Swordfish Fisheries and Management Today

vailing currents and use their highly developed sight to stalk prey. Female swordfish grow faster and live longer than males. They reach their maximum size (usually ~350 kg) at about 15 years of age. Male and female swordfish have different distributions depending on size. Within swordfish populations, a proportion of the fish associates with underwater features such as banks and seamounts. Such features were often the focus of fisheries when they first began to develop. Modern longliners are potentially capable of removing these ‘resident’ components of swordfish populations at a greater rate than they can be replaced by growth and immigration. Swordfish may thus be inclined to local depletion around underwater features.