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

FWC Supports TBF In Opposing NMFS Initiatives

The Billfish Foundation is encouraged by the comments made by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) regarding the proposed actions of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NFMS). As a reminder, NMFS proposed to loosen regulations in Gear Restricted Areas of the Gulf of Mexico, New Jersey, and Cape Hatteras, as well as decrease the required time for weak hook use in the Gulf of Mexico in half, including during billfish tournament season. This initiative comes as the U.S. federal government seeks to reinvigorate commercial longline fishing at the expense of the recreational fishing industry and the wellbeing

TBF Tells NMFS NO To Harming Billfish and Sportfishing

As promised, below are TBF’s final comments for the NMFS initiative that will potentially decimate billfish populations and harm the recreational fishing community. As a reminder, the new NMFS proposal is twofold: To read more about the proposal, click here. Most importantly, to add your comments telling NMFS NO to loosening gear restrictions and harming our community, click here. Comments are due by midnight tonight, September 30th

New NMFS Initiatives Benefit Longlines and Harm Recreational Community

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is proposing initiatives that once again ignore the recreational fishing community and do not benefit billfish conservation. NMFS seeks to reinvigorate commercial catch by loosening regulations on the longline fishery. This comes despite the fact that NMFS scientists and scientists of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) have made it clear that fishing pressure must be reduced on overfished marlin and other species – or to use a precautionary fishing approach. These new adjustments are irresponsible and show a true lack of regard for our community, the economic capacity

New Gear Restrictions May Help Billfish in the Pacific

The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission recently announced new requirements for fisheries targeting tuna in the Eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO). These new regulations intend to reduce sea turtle bycatch but have the potential to help billfish as well. While much of the resolution focuses on sea turtle-specific protections, two major factors may also benefit billfish. These include the increasing observer coverage on commercial fishing boats and the use of circle hooks. The first way this resolution may help conserve billfish is the intent to bolster observer coverage onboard commercial vessels. Observers are independent beings (not tied to the fishing boat)

Potential Changes to the NOAA HMS Fishery Management Plans

Earlier last week, NOAA Fisheries announced that they are considering changes to the 2006 Consolidated HMS Fishery Management Plan and we will be monitoring and reviewing this further and providing comments soon. There are currently five major changes being considered. Public comment on these potential changes is open until November 11th, 2019. The scoping meeting is open to the public online, information for attending can be found here. For more information and to stay up-to-date on current fishery management, subscribe to the TBF newsletter, or follow us on social media

Proposed Modifications to Pelagic Longline Bluefin Tuna Area-Based and Weak Hook Management Measures

NMFS proposes to modify the one-month closed zone off New Jersey and the spring two-month gear restricted area in the Gulf of Mexico to become Monitoring Zones with an annual allocation for pelagic longline vessels. If reported data indicates the allocation is close to being landed, the zones will be closed for the balance of the year. Accountability is the weak link, without an observer on board, billfish reporting is likely going to receive a low priority. The Cape Hatteras Gear Restricted Area will be opened to pelagic longline fishing, again accountability on bycatch species caught, specifically billfish, will

Options to maximize Bluefin Tuna in the Atlantic Ocean

Amendment 13 to the Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan proposes many options striving to maximize utilization of the U.S. bluefin quota.  Half of the options propose changes to the pelagic longline fishery’s Individual Bluefin Quota (IBQ) current management strategy and the other half proposes options that include all managed fishing Categories, including the Angling Category.  Three Key Amendment Options:              1. Abolish Purse Seine Category  – because no bluefin tuna have been landed since 2015, the unused tonnage should be redistributed to other fishing Categories, except for the pelagic longline vessels in the Gulf of Mexico.