UPDATE TO RECREATIONAL BFT RETENTION LIMITS

[Slick Moedee]

NMFS announces the following three actions regarding the Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) Angling category fishery:

Starting on Saturday 6/12.

(1) Adjustment of the daily retention limit for private vessels to one school or large school BFT (measuring 27 to less than 59 inches) per vessel per day/trip.

Adjustment of the daily retention limit for charter vessels to one school BFT (measuring 27 to less than 47 inches) and one large school BFT (measuring 47 to less than 59 inches) per vessel per day/trip, for the remainder of the 2010 fishing year,

(2) closure of the southern area large medium/giant “trophy” BFT fishery (for BFT measuring 73 inches and greater), and

(3) transfer of 1.7 mt from the Reserve to the northern area trophy category subquota.

The Angling category North/South line is at 39°18’ N. lat. (off Great Egg Inlet, NJ).

These adjustments are intended to provide a reasonable opportunity to harvest the U.S. landings quota of BFT without exceeding it, while maintaining an equitable distribution of fishing opportunities; to help achieve optimum yield in the BFT fishery, to collect a broad range of data for stock monitoring purposes; and to be consistent with the objectives of the Consolidated Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Fishery Management Plan (2006 Consolidated HMS FMP)

https://hmspermits.noaa.gov/News.asp

[Slick Moedee]

Looks like they decided on option C from the other tread.

Private boats get 1 fish 27-59 and Charter boats get 2 fish 1 @ 27-47" and 1 @ 47-59"

[Raider Ronnie]

Originally Posted by Slick Moedee

Looks like they decided on option C from the other tread.

Private boats get 1 fish 27-59 and Charter boats get 2 fish 1 @ 27-47" and 1 @ 47-59"

Thats perfectly fair !
If you check out the numbers, recs took 700% more than the charters !

[JohnnyD]

Originally Posted by Raider Ronnie

Thats perfectly fair !
If you check out the numbers, recs took 700% more than the charters !

Where does that number come from? I was looking for a report that clarifies the "Angling" landings between Charter and Recs but couldn't find one.

[Mr. Sandman]

Originally Posted by Raider Ronnie

Thats perfectly fair !
If you check out the numbers, recs took 700% more than the charters !

That depends on how you look at it. How many charter fishermen are there? How many recs are there? compute the number-of-fish/fishermen and not the number of fish/"user group" and I bet it shows a different picture. Why should each user group get an equal piece of the pie when there are far more of one than the other?

User groups will be the demise of everything fish IMO. Comm folks are exploiting this for all its worth (to them). There are fish and fishermen, period.
I hear the same thing with SB. Recs take far more than comms. Yeah of course on a user group basis because there are more recs. But on a per fishermen basis comms take way more. Further, most comm fishermen are also rec fishermen so they are fishing in both groups. From what I see, Quotas and usergroups are not working. There is a better way.

[likwid]

Originally Posted by Raider Ronnie

Thats perfectly fair !
If you check out the numbers, recs took 700% more than the charters !

Ok, post the numbers.

[JohnnyD]

Originally Posted by Mr. Sandman

That depends on how you look at it. How many charter fishermen are there? How many recs are there? compute the number-of-fish/fishermen and not the number of fish/"user group" and I bet it shows a different picture. Why should each user group get an equal piece of the pie when there are far more of one than the other?

Bingo! Very, very well put. If there are 7x as many recreational trips than there are charter trips, then it would make sense that they would land significantly more fish.

Next, there will be arguments to reduce the rec Striped Bass take because the recreational guys take *insert sensational percentage here* more than the charters... but don't take mind to there being a fraction of the charter trips compared to recreational trips.

I fully support chartering and sustainable commercial R&R fishing. But when it comes time for regulation and setting quotas, there needs to be some sense to the system - fuzzy math based on politically motivated research will not yield an appropriately managed and sustainable fishery.

[FISHING_FOOL]

I'm a little confused.... So are the rec guys still allowed one gaint 73"+ this year in the New England area?

[JohnnyD]

Originally Posted by FISHING_FOOL

I'm a little confused.... So are the rec guys still allowed one gaint 73"+ this year in the New England area?

According to an email Eric at the Hook Up sent out, yes.

[FISHING_FOOL]

On the First Light page they say yes one gaint but some believe that once that quote is reached it will also be closed to the rec's.

[Slick Moedee]

Anyone have ideas on how they measure these fish without having to bring them on deck?

I've seen were folks mark the side of their boat to get a ball park idea. Any others?

[FISHING_FOOL]

Look for the thread on here about it.

[Raider Ronnie]

Originally Posted by JohnnyD

Where does that number come from? I was looking for a report that clarifies the "Angling" landings between Charter and Recs but couldn't find one.

That number comes from the graph the NMFS put out a while back.
It was passed around the charter boat association meeting a few months ago.

[JohnnyD]

Originally Posted by Raider Ronnie

That number comes from the graph the NMFS put out a while back.
It was passed around the charter boat association meeting a few months ago.

Did that same graph provide how many recreational trips there were compared to charter trips? Unless there were the same number of rec trips as there were charter trips, that number seems to be irrelevant.

[keeperreaper]

Yes angling permits can take one trophy per year.