Marlin may be biggest ever
A 4.4m blue marlin that washed ashore at Little Beach, east of Albany, overnight on Tuesday may be the largest ever recorded in Australia.
The female fish, which measures 3.68m from lower jaw to tail, is expected to crack the fisherman’s legendary 1000-pound mark — or 454kg — according to Department of Fisheries officers who removed the fish on Wednesday morning.
Fisheries regional manager Kevin Donohue said blue marlin very rarely wash up in the Albany region as the area was the southern extremity of the fish’s distribution.
“It would be a big deal, it would be the first time a marlin that size has been recorded in WA,” he said.
“The previous largest was a 330kg blue marlin recorded in Exmouth by a game fisherman.”
Mr Donohue said Fisheries officers worked quickly on Wednesday to remove the blue marlin.
“With the decay, there is potential to attract sharks which would endanger any users entering the water,” he said.
As there is no car access to Little Beach, two officers pushed the fish into the water, while another two officers brought a boat around from Two Peoples Bay boat ramp to load the creature.
A woman fishing from the rocks on Tuesday night reported the distressed blue marlin swimming in the cove.
The WA Museum is interested in studying the fish.
The world record for a blue marlin is 624kg, in Hawaii, while the Australian record is 452.2kg, for a fish caught in Batemans Bay NSW.
