New Tuna Regs

[Mr. Sandman]

That's also pretty pathetic.

[keeperreaper]

Lets first be honest, The GBFT fishery is dead on the east coast. Let me say it again it is DEAD. Without a consistent supply of bait i.e. herring due to over fishing for them by the trawlers they wont be caught in huge numbers like before. Secondly until the population of tuna and the ocean is looked at as ONE ecosystem and one cohesive population to protect, the fish (tuna) will continue to be raped by other countries who either dont have stringent rules or who dont care because of the financial windfall they might reap by over harvesting these fish. Look what goes on over in the Mediterranean. The farming and killing of juveniles and the spawning sized fish is horrible and irresponsible. Penning fish to fatten them up and then sell for big $$$ leads itself to overfishing and should be outlawed.
The fishery has changed due to the above reasons and other factors but tuna fishing is now a RECREATIONAL game and one we should be careful on how we manage this resource. Personally I think the regs are NOT conducive to sustaining a healthy population. Why wouldn't we want a strong year class to develop to 47" which is considered by the experts sexually mature and reproduce? I wish the regs were 50" and one per day. 27" is nuts. How much meat is that 27" fish really going to yield? I understand that only 5% of all the boats catch and that the recs dont really have much if any of an impact on the population but are the regs shortsighted? I hope not. My greatest wish for these fish is to be able to see the giants return in the numbers of a decade ago or even more and ensure that my daughter will be able to fish for these fish when she is old enough.

[Slick Moedee]

To my knowledge there is no science that states a 47" BFT in the Western Atlantic is sexually mature. Some relatively recent papers are even suggesting upper 90's. Maybe in the med, but not on our side of the pond, i.e., spawned in the Gulf of Mexico. It is also common that if a stock is stressed enough the averages age at maturity can be decrease.

[keeperreaper]

SM,
There is new findings that at 47" they are sexually mature and also that the "old" belief of two distinct groups of bft might actually be one and the same. There is evidence of "mixing" as some scientists call it. Some tagged fish from our waters have been recaught over there in the Meditteranean. National Geographic sheds some light on the increasing issue at hand.

[Slick Moedee]

KR,
Could you share where you are getting the size at maturity information/findings?

I understand the two stock theory, and lets just note that it is just a theory, and with the deployment of pop-up satellite tags the level of mixing in far greater than previous estimated. I am also aware that the studies in otolith microconstituent analysis that can used to determine geography of spawning, ether Med or GOM are making great strides in shedding some light on the stock theory.

[Slick Moedee]

Also, the National Geographic article in primarily focus on the Eastern Atlantic Stock (The med), and does not get into the same level of detail for the West. Great article, just comes up shy of who the forces are behind the effort being deployed there.

[keeperreaper]

A lot of that information can be found at the UNH tuna lab where I tag juveniles for them. Also any information given to the public that will help the tuna and their sustainablity (NG article) is a good thing. The fishery for juveniles has always been around but who wanted to fish for them when you could target giants and make some $$$$$$. In the 80's and 90's you would see pod after pod of sbfts all over the place in much greater quantities than present day.