2007 Tuna Season, Sad

Relentless · 02-25-2007, 09:41 PM

Folks, I received this e-mail and it is quite a drop in the quota for both the General Catagory and Angling Catagory for this coming season. The General Catagory quota will be reduced from 1163 MT to 560 MT. The angling catagory will be reduced from 380 MT to 234 MT. I hope the season is not too short based on these numbers.

v/r

Captain Dave Waldrip
www.relentlesscharters.com

Friends:
You might recall that when I reported on the results of the ICCAT meeting in Croatia I noted that the agreement for bluefin in the East Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea failed to include any sharing arrangement among eastern fishing nations for the 29,500 quota beginning in 2007. It was agreed that a special meeting would be held in early 2007 to try and negotiate the controversial sharing arrangement. The special meeting was held in Tokyo the last week in January and was not entirely successful. I have attached the 13 page agreement.

Turkey and Libya have objected to the new agreement both demanding a 1,400 mt increase in their quota over the 2006 level not the new reduced level. With these objections in place both countries will establish "autonomous" quotas at whatever level they decide is necessary. Setting the quota at 29,500 (double the scientific advice) was bad enough and now these objections guarantee the eastern slaughter will continue and lead to one or more environmental groups seeking a CITES listing for Atlantic bluefin tuna in 2008. A CITES listing would result in a prohibition on all international trade of bluefin and bluefin products. In 1992 Sweden proposed a CITES listing for bluefin that was ultimately defeated in Kyoto, Japan after intensive international lobbying by the Japanese government and tuna industry.

If you review the attached eastern agreement you will see first hand the incredibly hypocrisy authored by the European Community by acknowledging the scientific warning of a "collapse of the stocks in the near future" and then proceeding to set up a fraudulent recovery plan that sets the quota twice the level recommended by the scientists, ignores the advice to protect spawning fish in the Mediterranean and finally, increases the minimum size but exempts the major small fish fisheries such as historically found in the Bay of Biscay. It is difficult to accept that in 2007 any group of countries can get away with this level of biological irresponsibility especially on a shared resource.

2007 Domestic Bluefin Quota Specifications

The new 2006 ICCAT agreement for the west Atlantic reduced the quota from 2,700 mt to 2,140 mt with the U.S. share being 1,190.12 mt (about a 20% reduction). This new quota should result in base quotas as follows for our traditional permit categories:
General 560.5
Harpoon 46.4
Purse Seine 221.3
Incidental 96.3
Angling 234.4

In addition to the base quotas, NMFS has two new quota rollover measures to take into account. The maximum rollover ICCAT now allows is 50% of the base quota which, for the U.S., provides a maximum rollover of 595 mt. We should receive the maximum rollover in 2007 given the considerable underages in 2005 and 2006 even with the 275 tons the U.S. transferred to Canada and Mexico at the ICCAT meeting in Croatia. The second rollover measure is the new domestic rollover cap of no more then 100% of any category's base quota can be added to subsequent years allocations. Any quota in excess of the 100% cap reverts to the Reserve category for potential in-season reallocation.

NMFS is targeting early March for release of preliminary quota specifications.

old mud · 02-25-2007, 10:21 PM

thanks for the info. Dave: That Is total

. I'll have to look up some more numbers but I Get as of 1-12-17 Harpoon 22.2 mt. out of 123.0 mt. and general at 158.2 mt. out of 1163.3 mt. and purse only took 3.6 mt.

. Those bastards sure want to take care of us! They know we won't do anything like sanctions to any country.

. sorry for the rant.

Don

Reel Draggin' Tackle · 02-26-2007, 03:43 AM

Its going to be a tough year, we also have fuel prices back on the rise.

Relentless · 02-26-2007, 05:08 AM

Once again we take it again while foreign countrys do what they want and now the issue of putting the bluefin on the CITES list comes up once again. It will kill many of the small guys who catch a half dozen fish to supplement DAS loss in groundfishing. It will also hurt those folks selling large squid bars, pulpits, 130 class gear etc. If you can't sell the giants, no need to chase them. I don't see too many boats targeting 600 LB fish for catch and release.

