TBF’s Atlantic Shark Fishery Comments

The Billfish Foundation submitted comments to National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) today on the Draft Review of Atlantic Shark Fishery Review (SHARE) urging the revitalization of the Atlantic shark fishery and market. This 217-page reference document recounts past and present management actions responsible for the status of today’s U.S. Atlantic shark fishery. This document may be used to develop future conservation and management measures for commercial and recreational shark fisheries for the 43 currently managed and after review, we feel that without significant changes to the document we at are not supportive of it for future management actions

NOAA Increases Commercial Swordfish Retention

NOAA Fisheries is doubling the number of swordfish allowed to be harvested by commercial fisheries. These expanded retention limits apply to vessels issued a Swordfish General Commercial permit or an Atlantic HMS Charter/Headboat permit with a commercial endorsement when on a non-for-hire trip. Fortunately, commercial swordfish harvest is still prohibited in the Florida Swordfish Management Area. However, this new expansion may significantly affect swordfish stocks in all other NOAA Management Areas. This massive expansion of the commercial quota comes as no surprise. NOAA Fisheries has been pushing to expand the harvest of commercially important species in order to bolster

Hard Caps Accepted for Pacific Gillnet Fishery

On February 7th, the National Marine Fisheries Service published a final ruling on the implementation of hard caps for drift gillnet fisheries (DGN) in the Pacific. These fisheries target thresher sharks and swordfish but have high rates of bycatch of sea turtles, whales, and billfish. Hard caps are a bycatch upper limit (either mortality or injury) which, once met, the fishery is closed. The hard caps run on a rolling two-year schedule. This measure is an attempt to incentivize greater bycatch mitigation by drift gillnet fleets off the west coast of the U.S., which has historically seen high rates

New Federal Rule Changes

The National Marine Fisheries Service’s recently issued its final decision on Gear Restricted Areas (GRA) and Weak Hook use by pelagic longline vessels. These decisions ARE NOT related to the more serious pending rule on whether to open Closed Zones to pelagic longline fishing under the guise of research.  The GRA decision abolished the area off Hatteras and converted those off New Jersey and in the Gulf of Mexico to pelagic longline Gear Monitoring Areas from which data is to be collected on bycatch of bluefin tunas.  The 12-month requirement for pelagic longline vessels fishing in the

NMFS Removes Weak Hook Requirement

The 2011 required year-round use of weak hooks (15/0 carbon vs 16/0 steel for regularly used hook) by pelagic longline vessels fishing in the Gulf of Mexico was for 12 months, but it is now reduced to 6 months (Jan. – June). Longline hooked large bluefin tuna and blue marlin often broke off the weak hooks, reducing bycatch mortality, but a greater number of both white marlin and blue marlin were hooked.  The weak hook research indicates that most marlin were released within 5 minutes. In 2011, 175 white marlin were reported hooked by pelagic longline gear rigged

NMFS Weakens Gear Restrictions in Atlantic Ocean

The Gear Restricted Area (GRA) off Cape Hatteras implemented to reduce bluefin tuna bycatch by pelagic longline vessels now is open to the gear. The waters had been closed December through April, but the NMFS decided it is no longer needed under the Individual Bluefin tuna Quota (IBQ) management system. Two Gulf of Mexico Gear Restricted Areas closed during April and May since 2015 and the Northeastern Closed Area off of New Jersey closed during June since 1999, are now pelagic longline Monitoring Areas, allowing longlining to resume.  Fishing is to be monitored for three years based on vessel’s

NMFS Still Considering Gear and Quota Changes in Atlantic

Pelagic longline “research” decisions not yet issued that could authorize the gear to fish inside waters closed for 19 and 20 years off of Florida’s east coast, Charleston and in the Gulf of Mexico. The closures were implemented to reduce longline bycatch mortality of overfished swordfish, marlin, sailfish, tunas, sharks, sea turtles and marine mammals.  Swordfish stocks have recovered, but not the other species for which the waters were closed. If “longline research” inside the closed waters is authorized, it will be a clear indication the NMFS is writing- off the recovery of overfished billfish and the other species

A Win for HMS Conservation in the Pacific? Not So Fast…

While no action was taken by the federal Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) at its November meeting to advance further consideration of its recently proposed measure to consider authorizing a Shallow Set Longline (SSLL) fishery for swordfish in waters off California November meeting. The PFMC did authorize its governmental Highly Migratory Species Management Team (HMSMT) to analyze effort, catch, bycatch data of subsets of Hawaii’s shallow-set longline observer data, document domestic and foreign supply of swordfish on the west coast and Hawaii and current conservation impacts on each, assess potential mitigation of such impacts that might reduce the

TBF Responds to New Pacific Fishery Management Council Initiative

The Pacific Fishery Management Counsel is proposing to authorize the use of shallow-set longline gear to fish for swordfish off the West Coast of the United States. Below are the official comments by President of The Billfish

NOAA Proposes Fishing Regulations in Gulf of Mexico

NOAA is considering an amendment to the current Fishery Management Plan for Coral and Coral Reef Resources in Gulf of Mexico. The amendment establishes new and modifies existing habitat areas of particular concern (HAPC), specifically coral habitats. An HAPC is a subset of essential fish habitat that is either ecologically important, sensitive to human degradation, currently stressed, or rare. Being essential fish habitat means that these coral reefs are essential to fish for spawning, breeding, feeding, or growth to maturity. With the potential passage of this amendment, NOAA hopes to protect these essential coral habitats against further degradation