Black marlin stabs boat off Tathra, NSW south coast, breaking engine and leaving fishermen stranded

One of Australia’s most unusual ocean distress calls has been issued after a group of fishermen were left stranded when a mammoth black marlin stabbed their boat and killed its engine.

The 6.7-metre boat was trawling for fish around 32km off the coast of Tura Head, in NSW‘s south-east, when it hooked a 70kg marlin at around 1pm on Sunday.

As the men struggled to reel in the monster fish, the marlin went rogue, doing a rapid U-turn and stabbing its sword nose through the engine.

The marlin had punched a hole in the engine’s canvas cover and cowling, disabling the power and leaving the fishermen stranded out at sea. 

‘We were fighting it and it did a U-turn and slammed into the engine,’ the skipper of the damaged vessel told AAP.

Black marlin are considered one of the most powerful fish in the ocean, and are regarded as an ultimate trophy for many fishermen given how difficult they are to catch. 

A black marlin has thwarted a private fishing trip after it destroyed a 6.7m fishing boat’s (pictured, towed) motor as it was reeled in around 32km off of Tura Head, NSW, on Sunday

Marine Rescue Merimbula Unit Commander Bill Blakeman, alongside volunteers, were tasked with finding the boat and bringing the men back to shore.

It took an hour to get to the boat, and the entire rescue effort took around three-and-a-half hours to reach the damaged vessel and tow it back to the Kianinny boat ramp at Tathra.

The fishermen were shocked by the power and speed of the marlin, as their trophy-fish turned to destroy their boat.

‘It happened so quick… It was a freaky thing,’ the skipper said.

‘We had to cut the line.’

Mr Blakeman said that in his 15 years of volunteer service on the water, he’d never heard of an incident of a marlin damaging a vessel.

‘It was an unusual rescue,’ he said in a statement.

‘I’ve had a couple of shark-related incidents over the years where they attacked propellers, but never a marlin disabling a vessel.’ 

Black marlin are known as one of the most powerful fish in the ocean, and considered trophy-fish for how difficult they are to catch (pictured, stock) 

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The skipper said he would be be making a donation to Marine Rescue that same day.

‘I am very thankful for the assistance Marine Rescue provided,’ he said.

Black marlins have a more solid frame than their blue counterparts, with rigid dorsal fins and bulkier head and shoulders making them slightly slower than blue marlin, but much more powerful.

A 70kg black Marlin is estimated to be around 2m in length, compared to the largest ever recorded at 4.65m and a whopping 750kg. 

The Merimbula Marine Rescue Unit’s Commander, Bill Blakeman, said that in his 15 years of volunteering on the ocean he’d never encountered a marlin-based boat failure (pictured, Marine Rescue arriving to the damaged boat)