The International Game Fish Association (IGFA) has announced the results of the 2024–2025 IGFA Great Marlin Race, a global billfish research program that turns anglers into citizen scientists. Each year, participating anglers deploy satellite tags on the marlin they catch, with the tag that surfaces farthest from its release point deemed the “winner.” More importantly, the data collected helps scientists understand how marlin travel, feed, and use the open ocean—critical insights for conservation.

This year, 54 satellite tags were placed on marlin across 14 events worldwide. Twenty-five of those tags surfaced during the year, tracing over 42,000 nautical miles of combined travel. The winning fish was a striped marlin tagged off New Zealand that journeyed an astonishing straight-line distance of 3,863 nautical miles—having actually swum nearly 5,800. A blue marlin tagged in Bermuda took second after crossing the Atlantic to Senegal, and a Pacific blue tagged off Panama placed third, traveling westward on its own long passage.

Now in its fourteenth year, the Great Marlin Race has deployed more than 650 tags and stands as the largest billfish tracking program in the world. The results continue to shape global