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Despite recreational fishery in Mozambique has been practiced in different modalities, ranging from shore (without boat) to offshore boat based, it was found billfish only in offshore boat based recreational fisheries. These fishes are caught either in recreational fishery for leisure or within the fishery competition (sport fishery). In both modalities (offshore recreational and sport) the gear used to target billfish is hook and line operated with a fishing rod and manual reel. In these fisheries the billfish represent the trophy and the specimens are usually released alive.
The results of the first census of recreational fisheries in south cost of Mozambique performed in 2007 revealed that billfish was one of the main target groups in recreational fisheries, together with Narrow-barred Spanish mackerel, yellowfin tuna and other tropical tunas. According with the census the main representative billfish species in south coast was the indo-pacific sailfish, but in the subsequent years the monitoring program revealed that black marlin is equally and even more represented in the catches of sport fisheries.
In 2012, it was estimated billfish to represent 12% of the total catch in weight of sport fishery. The species of billfish recorded was black marlin with an estimated number of ten individuals captured. The lengths of the specimens ranged from 280 to 350 cm. There was no catches of billfish recorded in offshore recreational fishery for leisure.
