Tuna From Shore

[tattoobob]

I emailed some of the Marine Fisheries folks and the answer I got as of Friday is this:
To possess an Atlantic bluefin, yellowfin, bigeye, skipjack, or albacore an individual must have a federal permit. False albies, Little Tunnys and Blackfin can be taken w/out this permit.

These federal permits are issued to State registered or USCG Documented vessels, versus individuals. This policy was devised for a number of reasons, we can discuss in more detail.

Therefore, if a bluefin was landed by a surfcaster it would need to be released, as heartbreaking as it may sound. Keeping one would be viewed as a violation of the Atlantic tuna regulations.

I will give him a call tomorrow and see what is up

Originally Posted by MakoMike

I complain about the plover and dogfish regs.

I hate them things.

I've caught a few Tuna from shore in my younger days...Oh what a fight.

[fishweewee]

I just don't understand why NMFS won't issue the same boat permit for shore anglers, as crazy as that sounds. What's the big deal? Shore anglers are far less likely to land a tuna than their boat brethren, NMFS could rake in the bux. Kinda like the lottery.

[STRIPERSHAWN]

my brother was fishing next too the guy from conn,who caught that tuna at ant hill, had a hell of a fight him and his buddy landed it and put it in the cooler a female ranger came down immieditly too look at the catch and told him to release it he said he had a permit but not on him it was in his boat ,she took down his numbers and other info he said he could keep the fish as he said it was a yellow fin not a buel fin so the ranger had a hand book as they treid too i d the fish she did not even know the rules looked real stupid looking at a book arguing with this guy as you cant keep a tuna from shore and it was not a yellow fin,are these rangers game wardens also?because if they are they need to go back to school , anyway the put the fish in the cooler and left,my brother continued to fish and he hooked up with a lg. bluefish right after the guy left the ,in which he released in the surf the female ranger then came down to him and wanted to know what he just released in the water acting real warden like,what business is it what you release in the surf my brother said she looked like a total fool arguing with this guy and did not know what she was looking at to begin with ,if your going too inforce the law please know it ,or stick too the beach stickers shawn from ludlow mass

[Mr. Sandman]

Again this illustrates how rule makers are out of touch with reality. I don't understand the permit reasons in the first place! (I have one though) What are they actually doing besides issuing permits? I see no reason for permitting except that it is a baby step towards saltwater fishing lic's. I think what ever they are doing could be done without permits. For the most part there is little enforcement. It is nearly impossible to enforce this.

How many of you actaully sent in your catch results of tuna fishing EACH DAY YOU WENT? You are suppose to within 24 hours of fishing. I am calling the feds on you.

Surf fishing...If you catch one I doubt anyone will say anything but the rule is you have to release it. In my view, they never considered the possiblity of a surf caster being able to catch one so they made the lic for boats.

[Pete_G]

Whether it was a yellowfin or a bluefin would be pretty irrelevant, no? Both are regulated.

Juveniles are very tough to tell apart. It's blatantly obvious it was a bluefin by where it was caught though. Everyone and their brother were coming into the shop this summer telling me they were catching "yellowfin" a mile off Newport....

[Pete_G]

Originally Posted by Mr. Sandman

How many of you actaully sent in your catch results of tuna fishing EACH DAY YOU WENT? You are suppose to within 24 hours of fishing. I am calling the feds on you.

People SHOULD even if some don't. The catch reports help track where the fish are (for better enforcement) as well as how agressively any given age class is being fished. Catch reports are given to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas. All our regulations and size restrictions are based on them.

You can even do it online. People should respect this incredible (and vulnerable) fishery. This fish isn't a scup or some other fast breeding, boring fish. What happened last year off of RI wasn't even remotely normal. People think I'm joking when I say it was probably once in a lifetime. Hopefully it will happen again. Better regulation will increase the chances of it.

[MakoMike]

Sandy,
FWIW, I heard numerous reports from earlier this year when the bluefins were close tot he beach in RI of RI DEM issuing citations to boats fishing for tuna without the federal permit. Supposedly the fines were a couple of grand.

[MoroneSaxatilis]

Originally Posted by Mr. Sandman

Again this illustrates how rule makers are out of touch with reality.

I hope this isn't too far off topic. It's got nothing to do with tuna from shore, but is another illustration of how inept enforcement agents can be.
I was returning from a scalloping trip on George's Bank this past summer when we were stopped by the Coast Guard for a rountine boarding/inspection.
We are allowed to possess 300 lbs of monkfish for every 24 hours that we fish. We fished for 13 days and had about 3000 lbs of monk aboard. When they checked the fish hold, the CG told us we were in violation because the possession limit was 300 lbs for the entire trip.We assured them they were wrong, but they stated that they were certain. They proceeded to hold us up for over an hour while they flipped through regs in thier binders, contacted "the mother ship" to consult with other officials and so forth. Of course, they turned out to be wrong, and sent us on our way with profuse appologies and quite a bit of embarassment to themselves.

Moderators: Please move this to some other thread if it's too far