Exempted Fishing Permits for East Coast Deep-Set Buoy Gear

NMFS issued 7 Exempted Fishing Permits (EFP) for vessels to fish for BAYS tunas (bigeye, yellowfin albacore, skipjack) and swordfish in the Gulf of Mexico and off the Atlantic East Coast.  Six vessels are part of the Deepwater Horizon Pelagic Longline Bycatch Reduction Project; using funds from Gulf Restoration, oil spill settlement. The 6 vessels fishing only in the Gulf are pelagic longline vessels that voluntarily do not fish for 6 months a year because they are paid from Restoration funds. Gear options include deep-set buoy gear or greenstick gear. The vessel that also fishes off Florida’s East

Is the US West Coast Going From Drift Gill Nets to Longlines?!?

This month the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) accepted applications for Exempted Fishing Permits (EFP) for which decisions will be made in September for the following fishing year. One application proposes to transition the current swordfish drift gillnet fishery to a longline fishery by allowing 19 longline vessels, shallow-set and deep-set longlines, to fish between 12 to 200 miles in federal waters off the U.S. West Coast, which TBF does not endorse this gear. Nine other permit applications were submitted, including Deep-Set Buoy Gear, Linked Buoy Gear, Night Set Buoy Gear including fishing in state waters, and Mid-Water

Recreational Fishing Gear, Bottom Trawls & Pelagic Longline Gear Are NOT the Same!!

With the recent Executive Order (EO), recreational fishing gear, bottom trawls, and pelagic longline are viewed the same as all other fishing gear when it comes to designating Marine Protected Areas (MPA). The EO, signed by Biden, calls for closing 30% of U.S. ocean waters to fishing, including recreational fishing, by 2030 through the MPAs. This is not the first time such a strategy has been raised, very large marine protected areas in various regulatory (marine monuments, wildlife refuges, sanctuaries, marine reserves, etc) forms have preceded the current initiative. Through the US Ocean Action Policy in 2006, the

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)

Help Keep Pelagic Longlines OUT of Closed Zones

The U.S. pelagic longline closed zones and gear restricted areas were established to reduce bycatch of juvenile swordfish by protecting nursery grounds, overfished marlin, sailfish, which remain overfished, large coastal sharks (some remain overfished), marine mammals and loggerhead (“Threatened” under the Endangered Species Act) and leatherback sea turtles (Endangered under the ESA).  At the time the U.S. fleet was not landing its swordfish quota, rather it was catching 80% of the Atlantic-wide undersize swordfish, reported as dead discards until international management decided that practice had to stop by 2004. Authorizing pelagic longline vessels back into juvenile swordfish nursery areas

Dolphin Wahoo Fishery Allocation Update

The Billfish Foundation recently submitted comments again to The South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council regarding the future management of a dolphin (mahi mahi) and wahoo fishery. The Amendment looks to modify the management strategy for mahi-mahi that would better ensure healthy population levels into the future. Central to protecting mahi-mahi is a restriction of pelagic longline gear by not authorizing the fishery an allocation. While these fish are known to reproduce and grow quickly, it takes only a few pelagic longline vessels to fish down a species. Whereas far less of an impact is made by individual

Changes in Mahi-Mahi allocation coming up in the Atlantic?

Fly Navarro and Adrienne Katz with a nice mahi-mahi

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC) is considering management options to Amendment 10 on the Dolphin Wahoo Fishery Management Plan. The Amendment offers an important opportunity to modify management strategy for mahi mahi that would better insure healthy population levels intothe future. Central to protecting mahi mahi is restriction of pelagic longlinegear by not authorizing the fishery an allocation.  Overfishing mahi-mahi stocks are a genuine concern if pelagic longline gear is allowed to continue landing the species.  If allowed, longline fishing would negatively impact not only recreational fishing

Stricter Measures Not Included In NMFS Options For Longlines

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) recently issued a plan (Scoping Document, March 2018) to reinvigorate the longline fishery rather than proposing stricter conservation measures. If actions to reinvigorate the longline industry are approved, the seriously overfished Atlantic spawning bluefin tuna and marlin will continue to decline. Atlantic bluefin tuna and both white and blue marlin remain seriously overfished after decades of inadequate longline gear restraints, the gear responsible for much of the overfishing. The Billfish Foundation is calling for anglers and those in the recreational industry to submit comments to NMFS in opposition of a longline reinvigoration

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