8/9/2005

White Marlin Open adds millions to Ocean City economy
By Don Klein

The White Marlin Open, purported to be the largest billfish tournament in the world, is now underway in Ocean City. Without question it adds millions to the Ocean City economy every year but no one really knows how much. It is the premier special event at the resort.

Martha Clements, Ocean City’s director of marketing and public relations, has a formula, which brings the estimate to about $27 million. This figure is based on at least 400 vessels in the contest plus all the accompanying guests and includes all those costs associated with the tournament plus hotel and condo accommodations, dinners and all the other visitor activities that normally take place.

Jim Motsko, the tournament director, agrees that the economic impact is substantial. A 10-year old study measuring the retail sales tax for the week long tournament put the value at $10 million. “It’s grown by leaps and bounds since then,” Motsko said. “It should be double that amount today. At least.”

It is not easy to measure the exact amount but as the 32nd annual event gets the usual local attention this week, here are some of the figures:  Each of the expected 400 participants will pay entries fees ranging from $50 to $500 in fees depending on the size of the vessel.

It costs an additional $1,000 to $5,000 a week to rent docking spaces and boat slips.  About 100 participants do not have their own vessels so must charter boats at about $1,500 a day for four days of fishing.   The cost of hotel and condominium fees for a week, plus dinner out every night at local restaurants.

But all this is worth it if you are lucky enough to win. Last year’s largest white marlin catch, at 83 pounds was the heaviest in 21 years and brought the winner Bret Jamison, on the vessel Canyon Express, a $1,300,000 purse. Prizes totaling $2,300,000 were handed out last year.

The largest blue marlin catch was also significant. It was the second largest in Maryland history and weighed in at 895 pounds winning for the lucky fisherman $369,000. The attraction is more than cash prizes. Winners go home, brag about their win and the following year the list of contestants grows.

In addition to entry fees to cover the costs of the tournament, 32 sponsors donated from $750 to $6,000 to make the White Marlin event as popular as it is to attract the record number of fishermen who converge every year on the Maryland coast to join the contest.

Fishermen from along the east coast from New England to Florida plus the occasional visitor from places like Texas and California. “We even had mates from Hawaii and Australia taking part,” Motsko revealed. They fly in from distant locations for the sport and rent vessels here.

There are so many coming that the tournament allows contestants to use docking spaces at Indian River, Delaware and even Cape May, New Jersey.  “We don’t have enough slips for everyone in the Ocean City area but those from Indian River and Cape May are required to fish in the same waters as the rest of them,” Motsko explained.

Three marinas in the Ocean City area take the bulk of the visitors. Sunset Marina offers to take regular tenants’ boats out of the water for landside maintenance during the week of the White Marlin Open so the temporarily vacated slips can be rented to the tournament assemblage. Also available are marinas at Harbor Island and the Ocean City Fishing Center.

The average vessel is about 50-feet from stem to stern but the sizes can range from as little as 24 feet to 72 feet. The tournament previously reached 400 entries three years ago. Two years ago bad weather dropped attendance a few below 400 and last year, with the threat of a tropical storm in the area, only 379 vessels showed up for the contest.

“Weather is a critical factor for us,” Motsko said.
Cash awards are made to the vessels, which catch the three heaviest fish in each category. Rings and custom art works are awarded those who catch the most legal fish regardless of weight. Certified monitors observe the catches since they are not brought into port because most (about 95 percent) of the fish are released back into the deep.

The winning fish, after weighing is done and photographs are taken, are donated to the Maryland food bank. The heaviest white marlin on record weighed 99 pounds and was caught in 1980.

The record catch for the Open, a blue marlin, occurred in 1989 and was mounted in the Visitors’ Information Center at the Convention Center until 1997 when it was moved to the Ocean City Municipal Airport lobby while the center was being renovated. It remains there to this day. It weighed 942 pounds and was caught by the crew of a 28-foot boat. Just proof that the size of the vessel is not necessarily a factor in winning this tournament.

Motsko, a real estate sales associate with Coldwell Banker, has been running the White Marlin Open from the very beginning.

“It’s fun. It is,” he insisted, “it’s a nice challenge.”  Although the event has magnified in size over the years, he is able to spread the work out a little nowadays. His two daughters, Madelyne Phillips and Sasha Motsko-Myers, work on the tournament with him.

“Now that my children are helping,” Motsko mused, “I will do this as long as I’m alive. I see no reason to stop.”

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