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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 35 Number 11
July 2008
Bait, giants arrive for bluefin season start
HARWICH, MA – In mid-June, two weeks into the opening of the 2008 commercial bluefin tuna season, New England waters were filled with baitfish, the weather was beautiful, and the giants had arrived.
“The tuna usually show up off Cape Ann when the surface water temperature hits 52°F,” said Billy Muniz, a Gloucester groundfish and tuna fisherman.
Sure enough, the water temperature hit that on Stellwagen Bank, and the tuna showed up.
Several dozen mostly stick fish were landed during the first two weeks of June in Gloucester and Newburyport, MA and Ogunquit and Perkins Cove, ME. According to Bob Campbell of the Yankee Fishermen's Co-op in Seabrook, NH, who handled 10 fish as of June 13, they were "typical early fish," ranging in size from 157 pounds to 389 pounds dressed weight.
“The bigger fish are long and skinny and the smaller ones have a nice round look to them, but there’s no fat content,” he said.
So the fish were all headed to the domestic market, and Campbell said he was looking for buyers as close to home as possible to keep shipping costs down and return a bigger paycheck to the boat. So far, the boat price had been $5-$7 a pound.
Fuel, exchange rate
Campbell added that the Yankee co-op was planning on resuming its bluefin auction just as soon as buyers were lined up and there was a relatively steady supply of fish.
He was also ready to send high-quality fish to Japan.
“If we get a spectacular fish, I won’t hesitate to export it,” he said.
Dealers, suppliers, and fishermen all pointed out that the high cost of fuel will be a big factor in the number of trips bluefin tuna fishermen make this season.
“The guys will be waiting for that bluebird day to go out,” Campbell said. “Going fishing is a lot more costly this year than in the past.”
In addition to higher prices on the dock, airlines and trucking companies were imposing fuel surcharges on all freight, including bluefin.
For fish flown to Japan, that cost increase might be slightly offset by this year’s exchange rate, which was just under 105 yen to the US dollar on June 16.
“The exchange rate is better than it’s been,” said Robert Fitzpatrick of Maguro America, which is based in Chatham and operates buying stations in several ports.
Apprehension
As welcome as the appearance of the big fish was, there was a palpable sense of apprehension hovering over CFN’s conversations with a number of industry participants.
From experience, they knew all too well how the early bite can suddenly disappear and sometimes, especially in the last few years, that sudden disappearance of fish means they don’t return again.
“We’ll have to wait and see,” said one dealer, who was probably crossing his fingers as he spoke the words. “I’m trying not to get giddy about it.”
Younger crop
However, industry people said there were a few reasons to be “cautiously optimistic.” Several said the summer months’ ban on herring midwater trawling in Area 1A gave them hope that there would be enough of a concentration of bait fish in the region to entice the giants to stick around.
There also was some indication that there might be more fish just reaching giant size in New England waters this season.
Tom DePersia of Big Fish II Charters out of Marshfield, MA said he observed “a lot of fish just under giant size” last year on Stellwagen, off the back side of Cape Cod, and in Cape Cod Bay.
“They were here last year in mid-June and were still here when I pulled out my boat in mid-November,” he said, adding that, this year, many of those fish most likely have grown to legal large medium and giant size of 73" and over.
DePersia added that he and his crew participated in a DNA study last year, providing more than 100 samples to John Graves of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, who also happens to be the chairman of the US Advisory Committee to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) and has a long history of studying bluefin.
“He told us they were all four-year-old fish that originally came from the Gulf of Mexico,” DePersia said.
In mid-June, DePersia reported that the places he takes charters out to fish already were loaded with younger bluefin.
“Most of the fish so far are over 47",” he said.
Rules
This year, the noncommercial angling category, which includes charter and head boats, gets 19.7% of the total US share of the western Atlantic quota and is starting off with a 309.5 metric ton (mt) quota share. The daily vessel retention limit is one school fish measuring 27"-to-less-than 47" and two large school/small medium fish measuring 47"-to-less-than 73".
The commercial general category, which gets 47.1% of the total US share of the western Atlantic quota, has a 740 mt total quota. This number is small considering the huge underharvests of the last few years that previously had been carried over from year to year.
However, it reflects the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) implementation of the 2006 ICCAT agreement that reduced the total US baseline landings quota to 1,165.12 mt. It also reflects the current ICCAT recommendation to limit the total amount of underharvest the US can carry over into 2008 to 595.1 mt.
The initial general category daily vessel retention limit is three large medium/giant bluefin measuring 73" (curved fork length) or more. The three-fish limit is in place through Aug. 31. After that, NMFS may make additional adjustments.
Commercial bluefin advocates have called the rule that forbids commercial fishermen from keeping large school and medium bluefin arbitrary and a major factor in preventing them from filling the commercial category quotas.
The harpoon category quota this year is 61.2 mt, which is 3.9% of the total US quota, and there is no daily retention limit. The purse seine quota is 292.2 mt, which is 8.6% of the total US quota.
NMFS did not include restricted fishing days in the final rule setting the specifications and effort controls for the season, which was released on Dec. 31, 2007.
Enforcement
Last summer, NMFS enforcement agents, working with state law enforcement authorities and the Coast Guard, began investigating numerous complaints from fishermen that there was illegal harvesting and selling of bluefin tuna going on in Maine.
Through the investigation, NMFS officials documented fishermen harvesting young school, school, large school, and medium bluefin, loining them out, and selling the loins to restaurants in Ogunquit and Perkins Cove, ME.
NMFS cited three fishermen, four restaurants, and two individuals with a total of 22 counts, including violations for possessing undersized fish, using illegal gear, filleting at sea, exceeding daily possession limits, failing to have proper permits, and failing to report catches.
The penalties ranged from verbal warnings to notices of violation and assessment, or NOVAs, which have yet to be issued by attorneys with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of General Counsel at the NMFS Northeast Region headquarters in Gloucester.
Andy Cohen, special agent in charge of the NMFS Northeast Office for Law Enforcement, said that his officers will be working with other enforcement agencies this season to monitor the bluefin fishery.
“We try to go after the worst offenders,” he said. “These fishermen never reported their catch, and that undermines what fishery management is trying to do.”
New dealer rules
As NMFS continues to implement recent ICCAT agreements on bluefin, it published a final rule on June 2 requiring dealers to fill out extensive paperwork in the form of a new “US bluefin tuna catch document” (BCD) for all fish that are exported or re-exported.
The new rule also established new permit requirements for shark fin importers, exporters, and re-exporters, including a measure that requires a US resident agent or corporation to obtain the highly migratory species (HMS) International Trade Permit when a foreign entity is doing the trading.
The rule further adjusts reporting deadlines and states that each BCD may only contain information on bluefin from a single vessel.
The changes go into effect on July 2. However, on June 2, the date the final rule was published, the NMFS HMS Division suggested that dealers begin immediately to comply with the new rules, particularly using the BCD.
“It’s a pain,” said a resigned Fitzpatrick. “Not that it’s that much more work for me but we’re not the bad guys. This is new paperwork that we have to suffer with that the bad guys who don’t play by the rules won’t do.”
The BCD replaces the statistical catch document program. For more info on this new requirement, call Dianne Stephan or Kathy Goldsmith at (978) 281-9260.
Lorelei Stevens
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