Pew Environment's office on Cape Cod put out the following April Fool's Day release.
Have you heard the one about the new bluefin tuna quota proposal? We wish this was some sort of April Fools' joke. But, it's the real deal.
On March 14, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) issued a proposed rule that would punish commercial and recreational bluefin tuna fishermen who use sustainable fishing methods, like hand-thrown harpoons and rod and reels, by lowering their quota to account for the wasteful fishing practices of surface longline fishermen.
Unlike harpooners and rod and reel fishermen who target single fish, longliners use gear that stretches for 30 miles on average with hundreds of baited hooks. These longlines indiscriminately catch and kill bluefin tuna, blue and white marlin, sea turtles and seabirds. The proposed rule penalizes fishermen using selective gear, so that surface longline fishermen can indefinitely continue their wasteful ways.
Not only would this proposal unfairly reduce the number of bluefin tuna that commercial and recreational fishermen could selectively catch, it fails to provide any incentive to limit the number of bluefin tuna incidentally killed by indiscriminate surface longlines.
NMFS should not finalize this proposed rule, but rather it should discourage the use of destructive surface longlines in areas with high concentrations of bluefin tuna, such as their spawning grounds in the Gulf of Mexico. In the Gulf alone, an area where directed fishing for western Atlantic bluefin tuna is prohibited, surface longliners catch an average of 103 metric tons of bluefin every year. Most of those tuna are thrown overboard, dead or dying. NMFS should promote more selective fishing methods instead of rewarding wasteful fishing practices.
NMFS has extended the comment period on this proposed rule from April 14, 2011, to April 28, 2011. There have been a few public hearings already. NMFS will host others within the next few weeks, including one tomorrow in Gloucester, followed by Portland, Maine, and Fairhaven, Mass. (dates still to be announced).