Bluefin Tuna Reg Change: 47" Minimum CFL

[Buster Crab]

NMFS is prohibiting the retention of school BFT less than 47 inches (119 cm) in the recreational fishery for the remainder of the fishing year starting 1 Oct 05.

[Bob_Marlin]

what about number of fish per boat?
is that staying the same?

[TommyTuna]

1 per boat for charters and recs.

General Category commercial can kill 2 a day over 73".

[Chumlord]

I suppose the commercial fishing community had no additional limits imposed on them???

[Chumlord]

Double!
What is the link to the reg modification!!

[TommyTuna]

http://nmfspermits.com/

[DC Ben]

How much does a 47" BFT generally weigh?

[johnrogers]

DC Ben originally wrote:
How much does a 47" BFT generally weigh?


I would say around 60-70#

[Bob ECT]

lrajnys@cox.net originally wrote:
I suppose the commercial fishing community had no additional limits imposed on them???


Actually they recently up theirs. They're not even close to filling their qouta again this year.

[Chumlord]

Bob Ect,
I don't quite get your point of view.

[David]

A 56 incher we caught weighed 95 lbs w/blood.

[you_like_loach]

DC Ben originally wrote:
How much does a 47" BFT generally weigh?


about tree-fiddy

[getreel]

I don't know you all saw in Saltwater Sportsman's October issue, but there is a scientific study going on with schoolie bluefin. The scientists have tagged about 50 fish as of August, 100 will be tagged in all. If you catch one you get $500. You can remove the tag and send it in to the info on the tag to get the money. They would like the whole fish, but that would be hard to put in an envelope. :) You're allowed to keep the fish even if undersized, and it won't count against your daily limit.
Here's their web site.
http://www.tunalab.unh.edu/Latest%20News.htm

--Don

[Bob ECT]

lrajnys@cox.net originally wrote:
Bob Ect,
I don't quite get your point of view.



No view point really. Just that Comm's and recs aren't targeting the same fish or the same qouta. Even if NMFS transfered all the remaining Gen cat qouta to the recs we still would not be allowed to target BFT's under 47". The issue with the school fish is an ICCAT issue.

Right now there will be no 27-47 inch fish for 2006 unless the RFA wins their size and weight arguement.

[Chumlord]

I don't understand I guess I need to get educated on the subject Comms and Recs not targeting the same fish???? ICCAT???RFA???
No 27-47" fish in 2006 for anybody at all??? Where do you get your information I would like to learn more.

[Darren]

Try starting on the NOAA page LOU, then maybe do a search or try reading some of the Salt water fishing magazines. In a nut shell the quotas for blue fins are not just for the entire species but also on the size classes. Comms like the big ones because they will bring more money per pound than the smaller ones, not just more money because they weigh more. The fat content of the ginats drive the prices way up. The recreationals generally fish closer in and hit the smaller class of BFTs much harder. they are much easier to catch and most recs don't have the gear to really handle the giants well. I'm sure there are a lot of other factors involved but I think that's the basics.

[pursuit_2150]

If it's bigger than your boat you can keep it. Or maybe not.[grin]
Look at the size of this guy. It's from that Tuna lab site. Cheez!!
http://www.stevehaley.com/content/public/giant_bft.jpg

[Bob ECT]

lrajnys@cox.net,

Gen Cat comm's can't keep any fish under 73", limits for Purse seiners I think is 81". Rec's on the other hand can only keep one fish per year over 73" so we're really not targeting the same fish.

The problem recs are having and will have in 2006 relates to the ICCAT agreement. The US agreed to limit the amount of small fish (27-47) to 8% of our total qouta over a 4 year average. We used to be at 15% but voluntarily lowered it to 8% in order to get concessions from the Europeans on White Marlin and better enforcement of their qouta's. The Euro's laughed and sure we'll do that.

2003 was the first year and we were slightly over 8%, 2004 way over around 40%, 2005 is expected to be over as well. Expect to have a zero (27-47) limit in 2006 in to try and get our average down to 8%.

Alot of people say just take it from the comm qouta since they can't find enough big fish to fill it but it's not that easy. We're still screwed by the 8%.

One hope we have is the RFA is putting together it's own data on the size and weights of BFT's. NMFS's surveyor's don't weight the fish. They just measure them and assign a weight based on their charts. Alot of people feel they weights they use a too high and they've hit us with more pounds then they should have.

Hopefully that can get us some more qouta for 2006, otherwise I doubt we'll get any.

HMS species meeting are being held now. Hopefully some signals of what 2006 will look like will be discussed at them.

This will give you the listing for the public meetings in your area.

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/hms/Amendment2/Fax%20Notice%20FMP%208-11-05.pdf

[DC Ben]

Sweet mother of GOD, pursuit...that is a scary big fish.

[cfree]

[sad]Saw that Picture of the Murray Brothers fish in a Magazine 10 years ago, You should view there vidio "Tuna Mania" seems like all they catch are big ones, caught in the Bahama's

[stevej00]

Didn't there use to be a "trophy" (or similar there to) catch also allowed as a once a year option.

Does that still exist ?

(sorry if you're seeing this reply for a second time)

[Darren]

1 giant per year, 73" or better.