Commentary - Why the WBC is Good for Hawaii

Quick! What’s the name of the world famous international billfish tournament that for forty years brought in visitors from all over the world and put Kona on the map of international acclaim in terms of both fishing and hospitality? You know, the one that cost around $7,000.00 to enter, that sold out rooms at the King Kamehameha hotel for years on end, chartered out every boat in the harbor, emptied the rental car supplies, filled up restaurants, and was for generally considered one of the highest community supported event in Hawaii? Yes, the one that was cancelled this year because organizers said there was no community support. If you said the Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament, you’re right.

Now, here’s a slightly tougher one: what tournament was better organized, received high marks from skippers, anglers, The Billfish Foundation, both the international and local communities, and thanks to the enthusiastic showing of support from the communnity has essentially dug the hole for the HIBT’s eventual grave? If you said Hawaii’s World Billfish Challenge, you got it.

Of course, if you haven’t heard of this event, you either are not involved in the fishing community or simply haven’t had a chance to read the newspapers or browse the Internet. In its first year, the 1999 World Billfish Challenge drew twenty teams from places such as New Zealand and Florida, with anglers chartering boats, renting cars, staying in hotels, eating in restaurants, and doing all those activites in Hawaii just like the HIBT did. However, unlike the legendary event, it paid out, along with the light tackle division, about $200,000 to the participating teams, prompting advocates to pile heaps of praise on tournament organizer Mike Nelson. And it made Hawaii look very good in the process, both in terms of fishing and hospitality.

The Legends team wins the tournament with all releases

So what is it about the WBC that people like over the HIBT, and why is this tournament is so good for Hawaii? First of all, the HIBT was never a jackpot tournament, something that organizers refused to believe mattered. While people for years liked the idea of paying astronomical entry fees for the right to attend black tie parties every night and go fishing on a different boat every day to have a chance of winning a trophy, that format had little to no appeal for the modern day, late baby boomer and generation X, world class angler looking for a chance to win more than prestige. Look at Las Vegas. People enjoy the shows, the restaurants, the camaraderie, and the glistening lights, and pretty much everyone goes with the belief they will have to pay for that vacation. But get serious, the appeal of Las Vegas is the prospect that maybe, just maybe, the average guy could walk away with a big jackpot.

The same goes for tournaments, and not just Marlin or other big game events. When people enter a tournament that costs $300 or so to enter, they are looking at the chance of winning a $5,000 or $10,000 paycheck, maybe more. They know it costs to play, but they also know they might be the average guy on any given day that walks away with the prestige, the admiration from his fellow anglers, and the cash. Add a few thousand to the entry, and the only thing that changes is the amount that can be won.

Second, the WBC is part of a series of tournaments which lead up to the grand championship to be held in Cabo, known as the World Billfish Series. It’s also a qualifying event for the IGFA/Rolex International Tournament of Champions which will be held in Kona in March of 2000. You see, the billfish community is really not very big, and many of the same players attend the events as the circuit moves around the world. And people talk; they talk about technique, prizes, tackle, and perhaps most importantly, conservation. Hawaii has been labelled for many years as "the black hole of conservation," "the kill state," and "the place you used to go to fish." Irrespective of the arguments Hawaii’s anglers make concerning selling fish, eating it, making sure none goes to waste, etc., nobody can deny that our fishery was (and probably still is) the standard by which all are measured. If we fail to take steps to preserve it, we are viewed just like the HIBT as behind the times, driving anglers to spend their precious vacation dollars in other destinations. It’s a simple case of failing to provide customers with their requests, so we alienate them and send them elsewhere. And in an economy so reliant upon tourism, elsewhere is bad for Hawaii.

The WBC placed a heavy emphasis on releasing fish, which is the prevailing view around the world as the way for recreational anglers to combat overfishing. Tournament director Nelson, former executive director of the HIBT, had the freedom to run his tournament in the format that he felt would most please his customers. He wasn’t choked into running things "like they’ve always been" and he made it work. The minimum weight was 300 pounds. Tagged fish counted for 200 points. Anything brought to the scales that was less than 300 pounds was worth zilch. The format produced an almost 90% release ratio which meant it ranked right up there with tournaments held all around the world using similar scoring formats, prompting anglers to feel right at home with the event and with Hawaii as a fishing destination.

The WBC made a statement to the world angling community that Hawaii is serious about conservation, and further reiterated to the world that Hawaii is still the place to go fishing. The WBC put us back on the map, and with a predicted fifty or more boats next year and a growth rate that may eventually rise to over a hundred teams, our spot on that map will only get larger. And in an economy so reliant on tourism, that spot is good for Hawaii.