Closure of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Angling Category in Southern New England Area
The Southern New England Area Trophy Bluefin Tuna Angling Category will be closed from May 2, 2024, 11:30 pm – December 31, 2024. The 2.3-mt subquota has been reached and exceeded based on available landings information from NOAA. All Highly Migratory Species Angling category permitted vessels, as well as Highly Migratory Species charter and headboat […]
Recreational Vessels Temporarily Allowed to Fish in California Conservation Area
As of April 1st, recreational vessels are now permitted to fish for pelagic and non-groundfish species within the Recreational Rockfish Conservation Area, including anchoring overnight. NOAA Fisheries enacted an emergency regulation (89 FR 22352; April 1, 2024) temporarily altering a continuous transit rule for recreational vessels in California. Effective until September 30, 2024, vessels are […]
Russell S. Nelson, Ph.D. Graduate Science Scholastic Grant
The Billfish Foundation’s Russell S. Nelson, Ph.D. Graduate Science Scholastic Grant honors a nationally acclaimed scientist who consulted for TBF for 12 years and served as Director of Florida’s Marine Fisheries Commission for 13 years. With an ability to synthesize science into policy, he could clearly explain the science to non-science thinkers and help to […]
Hudson Canyon Marine Sanctuary Update
Last week, stakeholders convened at Monmouth University for a one-day meeting to discuss the proposed Hudson Canyon Marine Sanctuary. The Hudson Canyon, located off the New York and New Jersey coast, holds immense ecological and socio-economic importance. The proposed sanctuary boundaries and management have yet to be set and one of the goals of the […]
Sailfish Satellite Tagging in Palm Beach
On March 13th, TBF’s Peter Chaibongsai and TJ Morrell met up with the crews, and research team in Singer Island, Florida to discuss logistics for the upcoming satellite tagging trip. The goal: satellite tag Atlantic sailfish over the next two days. With only a few instances of Atlantic sailfish being satellite tagged here in South […]
Bluefin Tuna Closure for Angling Category
Based on the best available landings information from NOAA Fisheries, the 2.3-mt sub-quota of the Southern Area Trophy Fishery has been reached and exceeded. Effective as of February 9th, 2024, the closure will remain throughout the rest of the year, officially ending on December 31st, 2024. The area in question is defined as south of […]
Closure of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna General Category (Commercial) Fishery
The general category of Bluefin tuna will be closed from January 26th, 2024, to March 31st, 2024 based on the most recent landings information. The available data projected the 58.2-mt quota would be reached and exceeded during this time period. All Atlantic Tunas General category permitted vessels, as well as highly migratory species charter and […]
Billfish Magazine V3 for 2023 being delivered!
Our latest edition of Billfish Magazine’s 2023 is being shipped this week to our members! This issue is packed with a variety of topics, including our roundup of all of our tournament travel, the annual gala, and coverage of the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute conference, as well as offering an update on domestic issues […]
Swordfish Driftnets Gone off CA – Will Longlines Follow?
West Coast highly migratory species (HMS) issues now focus on what fisheries will follow the large mesh drift gillnet fishery for swordfish. The process has begun by the Pacific Fishery Management Council to decide, with public input, what fisheries can essentially replace the driftnet fishery to provide fresh swordfish to local markets. The search for […]
Our New Conservation Record is out!
TBF’s 2021 Conservation Record has officially been completed and the results are in! Sometimes it can be hard to summarize all the hard work done in a year’s time, but this report acts as a really good start. In total, there were 11,822 new data entries added to The Billfish Foundation’s database in 2021, […]
