Where Have All The Big Billfish Gone?

Old, big marlins don't die... they just get hooked, stuffed, posed, and frozen in time in the lobbies of decaying Hawaiian hotels. The King Kamehameha Hotel where I'm staying in Kona has a lobby-full of amazing specimens of billfish from the mid- to late '80's. Why no big fish stuffed and posed from the past decade? Because they're gone or critically depleted, that's why.

Imagine the hardy genetic lineage that these 1200 plus pound giants were passing along. But in the advent of the non-catch-and-release sport fishing boom, better fishing technology, and spike in Hawaiian tourist visitations, even a stellar gene pool can't keep pace with the cull. These fish are absolutely magnificent and it's tragic to think that displays like these are roughly equivalent to looking at dinosaur bones in museums... something we'll never see again.

As Jennifer says, "Yet another shifting baseline."