Bluefin Tuna Angling Category Gulf of Mexico Area Trophy Fishery Closure!
NOAA Fisheries has determined that the subquota of 1.8 mt for the Angling category Gulf of Mexico trophy bluefin tuna fishery has been reached. Trophy bluefin are those measuring 73 inches or greater. The incidental Angling category fishery for trophy bluefin tuna in the Gulf of Mexico will close effective 11:30 p.m., May 31, 2019, through December 31, 2019. More information can be found in the Federal Register notice. Persons aboard vessels permitted in the Atlantic HMS Angling and Atlantic HMS Charter/Headboat categories fishing recreationally in the Gulf of Mexico may not retain, possess, or land large medium
Action Alert – Comments due for Forage Fish soon!
The Billfish Foundation submitted our comments to the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council to consider Bullet Tunas, Auxis rochei, and similar Frigate Mackerel, Auxis thazard to the dolphin/wahoo fishery management plan as ecosystem component species, so they can acknowledge the role the two currently unmanaged species play as important prey for both dolphin and wahoo. Read our official comments below. SAFMC19DolphinWahEcoConScop You still have time to submit your comments to the council! May 16th is the deadline. Click here to submit your
New Daily Limit to Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Angling Category
NOAA Fisheries is adjusting the Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) daily retention limits that apply to vessels permitted in the Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Angling category and the HMS Charter/Headboat category (when fishing recreationally for BFT). The adjustments below are effective May 11, 2019, through December 31, 2019. These daily retention limits apply to vessels permitted in the recreational HMS Angling category and the HMS Charter/Headboat category while fishing recreationally. The daily retention limits are effective for all areas EXCEPT FOR THE GULF OF MEXICO, which is designated as BFT spawning grounds and where NOAA Fisheries does not allow targeted
Gov’t Lessens Billfish Research Funding
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Southeast Fishery Science Center, is further diminishes support for billfish research, now by not facilitating funding of a respected billfish scientist! This is a worsening of the government’s longstanding low priority given to billfish, whereas the highest priorities go to the “commercially targeted fish destined for the consumer market,” mainly bluefin and bigeye tunas. While those fish are important, the amount of information we know about billfish is still sparse even though the socio-economic impact of these family of fish are extremely valuable. This makes your contributions to TBF even more important
Clean Water Essential for Outdoor Recreation
EPA & Corp Proposal to Repeal Clean Water Rule – Anglers & Hunters Oppose The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Assistant Secretary of the Army, Corps of Engineers (Civil Works) desire to revise the definition of “waters of the United States” by repealing the 2015 Clean Water Rule (the Rule). The Rule provides federal protection for “60% of streams and 20 million acres of wetlands, including downstream waters” that could be destroyed if the proposed action is implemented. At stake are spawning grounds and nursery habitat for juvenile fish, habitat for breeding ducks, geese and other
Action Alert – Push for Passage of the Forage Fish Conservation Act
Saltwater ecosystem dynamics include not just the marine habitat, but also the creatures, overfishing, predator/prey interaction, pollution, temperature changes, etc. Yet the primary fishery management law of the U.S., the Magnuson-Stevens Act, does not include provisions for managing prey or forage fish that provide an important food source for larger fish, marine mammals and birds. If the Forage Fish Conservation Act (FFCA), a bipartisan bill, introduced on April 10, 2019, becomes law, monitoring and assessments will be required of predator needs, impacts of increased removal of forage fish on other species, established fisheries and fishing communities before any new
Everglades Reservoir Bill
TBF joined many other recreational fishing organizations in calling on House Subcommittee on Energy and Water to approve $210 million dollars for the Army Corps of Engineers in support of South Florida Ecosystem Restoration projects in 2020. The projects are part of the Everglades and Lake Okeechobee watershed restoration. The Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir project is supported by both the State of Florida (Water Resources Law of 2017) and the federal Army Corps (America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (https://www.sfwmd.gov/our-work/cerp-project-planning/eaa-reservoir ). Once the reservoir is complete, water can flow from Lake Okeechobee to the reservoir, once treated, then south
TBF’s 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award Winners
The Paxson H. Offield Lifetime Science Achievement Award The award is named in honor of a former TBF board member, who believed passionately in the value of science to support responsible conservation and management. Offield’s support of billfish science guaranteed TBF’s billfish advocacy remained firmly grounded in science, as it remains today. Offield was the first among TBF trustees to deploy satellite tags with collected data now being incorporated into stock assessments. This year’s recipient is Dr. Fredy Arocha, a professor at the Instituto Oceanografic de Venezuela, University of Oriente, Venezuela, who has invested over three decades to advancing
2018 Recreational Atlantic Billfish Landings Updates
The table below provides the total number of billfish (January 1, 2018, through, December 31, 2018) landings in numbers of fish for Atlantic blue and white marlin,
Angling Category Trophy Bluefin Tuna Fishery for Southern Area Closed
NOAA Fisheries determined that the Angling category southern area “trophy” bluefin tuna (measuring 73 inches or greater)
