Tuna-city, the new york skyline

[martinatpw]

40 Miles East of Chatham, at 5:00 A.M. on Saturday, you might have thought you were coming into New York City with the amount of lights on the horizon. The Tuna fleet is massive. Apparantly the bull market has afforded everyone a sport fishing boat, and everyone on the entire East Coast has decided that the Fall Bluefin run is for them. Its insane. The BB buoy of years past was never this crowded, but I guess the whole world thinks they can catch the big one, and they are trying. I guess everybody has the right, its just dissapointing to see hundreds of boats chasing these fish, with some having little hope of success. The chunk bite was on briefly and boats went back and forth between chunking and trolling to try to get these fish to hit. We did the same, but failed to get one on. Had fish at 80 feet late in the day, but couldn't get one on, and with boats all trolling within casting distance of each other, it was tough to maneuver around, and you know the fish were spooked. There wasn't enough space for them to come up. The effort doesn't seem worth it anymore, nor does the huge cost of getting out there. And with the supply of tuna going nowhere but down, it seems this fishery is headed for still more trouble. Good luck to all those who head out again, there is the Hyannis tournament today through Thursday, more insanity out in Tuna City.

[CMP]

martin, where on earth did you get the idea that the fishery is in decline? I've gotten one each of the last few days out-no chunking, that is NOT fishing, all on the troll. Additionally, I attended the ICCAT advisory meeting in Hyannis last night and got an advance copy of the most recent stock assessment and it is the best we've seen in 15 years. I would be shocked if we don't see a fairly substantial increase in quota across the board for next year. Stock declining? Nope. That said, it really is something to see with all those boats cutting each other off, isn't it? I heard at least 7 guys lose fish when they were either wrapped up in or cut off by another boat. We ended up way east of the fleet each of the last 5 days-a seine cap called us in-and had no problem trolling up a few corkers...

CMP

[jrudzinsky]

Although I have never been bluefin fishing and have never been to an ICCAT meeting, it appears from what I've read that the fishery is most definitely in a serious decline. The best stock report in 15 years still probably predicts decline, maybe less decline than last year, but decline nonetheless. The commercial bluefin industry considers those of who frequent forums such as this as elitist activists, and would like nothing more than to convince the less active of us that the bluefin fishery is safe and sound. Along with swordfish, it represents a disturbing example of regulatory mismanagement and political forces acting against the common good. I suspect that there are some CCA memebers more involved than myself who'd echo these sentiments.

Numbers can be manipulated in many ways, but two fish in two days by one boat is statistically irrelevant to the issue of bluefin stock.

Just my two cents.

[martinatpw]

We were pretty East as well. I circled the Seiners a couple times too, they made a set or two around but they were pretty quiet when I was on them. As a habit, I don't chunk. Hate it. Didn't even have chunking bait with me, rather pulled up a few live baits from below and tried those. But we pulled swimmer baits around most of the day. Bunch of blue sharks ruined the party on more than a couple occassions.

I'm not the expert on the fishery. I do know that the fish that are traveling across to the other side of the Atlantic are getting hammered. And thus we are losing more and more tuna to the Eastern Atlantic fishery. Where I hear there are limited, if any restrictions on size or quota. That is sad. We limit our fishery only to have them destroy what we are trying to save. I do know that I have seen a lot more fish out there in years past, and that is the only way I can measure success. Woods Hole can do the math along with the NMFS. And there are a lot more people chasing them. I would not like to see the quota's increased myself, unless they cut the quota's on the seiners and the stick boats and give more to the rec anglers, like you and me, assuming you are one. But I guess we are all commercial when you get right down to it. We love the sport, but we're not giving up the cash either. I hope you are right. We'll see what the tournament digs up, curious to see. Good luck on your next adventures and congrats on your success so far...Whats your trick? Martinatpw@msn.com

[jhurd]

And best of all, the "elitists'" fishing represents a much larger industry dollarwise than the commercial industry.

Remember when making arguments to congressmen and Marine Fisheries council, that sportfishing means much more to the economy than commercial interests. Ironic, but very true.

Should we protect the incomes of a few only to the detriment of the many boat sellers, tackle dealers and charters etc.?

[jrudzinsky]

For those who care, there is a good book by Carl Safina titled "Song for the Blue Ocean" which chronicles four fisheries around the world which have been decimated by overfishing and mismanagement.

As far as who is served by the politicians, it is, as always, those who line their pockets. Ironically, in the Pacific Northwest, it is the commercial salmon fishing industry which has been sacrificed for the benefit of the power companies (and their damn dams) and the logging idustry.

It is unfortunate that those of us concerned with preserving the environment have to resort to this "we spend more on it, so we should be taken care of first" argument. That alone won't save sport- or commercial-fisheries. If we (the "elite recreationalists") are to assume control of the regulatory bodies (yeah, right) solely based on financial footing, then I'm quite sure we'll eventually ruin things ourselves.

[mfreliech]

I'm not a tuna fisherman but I'm interested in knowing how may bluefin and big-eyes you so-called sport fisherman/conservationists have released?

Mike

[mmlong]

I am not a tuna fisherman yet but my question is how can anyone think the population is not declining with the amount of tuna sold in cans alone at the grocery store? I love just like most others however I realize that evertime I open a can I too have helped support the decline in that fishery. If only people would fish to fish and not to keep then we could maybe have some balance....

Just my honest opinion

[CMP]

I am continually amazed at the well-intentioned, but completely incorrect assessments made by non-bluefin people and what I refer to as "periferal" bluefin folks alike. A few facts from someone who has been there, done that a few years (almost 30 to be exact). The seiners have 250 tons of quota. They have, on three occasions, prior to governemental involvement, cut their own quota only to have it pared in half in 1980 for no reason. Harpooners have 53 tons of quota-where is the problem? General category boats fish over 625 tons this year, 701 last year and any number of variations thereof over the last 10 years. Vitually every fish caught in all three categories has had a shot at spawning and the three commercial categories combined killed roughly 6,500 to 7,000 fish each year. The angling category kills 98% pre-spawn fish and kill in excess of 25,000 individuals each year. This is an "estimate" based on foolish phone reports and NMFS estimates that, each year, they kill another 15-35% of their quota or a total of 28,750 to 33,750 individual fish taken from the biomass. Let's not be so quick to judge the commercial side of a fishery that removes far fewer fish from the biomass than do the recreational folks. That said, NIETHER group is over-harvesting, as another poster who has no involvement with the fishery, its history or its regulation, believes to be true. The most recent stock assessment tells us that we can easily support another 1,000 tons of harvest and STILL reach the total rebuild goal 14 years earlier than is mandated by Magnuson. These are the facts, folks, not opinions based on reading a book written by a person who, despite his enviro-leanings, sees nothing wrong with taking a short striper every now and again. Finally, bluefin tuna is NOT available in a can. It was in the late '60's and early '70's but we are talking about an entirely different fishery, mmlong, one not practiced here and certainly not in this discussion...

CMP

[schwilp]

Point well taken CMP - it may be that the biggest threat to our bluefin (especially) is what happens to them when they migrate eastward - which it looks like many do, based on the early returns of satellite pop up tags. As it is now many more fish are harvested beyond the 200mi boundry zone - This is a resource that will require international cooperation to assure a sustainable fishery. We will all need to do our part. I've caught bigeye by the way - awfully hard to release them if you can get them anywhere near the boat... not much left when they are done.
will

[mfreliech]

I agree with CMP. I question the validity of the open category types blasting the commercial industry when the open category takes a big percentage of fish caught. Again I'm not a tuna fisherman, just sharing my layman's opinion.