What an shame this is, just as we are about to have some bait around with the herring situation.

Possum · 02-26-2007, 08:34 AM

Y'all keep forgetting the eco-sustainable DogFishery...oh yeah, that' the federal monkey's fault as well.

I can't understand why this country feels ('cuz it ain't thinkin') the need to take the moral high ground to the rest of the world. My opinion, Fk 'em. Sanction the $hit out of Japan, China, Russia, Australia, and whomever else is participating in the decimation of any fishery technique. We continue to ask nicely, and get nowhere, only more screwed each year. The politicians and other buffoons who make up the U.S. associated regulatory bodies need to get a set of brass, partner with their lawmaker brethren on The Hill, and pound the jackass countries down.

It is doable, but our government has no balls, when it comes to environmental issues. It needs massive detail, and consequence, which would take years. This being said, they'll use the turn your back to the problem routine. Yeah, the limits will get reduced, and it will hurt commercial guys here on the East Coast, but that is where the problem lies, isolation of interest.

I'm NOT trying to be an a$$hole here, but at the rate things are going in the last couple of years, with no end in sight, a commercial fisherman's viability in the Northeast is a major concern. Me, I would would be fast tracking another way of making a living, so that when the hammer drops, I have a fall back plan. Easier said than done, I know, but it's how I would be thinking.

The simple fact that THE WORLD has allowed the complete and utter unregulated slaughter to occur over the past many years is shameful. 20 years from now, I truly hope that our marine environment is not another eco-disaster.

MakoMike · 02-27-2007, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Relentless

Once again we take it again while foreign countrys do what they want and now the issue of putting the bluefin on the CITES list comes up once again. It will kill many of the small guys who catch a half dozen fish to supplement DAS loss in groundfishing. It will also hurt those folks selling large squid bars, pulpits, 130 class gear etc. If you can't sell the giants, no need to chase them. I don't see too many boats targeting 600 LB fish for catch and release.

What an shame this is, just as we are about to have some bait around with the herring situation.

Dave,
I think a lot of the hysteria concerning Cites listing is misplaced. Cites does not sutomatically mean no sale, it just requires additional paperwork. It may the solution we need, if the U.S. caught fish can still be sold but fish from places like Lybia can't be sold.

Relentless · 02-27-2007, 02:06 PM

Mike,

If you were right because we are doing our part with reductions, that may be OK. I just hate seeing these middle eastern and European countries taking 12" bluefin and not comply with any regulations. Once again, the world we live in and fish in is constantly changing.

Dave

pogyman · 02-27-2007, 03:08 PM

And not just some guy with a boat or a wannabe, why not enforce the original control date for the tuna fishery?

That would get rid of most of the slack.....

he he he

can i get a tuna in this?

Oh yea- what was the control date ? Wasn't it 1994 ?

Relentless · 02-27-2007, 03:50 PM

Do you really think the US fisherman are the problem? The control date was put in place back in the day whem quotas were being reached in August for the year. I really don't think that is the proble, considering there is only about 145 mt presently caught this past fishing season.

captcl · 02-27-2007, 04:19 PM

Down here in Md we "recovered" the stiped bass fishery by getting off of them totally for 5yrs. I think this could work for any speceis except,
HOW DO YOU KEEP THE FOREIGN BOATS AND CHEATERS OFF THEM!
The USCG was underfunded before homeland security show how do we patrol the EEZ? Without enforcement /penalty capabilty we are stuck.
When the time comes for a hearing/public comment session walk away from the pc and be there! I'm one of those small boat guys Relentless was taking about. I charter and carry a commercial hook and line. I get very limited shots at BFT if at all. ICCAT does not seem to impact anything. We can't keep blaming US recs or commercials when the resource is OUTSOURCED to the foreign fleets by ICCAT.

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