June 18, 2012 – Fishery managers are considering new regulatory alternatives for Atlantic bluefin tuna — majestic fish that can fetch thousands of dollars each — but New England fishermen fear the rules changes could result in smaller quotas for them.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been holding hearings on various options that will be developed into new regulations aimed at protecting and rebuilding tuna populations. The new regulations will go into effect in 2014.
The possible measures focus on bluefin that are inadvertently caught by boats fishing for swordfish, yellowfin tuna and other species in the Gulf of Mexico and off the Eastern Seaboard. Those boats can keep a small number of the bluefin they catch, but have to throw most of them back into the sea, even though they're dead.
New England fishermen who catch bluefin with rods and reels and harpoons are worried their quotas could be cut to account for the "sins" of other boats with their dead discards, said Rich Ruais, executive director of the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Association, which represents rod-and-reel and harpoon fishermen.
In a worst-case scenario, he said New England fishermen could lose more than 100 tons of annual quota, a catch worth millions of dollars. Last year, U.S. commercial and recreational fishermen were limited to about 950 metric tons, which equates to about 3,800 fish.
Read the full story from the AP at the Boston Globe.