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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 33 Number 7
March 2006
Bluefin winter: High hopes, empty pockets
PERKINS COVE, ME - The high hopes of tuna fishermen from up and down the East Coast were dashed as the 2005-2006 winter bluefin fishery off Virginia and the Carolinas came to an end Jan. 31.
After two months of fishing, only 100 metric tons (mt) had been caught out of a possible 545 mt of quota still available to the general category at the Dec. 1 start to the winter season. This brought the overall general category catch to 233.7 mt for the 2005 fishing year out of a possible 708.3 mt, according to National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) landing data.
High wintertime catches of the last few years had led many to predict the same for this year, but unfortunately those predictions came up short.
“It was a big disappointment,” said Robert Fitzpatrick, a Chatham, MA-based tuna buyer who set up operations in North Carolina.
Dave Mason, a fisherman from Maine who made the trip south, also was discouraged, simply saying, “It just wasn’t very good.”
Winter conditions
The season started off pretty well.
Charlie Pereira, a Buxton, NC fisherman, explained that there were a few good days in December and that, for the most part, conditions were the same as in past years.
“The water temperature was between 57 and 62 degrees and it was real clean water,” he said.
Mason agreed, although he did point out that at times the water temperature may have been a little above average.
In both the winter and summer fisheries, water temperature and color are regarded as important for fishing success. Bluefin don’t stay around if the water is too warm or murky.
While the winter weather was rarely ideal, it was no different this year than in years past, according to the fishermen. Low pressure systems rolling in and a few calm days here and there was the norm.
There was also plenty of bait to attract the hungry fish.
“There were menhaden everywhere,” Pereira said. “There were times when there were just acres of them. You could drop a cast net and fill up within a minute.
“And when you were trolling you could feel the lure bouncing off the bait left and right,” he said.
This large amount of bait, also seen in the past, is likely the main reason that this winter fishery exists, as the bluefin migrate through the area and gorge themselves on the bountiful forage.
Pereira said the fishing was primarily done in depths of 60-100 feet, if not shallower. That is one aspect of the winter fishery that differs greatly from the summer fishery, where fishing is often done in depths of 500-1,000 feet.
Consequently, the distance-from-shore of the two fisheries is very different. The winter fishery is often 10-15 miles offshore, while the summer fishery in the north happens at least 25-30 miles offshore.
Fishing effort, fish
Mason said that at times there were plenty of boats participating in the fishery. He guessed that on any given day there were between 50-60 boats on the fishing grounds. This number, though, went through the roof in days following a bite.
“The day after a bite, every guy with a boat and a rod was out there,” said Mason. “There was just an ungodly amount of boats some days.”
While opinions differ, many fishermen said the fish were there and that the low catches do not accurately represent the biomass of fish that came through the region.
According to Fitzpatrick, there were fish from New York to Georgia. “There were longliner interactions way up near Hudson Canyon and there were fish caught way down off Georgia.”
Pereira said that he even heard reports of fish being spotted as far south as Florida.
With the fish so spread out, some fishermen believe that there may not have been enough biomass concentration for the fishing to be effective. Furthermore, Mason explained, when the fish did bite, they were usually in discrete areas.
Market
Whatever the reason for the meager catches, one thing is certain – it was a bad year to be a tuna buyer. In fact, Fitzpatrick couldn’t find much positive to say about the winter season.
A handful of buyers were set up to try and do business, mostly using the Morehead City area as the base. Three out of six had come down from New England, while the other three were local companies.
Fitzpatrick said that when he went to North Carolina, he knew that to make it worth the trip he would need to buy about 200 fish. However, he was only able to buy around 50. He said that was because not enough New England boats also made the trip.
“Last year I had 15 guys come down, this year only two came because they just didn’t think it would be worth it,” he said.
Others faired a little better, such as local buyers with local allegiances, he said, but nobody did well.
The only reason anybody was able to even do moderately well was that the fish were bigger and the market was doing well.
“In past years the fish we caught were all about 350 pounds (dressed) while this year they were bigger, some dressing out at 500 pounds or more,” said Mason.
Furthermore, the market for the fish was good.
“The average was around 10 or 12 bucks per pound,” Mason said.
Pereira said that there were some real gems mixed in. “One of the fish I got was about 26 bucks a pound, and there was at least one other fish that did even better.”
There was also a report of a fish worth roughly $80,000.
Catch off
But despite the good prices and big fish, the bottom line was that not enough were caught to make it a good year.
Fishermen say that perhaps the biggest reason for the low catch was the spatial distribution of fish. With fish from New York to Georgia, Fitzpatrick believed that the fish were not concentrated enough. While there may have been enough overall fish, because of how spread out they were, it was hard to really catch a lot, he said.
Mason added another explanation. When fish were found they were often pounded hard by a massive fleet.
“Because all the fishing is done around structures, we are talking about very tight areas that boats were fishing,” he said, referring to the wrecks, rock piles, underwater ledges, and artificial reefs. “Now, on top of that you have all this fishing being done in shallow water and that means a lot of guys trolling a lot of ballyhoo through very small areas of the ocean.
“It seemed that the fish could have been spooked because of this intense effort,” Mason said.”
Bluefin are notoriously picky and it is possible that they couldn’t handle the fishing effort and just left.
Pereira agreed that such concentrated fishing effort was a problem.
“Guys were so balled up. There was a mob mentality that made everyone stick together and this was a problem,” Pereira said.
This was likely a problem because not only did it concentrate effort on small bodies of fish, but it kept people from spreading out and being able to find untouched areas.
In a short season, it is hard to leave a place where one knows there at least a few fish to find a better area away from the boats. And, much of the fleet didn’t even go fishing until there was a bite. That left a few guys to do all of the scouting, and a consequence was that other bodies of fish could have very easily been overlooked.
Finally, most everyone involved with the fishery agreed that the restricted, no-catch fishing days set by NMFS for the winter months held back potential fishing effort. Many of the North Carolina fishermen have other jobs and because Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays were restricted days, many of these boats couldn’t even go out.
While NMFS ultimately did waive most of the days off, it was on a weekend-by-weekend basis as dealer catch reports were received. That timing had the effect of limiting participation by New England boats that decided not to undertake the expense of steaming south.
As the Jan. 31 end to the season was nearing, the Winter Bluefin Tuna Association (WBA) asked NMFS for an “experimental quota” that would allow fishing to continue. But NMFS turned it down, citing the amount of procedural time needed to consider the request.
Many feel industry suffered from the season being closed with so much leftover quota. This has led industry organizations to request for a season that remains open as long as quota is available.
Speaking on behalf of WBA, Pereira said that his organization planned to seek support for a 12-month fishery at the Highly Migratory Species Advisory Panel meeting on Feb. 21-23.
According to Rich Ruais, executive director of the East Coast Tuna Association, ECTA would join WBA in that effort.
“There is no reason to be closing the season when there are fish still to be caught,” said Pereira.
Chris Weiner
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