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Bryan - you're right in that NMFS has to make their best guess on the landings - but that's the problem. No one I've ever talked to has any confidence in their ability to estimate the landings and no one can provide an accurate guess as to how many people call in their landings. The system as it stands is horribly inept.
The dockside surveys are no better - I'm at the point where I don't even want to talk to them anymore. They come to the boat while I'm unloading a 1/2 day bass charter and ask me if I've landed any tuna. When I clearly tell them that we were not targeting tuna (and there's bass crap all over the place) the guys continue to fill out the report - its crazy. If you come in after 4:00 with a fish, forget, those guys are long gone (forget if its actually raining).
My point is this - the system as it stands is extemely flawed, and the people the NMFS is designed to serve have lost confidence in it.
As far as the cutbacks to the overall quota go - chris was absolutely correct. The angling category has been filling, so lack of reporting in not hurting us in terms of iccat. The angling category quota each year is determined as a percentage of the overall U.S. Bluefin quota -- we will likely lose a portion of our overall quota primarily due to the General, Harpoon, and Seine quotas not filling for the last several years. As a result of this reduction in overall quota, the angling will receive a reduction that corresponds to its percentage of the overall U.S. allotment.
Overall this whole thing sucks.
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