Endangered Species Status Review for Atlantic White Marlin

In 2001, NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) received a petition from the Biodiversity Legal Foundation and James R. Chambers requesting NMFS to list the Atlantic white marlin (Tetrapturus albidus) as a threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). NMFS subsequently convened a status review team (SRT) to assess the species status and the degree of threat to the species with regard to section 4(a)(1) factors in the ESA. The 2002 status review (SR) determined that two of the five ESA factors listed in Section 4 (a)(1) were of concern for white marlin: overutilization and the inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms. While the 2002 SR concluded that the white marlin stock had not declined to levels to which it was in danger of extinction, it noted that the stock could decline to a level that would warrant ESA protection if fishing mortality was not reduced significantly and relatively quickly.