No Protection for Overfished Atlantic Blue Marlin as Protections for Sharks Grow Stronger

The Final Amendment 15 was recently issued by NMFS and fails to provide protections for overfished blue marlin. Instead, the text reflects the government’s lack of understanding of the highly migratory nature of blue marlin, treating them more like residential sailfish. The text even fails to reflect a general understanding of billfishing, insinuating that all […]

TBF’s Official Comments in NMFS Amendment 15

The Billfish Foundation (TBF) made official comments to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) on Draft Amendment 15 to the Consolidated Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Fishery Management Plan. We are extremely disappointed in the overly complex, technical, and lengthy presentation of the amendment, feeling as though the reader would need a Ph.D. in modeling fish […]

Update on Closed Zones – October 2022

Decision on Closed Zones Coming Soon Unfortunately, we are still fighting against pelagic longlining being reopened within specific closed zones. As you might remember from last year, an announcement proposing the opening of parts of the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico Closed Zones to pelagic longlining was proposed as an option moving forward. It is now anticipated to be released very soon.  As we have advocated and challenged countless times, there is no sound science behind such a decision, especially in light of the negative impacts on billfish, tuna, marine mammals, and associated nurseries. To stay up

Proposed Speed Zones Along the East Coast

Extreme Vessel Speed Reductions Once again, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has failed to consider the effects of their decisions on the recreational fishing community. Their recent proposal, which aims to restrict vessel speeds in areas where the North Atlantic Right Whale is known to be present, will be devastating for our community. Just as we experienced with the shark depredation issue earlier in the year, the government has failed to understand how their actions (or inactions) can have negative consequences on ALL users. Let us be clear though: The Billfish Foundation (TBF) understands the importance of protecting

Amendment 13 Finalized

As of October 3, 2022, Amendment 13 for Bluefin Tuna is now complete and includes changes for commercial fishing under the Individual Bluefin Quota system. Fortunately, there were fewer impacts on the recreational fishing community. One notable change is related to the division of the North Angling Area into two areas, thus requiring the total angling quota to now be divided among four areas instead of three. Regarding quota transfers, NMFS is transferring 125 metric tons of Atlantic bluefin tuna quota from the Reserve to the General category for October and November 2022. The new sub-quota is 177.9 metric

Gulf of Mexico Restoration Plan 

Since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, a group of federal representatives have continued to assess and develop recovery strategies for injured marine resources. Referred to as The Open Ocean Trustees, their most recent plan is a result of past collaborative work and stakeholder input, which aims to restore those affected resources. This strategic Plan will guide restoration of priority fish and water column invertebrates. Atlantic blue marlin, which are overfished and overfishing is taking place, have been identified as a priority species. (To learn the difference between overfished and overfishing

Help Reduce Atlantic Shark Depredation

The NMFS has achieved predator-rich relationships with sharks and other species beyond what some scientists describe as “equilibrium.” The result is heavy shark predation of other fish stocks important to others, including billfish and many other species important to recreational fishing. Also out of equilibrium is the government’s failure to factor in the human interests of fisheries and economics. TBF has previously posted on this and included a pre-drafted and editable template to your members on Capitol Hill, all you need to do is to enter your state and name and the letter can be immediately sent. Unless

One More Federal Dismissal of Billfish

Traditional tagging of billfish for science produce very valuable data, especially with TBF’s and the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) tagging databases spanning decades. In turn, the data helps support some management strategies that can help recreational fishing.  The large databases reflect the contributions over decades of anglers, captains and crews, who deployed tags and reported their release data and data for a recaptured tagged billfish. A majority of what is known about billfish stems from the traditional tagging data resources. So supporting the billfish tagging program should be a priority for NMFS, NOT SO. The NMFS

NMFS Designates Bullet and Frigate Mackerel as Ecosystem Component Species

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) approved Amendment 12 to the Dolphin and Wahoo Fishery Management Plan (FMP), which adds bullet and frigate mackerel as ecosystem component (EC) species. EC species do not warrant current management on their own, but the designation helps achieve FMP objectives by increasing awareness of their importance to pelagic predators. Bullet and frigate mackerel are important prey species for pelagic dolphin and wahoo, with mackerel being wahoo’s dominant forage species. Mackerel are also important components of tuna and marlin diets.  More Amendment 12 information is available on the Federal Registrar website.  The

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