BLUEFIN BLUES
By Karen Wall
The excellent fishing for bluefin tuna that extended well into the latter months of 2024 has come at a cost for 2025: a tightening of bluefin tuna bag limits for the rest of 2025.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued new regulations for bluefin retention that take effect July 1.
The changes apply to recreational anglers fishing from the Gulf of Maine to the tip of Florida on vessels with highly migratory species angling or highly migratory species charter/headboat permit, NOAA Fisheries said.
There is no targeted fishing for bluefin tuna in the Gulf of Mexico/Gulf of America.
Under the new limits, boats the HMS Angling permits will be allowed to keep 1 bluefin tuna of 27 inches to under 73 inches per day.
For boats with HMS Charter/Headboat permits, it’s 2 per day, with one measuring 27 inches to less than 73 inches, and one in the large school/small medium category of 47 inches to less than 73 inches.
The limits apply regardless of the length of the trip, NOAA Fisheries said. If a boat is out for two days, when it returns to the dock, it will still be limited to the retention number for one day. So if a private vessel (fishing under the Angling category retention limit) takes a two-day trip or makes two trips in one day, the day/trip retention limit of one bluefin tuna applies.
“NOAA Fisheries may need to take another action(s) later in the year, if appropriate, to further adjust the retention limits or close the fishery,” the agency said.
The change comes because recreational bluefin tuna landings in 2024 exceeded the U.S. adjusted quota.
That determination was based on the Atlantic bluefin tuna annual catch summary report for 2024, which looked at reported Atlantic bluefin tuna commercial landings and recreational landings estimates, The Fisherman magazine reported.
The U.S. adjusted quota is established by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) and was exceeded in the recreational subquotas of the Angling, General, and Harpoon categories.
The estimates are it was exceeded by more than 138 metric tons (more than 152 metric tons), nearly 305,000 pounds of bluefin tuna, with the Angling subquota exceeded by 52 percent, The Fisherman report said.
It’s the first time in more than 20 years that the U.S. adjusted quota has been exceeded, the report said, adding the landings were especially high in the last months of 2024.
NOAA Fisheries said the reduction in the retention limit was in part a reflection of “the observed trend in the recreational fishery toward heavier fish, particularly in the large school and small medium size classes. NMFS believes the retention limits established through this action provide opportunities to harvest the available large school/small medium BFT subquota,” the statement in the Federal Register about the rule change says.
“Estimated” always raises flags when it comes to NOAA Fisheries catch data, going back to the late 1990s and early 2000s when the agency was using estimates of catches based on data that had serious flaws.
Combine that with statements from ICCAT about uncertainties in the stock assessment and it raises questions of whether the increased catches are actually endangering the stock or if they reflect a positive change in the biomass.
Captains raved about the bluefin tuna fishing – frequent Big Game Fishing Journal contributor Jim Freda has several times mentioned how robust the bluefin fishing has been for the last two years.
It’s reminiscent of how captains and anglers raved about summer flounder fishing in 2005/2006, when NOAA Fisheries was threatening to essentially shut down the recreational fishery because its projections were that the biomass wouldn’t be rebuilt in the artificial timeframe set up.
The last ICCAT stock assessment of western Atlantic bluefin tuna was in 2021, and because of a number of uncertainties in the data it had, the ICCAT committee decided to keep using the “the stock status determination from the most recent assessments. In 2021, Stock Synthesis with alternative spawning-at-age scenarios equally weighted across model scenarios was used to determine stock status but not specifically to provide (total allowable catch) advice.”
That level of uncertainty raises serious questions about making a severe cut in the quotas.
The worst part is the next stock assessment isn’t due until 2027, which raises the possibility that a bluefin tuna closure could happen because of perceptions of the stock that may not be accurate.
Stay tuned.
PUTTING SAFETY FIRST
Fishing offshore has an allure that’s hard to explain to someone who hasn’t experienced it. A flat calm ocean, the sun rising, the life sliding by under the boat or jumping nearby – it’s something to behold.
There is an inherent danger, however, that goes with being on a boat far from land.
Recent events at the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament were a reminder of the need to always be prepared for emergencies.
Video of the Raptor burning as it sat 50 miles offshore has circulated far and wide in the days since the tournament. All five crew members on board were rescued safely after abandoning ship thanks to the crew of the Cost Plus, which was fishing nearby but was not participating in the tournament.
A crew member of the Cost Plus, Paxton Peters, said they saw the smoke and were trying to figure out what was happening when the Raptor crew sent its distress signal.
They quickly responded and plucked the Raptor crew from the water.
That wasn’t the only emergency, however. Another boat competing in the tournament took on water, tournament officials said. They praised the actions of the teams on Waste Knot and Reel Lineman, “who voluntarily pulled their lines in during the final hour of the tournament with millions still on the table to assist a boat taking on water.”
Those emergencies are a good reminder to check your safety equipment, make sure it’s ready for use and easy to deploy when you need it, because things can go wrong in the blink of an eye. As fun as it is, coming home safe to your family and friends is what matters most.
