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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 36 Number 11
July 2009
NMFS keeps bluefin restrictions in 2009 rules
GLOUCESTER, MA – The final quotas and effort-control rules for the season that began June 1 offer little relaxation of restrictions on the 2009 commercial bluefin tuna fishery.
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), which has been under tremendous pressure to give fishermen a fighting chance to catch the US quota share by lifting measures that slow harvest rates, had made it clear from the start that it would be legally unable to make any immediate substantive changes to bluefin rules (see CFN April 2009).
And, as expected, the final rule NMFS published on June 1 restricts general category fishermen to the current maximum allowed of three large medium/giant bluefin 73" or greater per vessel per day for June 1 through Aug. 31.
NMFS specifically noted that the rule did not increase the possession limit for vessels traveling farther offshore where many fishermen believe bluefin are more plentiful.
“Regardless of the duration of a fishing trip, the … retention limit applies,” the agency said. Using a general category boat as an example, NMFS explained, “Whether a vessel takes a two-day trip or makes two trips in one day, the limit of three fish overall applies and may not be exceeded.”
However, NMFS did acknowledge that it was aware of the need for US fishermen to have additional fishing opportunities and so issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking toward that end in conjunction with the 2009 final rule.
Quotas
In the meantime, the agency established a total adjusted quota for 2009 of 1,437.4 metric tons (mt). The adjustments involved taking the US baseline quota, which is now only 1,009.9 mt, adding 50% of underharvest from 2008, and deducting 90 mt of dead discards from the longline category.
As a result of these calculations, the 2009 fishing year quota for the general category is 623.1 mt, which is further divided seasonally as follows: June through August, 311.5 mt; September, 165.1 mt; October through November, 81.0 mt; December, 32.4 mt; and January, 33 mt.
The other category quotas are: harpoon, 51.6 mt; purse seine, 246.0 mt; longline 74.3 mt; trap, 1.3 mt; and angling 260.6 mt.
Additionally, NMFS set aside 180.4 mt for the reserve category “for potential ICCAT transfer and other domestic management directives.”
ICCAT is the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, which distributes internationally agreed upon tuna and swordfish quotas among dozens of countries.
The reserve category amount set by NMFS is approximately 15% of the 1,009.9 mt US baseline quota from ICCAT.
In the Federal Register notice announcing the final quotas and effort control measures, NMFS noted that many people who commented on its proposed rule opposed the idea of any transfer of US quota to other ICCAT member countries.
It also said it understood those concerns.
“As it is neither to the US fishery’s nor the bluefin tuna stock’s benefit to transfer quota to another ICCAT contracting party, the US currently has no plans to do so,” NMFS said.
Instead, the agency suggested that the reserve could be used to cover possible overages in the angling category.
Angling category
The one significant change in the final rule from the proposed rule was, in fact, in the angling category.
Instead of restricting anglers to one school, large school, or small medium bluefin per vessel per day, NMFS liberalized the limit to allow retention of one school fish measuring 27" to less than 47" and one large school/medium bluefin measuring 47" to less than 73".
The agency said it made the decision based on: anticipated landings of school fish; comment from the public and the NMFS Highly Migratory Species Advisory Panel, particularly regarding the needs of the charter boat fishery; and NMFS “management objectives.”
In the Federal Register notice, the agency said that school fish landings were expected to be similar to last year’s – only 55 mt out of the adjusted 2008 angling category quota of 119 mt.
“Thus, there is less concern that the … subquota for 2009 would be exceeded with a daily retention limit of one school bluefin tuna and one large school/small medium bluefin tuna per vessel.”
In the final rule, NMFS also acknowledged public protest that a one-fish daily retention limit would have negative socio-economic impacts on the charter boat fleet.
“NMFS understands the concern of captains that it is extremely difficult … to book charter trips when clients feel that only one person per vessel per day/trip would be able to retain a bluefin tuna,” the agency said.
However, NMFS warned that it would need to carefully consider 2009 landings when formulating next year’s rules in order not to exceed ICCAT limits.
“The school bluefin tuna daily retention limit for 2010 will need to be set such that the US is consistent with the ICCAT-recommended two-year tolerance limit … over the 2009-2010 period.” /cfn/
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