COMMERCE
Subscriber Services
Classified Ads
Subscribe
Advertise
NEWS
This Month
Editorial
Letters
F/V Safety
Past Issues
ABOUT US
Masthead
Latest Issue
Subscribe
History
MORE CONTENT
CFN Archives
Links
Each Month In CFN
Along the Coast
Ask the Lobster Doc
Bearin’s
Classifieds
Coming Events
Editorial
Enforcement Report
FISH SAFE
Fleet Additions
Letters
Lobster Market Report
McKinley
New Boats
News Catch
Quahog Market Report
|
Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 32 Number 12
July 2005
2005 bluefin rule restores general, harpoon quotas
GLOUCESTER, MA - The rules for the 2005 bluefin tuna season were announced on June 1, the start of the commercial fishing season, marking the first time in years that the annual specifications have come out anywhere close to on time.
The quota specifications restore much but not all of the tonnage that was taken away from the general and harpoon categories last year to cover angling category overages. That move puts the two commercial handgear categories in pretty good shape for the season – that is as long as the fish show up in US waters over the next five to seven months.
The rule also establishes the following general category restricted fishing days: all Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from Nov. 18, 2005 through Jan. 31, 2006; and Nov. 24, 2005. The purpose of the restricted days is to extend the general category fishery “into the late season for the southern Atlantic region,” according to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).
NMFS initially set the general category possession limit at one 73" curved fork length or larger fish per day, but almost immediately took a separate action to raise that limit to two fish per day effective June 6 through Aug. 31. The limit is scheduled to revert to one fish per day Sept. 1, 2005 -Jan. 31, 2006.
General category
The total 2005 general category quota is 908.3 metric tons (mt), which is divided into these time-period subquotas:
• June-August, 539 mt;
• September, 269.5 mt;
• October-January, 89.8 mt; and
• New York Bight, 10 mt.
NMFS figured out the total quota basically by taking the general category’s final adjusted 2004 quota of 359 mt and subtracting the category’s total 2004 landings of 343 mt, which resulted in a 16 mt underharvest figure.
NMFS also decided to add – upfront – a 202.5 mt transfer from the reserve. This amount largely offsets the 218.5 mt transfer out of the general category last December into the reserve to make up for expected angling category overages. (Through other transfer actions, NMFS ultimately took away a total of 300 mt of the general category’s 2004 quota.)
Finally, NMFS took the 2005 general category baseline quota of 689.9 mt and added the 16 mt underharvest and the 202.5 mt reserve transfer to come up with the final initial 908.3 mt quota, give or take a fraction of a ton.
Harpoon category
The total harpoon category quota for the year is 90 mt. The agency used a similar equation to come up with that number. It took the final adjusted 2004 quota of 41.4 mt, subtracted actual 2004 landings of 29.9 mt, which resulted in an 11.5 mt underharvest figure.
NMFS also made an upfront 21.4 mt transfer from the reserve, which partly made up for the 32.9 mt transferred out of the harpoon category last year to pad the reserve in case of angling category overages.
Finally, the agency took the 2005 harpoon category baseline quota of 57.1 mt and added the 11.5 mt underharvest and the 21.4 mt reserve transfer to come up with the final initial 90 mt quota.
Seiner, angler quotas
The total 2005 purse seine category quota is 530 mt. That number is substantially larger than in years past but can be attributed to the fact that, as a whole, the purse seine category landed just 31.8 mt of bluefin last year.
Leonard Ingrande and Roger Hillhouse, who own the seiners Diane Marie, North Queen, and Kathy Ann, voluntarily gave 100 mt of their quota back to NMFS last December and asked that it be redistributed to the general and harpoon categories. At the time, NMFS declined and instead put the 100 mt into the reserve. However, the reserve transfers to the harpoon and general categories this time around reflect the seiners’ request.
Breaking it down again, the purse seine category wound up with a 2004 underharvest amount of 257.6 mt. That was added to the 2005 baseline allocation of 272.4 mt to come up with the 2005 quota of 530 mt.
The total 2005 angling category quota is 288.6 mt. Last year, the category received 223.1 mt in quota transfers in addition to its 2004 baseline of 65.5 mt and wound up landing 364.7 mt – 65.1 mt over its expanded quota limit.
This time around, NMFS took 65.1 mt from the reserve to cover the overage.
For more information on the 2005 bluefin rules, contact Brad McHale: phone, (978) 281-9260; or e-mail <brad.Mchale@noaa.gov>.
Lorelei Stevens
Back to story list
|
|
Tell us what you think.
