentally changed the way that scientists, anglers, and policymakers understand billfish.