"In 1991, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) began the 21st season of its Recreational Billfishing Survey in the northern Gulf of Mexico. The primary species involved are blue marlin, Makaira nigricans; white marlin, Tetrapturus albidus; sailfish, Istiophorous platypterus; swordfish, Xiphias gladius; and longbill spearfish, Tetrapturus pfluegeri. The Panama City, Florida, NMFS Laboratory has had jurisdiction over the billfish surveys in the northern Gulf of Mexico since 1971, providing information to develop indices of abundance and collecting biological and ecological data on this species group"-Introduction, paragraph 1.

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