Atlantic Swordfish and Bluefin Landings Update
credit: Urbain Samuel
NOAA Fisheries announced landings updates for Atlantic swordfish and bluefin tuna. This update includes all fish landed between January 1st and October 31st of this year.
For swordfish, a total of 835.2 metric tons dressed weight (mt dw) has been landed, totaling 28.4% of the 2,937.6 mt dw baseline quota for 2019. Of this, 791.2 mt dw has been caught intentionally by commercial fisheries, 7.4 mt dw has been reported as commercial bycatch, and 36.6 mt dw has been caught by recreational anglers. At this time in 2018, only 606.9 mt dw had been landed, resulting in a 228.3 mt dw increase in total Atlantic swordfish landing in 2019 versus 2018.
credit: NOAA Fisheries office of Highly Migratory Species
For bluefin tuna, a total of 977.2 mt has been landed, totaling 83.7% of the 1,167.8 mt quota (adjusted from 1,040.5 mt in September of this year). This is a 131.9 mt increase from this time last year, when only 845.3 mt of bluefin had been landed.
credit: NOAA Fisheries office of Highly Migratory Species
The Billfish Foundation will continue to monitor and report billfish and highly migratory species landings updates for the remainder of the year. To stay up-to-date on all things billfish, become a member, subscribe to our monthly newsletter, and follow us on social media, @TheBillfishFoundation.
