On January 10,The Billfish Foundation (TBF) submitted official comments to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for Draft Amendment 7 to the 2006 Consolidated HMS Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for bluefin tuna. Within the comments TBF strongly opposed the proposed conditional access to the current pelagic longline closed zones, supported the creation of a Gulf of Mexico Gear Restricted Area (GRA), and advocated for a separate Trophy allocation for Gulf of Mexico anglers. Additionally, TBF questioned the feasibility of an Individual Bluefin Quota (IBQ) for longline vessels and opposed the reallocation of Angling quota to the Longline category quota. To full comments can be read below.
