• Recreational anglers have a strong voice at this week's annual meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas in Recife, Brazil. But whether U.S. commissioner Ellen Peel, executive director of the Fort Lauderdale-based Billfish Foundation, can help persuade the group's 48-member nations to adopt strong conservation measures before adjournment Sunday is doubtful.

Before leaving for the meeting, which opened Nov. 6, Peel said she was not highly optimistic that any strong changes would be made to help shore up plunging stocks of Atlantic bluefin tuna. If, as Peel and others suspect, the organization sticks to the status quo, then U.S. officials are ready to join with Monaco in getting bluefin listed on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. A CITES listing prohibits international trade in bluefins, but would not affect commercial or recreational harvest within a nation's borders.

Peel and others in the recreational angling community are heartened that ICCAT convened for the first time a working group meeting on sport fishing. Peel said the Billfish Foundation wants to help nations advance recreational catch-and-release fishing to their economic benefit.

• The Sailfish Pro Series kicks off its second season Monday through Wednesday, with the Sailfish Cup out of Miami Beach Marina. Billed as the most lucrative tournament in Miami, the Cup will feature NASCAR celebrities fishing alongside South Florida weekend warriors and 14 professional offshore fishing teams. The event is expected to raise money for the NASCAR Foundation, Speediatrics at Homestead Hospital and the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation. A gala awards ceremony will be held Wednesday at Jungle Island.

• Olympic gold medalist Anna Tunnicliffe of Plantation has been named the 2009 International Sailing Federation's female Rolex world sailor of the year. Tunnicliffe, who won gold in Beijing last year in the Laser Radial class, had been honored as U.S. Sailing's 2008 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year. Tunnicliffe continued her winning ways in 2009, taking first in the Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta, the Women's Laser Radial North American Championship and the ISAF Sailing World Cup. She hopes to represent the United States at the 2012 London Olympics.

The 2009 ISAF Men's World Sailor of the Year is Torben Grael of Brazil, who has won five Olympic medals and multiple world championships. He also skippered Ericsson 4 to victory in the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race, and set a 24-hour monohull world record along the way.

Grael and Tunnicliffe accepted their Rolex timepieces in ceremonies last week in Busan, South Korea.

-- SUSAN COCKING