Atlantic Swordfish and Bluefin Landings Update

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

New Quota Adjustments for Swordfish, Albacore Tuna, and Bluefin Tuna

NOAA Fisheries announced new 2019 baseline quotas for North Atlantic albacore tuna, North and South Atlantic swordfish, and Atlantic bluefin tuna (reserve category). These updates come as a result of underharvest of these species in 2018, moving the underutilized quota for 2018 to be available for 2019 use. The new quotas are as follows: Key: mt = metric tons, ww = whole weight, dw = dressed weight Note: The South Atlantic swordfish transfer is handled differently from the rest. No U.S. fishermen caught any South Atlantic swordfish in 2018, so the entire 75.1 mt dw was transferred to the