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