Welcome to the Great Marlin Race! This is a collaboration between Stanford University's Dr. Barbara Block and the Hawaiian International Billfish tournament. The Great Marlin Race was established to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the HIBT, and its rich history of leadership in billfish research and conservation.
Teams competing in the HIBT have been given the opportunity to sponsor a pop-up satellite archival tag -- an electronic device that can be attached to a fish, which records information about its location and depth, and the surrounding water temperature. At a pre-programmed date, the tag detaches from the fish and floats to the surface and begins to transmit the data via the Argos satellite system back to the lab. For the Great Marlin Race, the tags are programmed to pop off after 180 days. At that time, the fish that has traveled the farthest will be declared the winner -- and the team that tagged it will receive free admission to next year's tournament.
