Boat captain, vacationing family reel in nearly 500-pound swordfish in the Florida Keys

They will be extinct soom at the rate they have been targeted the last ten years and currently.

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They will be extinct soom at the rate they have been targeted the last ten years and currently.

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Is that statement based on actual data?

I know the south Atlantic population is considered overfished but the north Atlantic (including GoA) populations are healthy and growing. If anything, the North Atlantic population is considered a conservation success story.

People target them more effectively now for sure but its still a niche activity even amongst offshore fisherman and the recreational catch pales in comparison to the commercial harvest.

If you have links to studies/surveys supporting their impending demise, I would be very interested.

Just my observations from fishing/being at marinas the last 40 years. No scientific data. Kind of like turkeys, ducks, rabbits, and a variety of other saltwater fish.

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Can only imagine how much mercury that pig has in it.

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Definetly at the top of the food chain!

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Do folks eat these things?

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I'm pretty sure Swordfish is considered a great eating fish. Never had it personally and don't know if size matters.

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realize I’d killed it for no reason.

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If there's one place people aren't going to do that, it's The Keys. Not saying there aren't people who break the rules, but the general view towards killing a fish is way different than my experience growing up in South LA. Wife worked for the Convention and Visitors Bureau (Tourism Dept.) when we lived in LA and the focus was often on fishing trips. The amount of criticism I remember them getting for an ad they ran showing someone with a limit of specks from people in areas like the Keys was comical. I've made one charter there as well and generally would think their captains are going to stay in line as it seems like bad press to kill an unacceptable fish.