Atlantic Bluefin Tuna update HMS Advisory Panel

[buckman]

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