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-   -   Atlantic Bluefin Tuna update HMS Advisory Panel (http://www.striped-bass.com/Stripertalk/showthread.php?t=55510)

buckman 02-26-2009 11:20 AM

Atlantic Bluefin Tuna update HMS Advisory Panel
 
For the first time ever the 2008 Iccat Western Atlantic agreement made mandatory re-allocation of past historical allotments of Bluefin required in 2010.

This means the uncaught US share of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna is up for reassignment to other fishing nations, all of whom fish with a less conservative approach than we do. For instance, mandatory bag limit in the General and Harpoon categories, Charter boat restrictions, minimum fish size of 47 vs. 73 inches for US fishermen, closures of spawning areas, and restrictions on PLL vessels.

Because of this, and a decreasing abundance of giants inshore, we have caught less than 50 percent of our quota since 2005.

At the AP meeting NMFS HMS stonewalled any effort control options put forth by fishermen and AP members that would assist in reaching our 2009 quota levels. There are things that we could do to help protect our share, but clearly they just don't want us to catch our fish.

If we fished like other nations did we would not have enough quota. US fisherman, support industries, and the recreation sector are going to pay a heavy price for being more conservative than others. The 2009 and 2010 base quota levels are 1009 and 952 MT respectively. It is likely that under current effort restrictions we will leave 30 to 50 percent on the table.

Besides losing the fish, this transfer will negatively impact bluefin tuna rebuilding through 2018, the remainder of the ICCAT rebuilding plan.

Ralph Pratt HMS AP Member

animal 02-26-2009 04:10 PM

:fury:I thought this was only a possibility.Are you saying,it's a done deal?WTF is wrong with ICCAT,anyways?They stand idly by while every other country grossly overfishes bft,and ignores Iccat regs for years,now they want to penalize us,and reward the parasite nations with our fish?
Aren't these the same douchebags who claim the bft is overfished?Isn't the second "c" in ICCAT for conservation?If this goes through,I think it's time to get in touch with our elected representatives and make a stink.:fury::fury:

buckman 02-26-2009 05:13 PM

It's a tough call. We could call in a fish everyday and risk having the season closed because the quota has been "filled". I think if we call in 2 fish for every one caught it should work out about right. I hope everyone is at least calling in their fish.


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