October bluefin stats

[bluefintuna1945]

For the month, 646 giants, 127MT were reported, just about half of what was caught in Sept.

Average weights by month:
June 249 pounds
July 260
Aug 301
Sept 429
Oct 433

[Innovator]

I was reading the report today, what I found interesting the average weight for the long-liners was 488lbs. vs. 377lbs. for the General Cat. I wonder why? Thoughts? (I have no idea?) but 100lbs. heavier on the average.

[Capt. Mark]

Probably because the gen cat brings in everything they catch whereas the longliners only bring in the higher $$ fish and "release" the rest

[SteveH2112]

My guess is that there were almost all Goerges Banks fish that averaged larger for the longliners, while there are more 73-80" fish inshore??????

[gmoney]

My guess is that there were almost all Goerges Banks fish that averaged larger for the longliners, while there are more 73-80" fish inshore??????

I like that theory

[Innovator]

Definitely a different class of fish. There were 339 fish taken- 170 pcs. from the Northern Area with an average weight of 434lbs and 169 pcs. for the Southern Area with an average weight of 534lbs.

Now what are the boundaries that separate the Northern and Southern zones? An average of 534lbs cores are all nice fish!

[Heli Sports]

Definitely a different class of fish. There were 339 fish taken- 170 pcs. from the Northern Area with an average weight of 434lbs and 169 pcs. for the Southern Area with an average weight of 534lbs.

Now what are the boundaries that separate the Northern and Southern zones? An average of 534lbs cores are all nice fish!

The boundry line is around Virginia. Most of the Southern Longline quota is harvested from the Gulf of Mexico where the average size is obviously significantly larger.

[Heli Sports]

My guess is that there were almost all Goerges Banks fish that averaged larger for the longliners, while there are more 73-80" fish inshore??????

The longline fleet catches plenty of smaller Bluefin as well, particularly in the Veatches to Hudson Canyon area during the late Autumn months.

[Heli Sports]

Probably because the gen cat brings in everything they catch whereas the longliners only bring in the higher $$ fish and "release" the rest

No high-grading by the General Category fleet taking place at Georges Bank this season Mark?



The East Coast longline fishery does have a long history of culling/high-grading Bluefin, particularly in the Gulf of Mexico during the 1980's...


During the heyday of the East Coast pelagic longline fishery during the 1980's, the Gulf of Mexico was a black hole for Atlantic Bluefin Tuna. During this period, Bluefin prices were astromical in Japan. A large percentage the entire longline fleet from New England, New York/New Jersey, the Carolinas and Florida converged on Venice, Louisiana and other gulf ports from Panama City, Florida to Galveston, Texas in mid-January every year to fish for pre-spawning giant ABT.

Although regulations at the time specified that ABT were supposed to be a bycatch of legitimate GOM fishing for Yellowfin and Swordfish, because the value of these tunas was so high during the bubble years of the Japanese economy, this was in fact a directed fishery. The areas holding the Bluefins were often quite distant from the productive Yellowfin and Sword grounds. Typically these vessels landed only a few hundred pounds per trip of Yellowfin, Bigeye, Swordfish, Mahi, Wahoo, etc. in addition to Bluefin.

These pre-spawn GOM giants were extremely high in quality! The fat/oil content of these tunas was consistantly excellent. Because longline harvested tunas are generally superior in meat color/quality to other methods of capture, and during the winter months at that time there was very little fatty tuna being produced elsewhere in the world, these tunas were highly esteemed in Japan. During the boom years of this fishery, the average prices in Tokyo for prime winter GOM Bluefin averaged Y6000-8000 Japanese Yen per kilo. High prices were Y10,000-15,000 daily and not infrequently eclipsed Y20,000 per kilo!

Because the GOM Bluefin fishing grounds were often 350+ miles from port, high-grading and culling were rampant. Vessels were allowed only two Bluefins per trip, however the general proceedure by this fleet was to take four or more giants, offloading two pieces, then leaving port and returning the following day to discharge the additional two pieces. Sharp skippers learned to chill down multiple fish during the steam back from the fishing grounds, then select and retain the best quality fish, and pass off extra pieces to a large fleet of "scavenger" fibreglass vessels too small to fish the distant grounds in the rough winter sea conditions. Fishing for Bluefin was excellent during this time. A typical set might produce 35 or more giants, with some unscrupulous skippers killing and grading dozens of individuals before selecting the best quality/sized specimens.

In the early nineties, NMFS wised up and started cracking down on this out of control fishery and its violators. In order to force the fleet to cease directed efforts on Bluefin, vessels were then required to land at least 2500 pounds of other marketable species in order to lawfully land Bluefins. Catching enough Yellowfin, Sword, etc. to land Bluefins became problematic for a large part of this fleet and this fishery went into decline as a result. Most of the east coast vessels stopped wintering in the GOM and resumed fishing off the Carolinas or Puerto Rico, Trinidad, etc.

Around this same time, a fleet of longliners operated by Vietnamese immigrants rapidy grew in the Louisiana/East Texas area. By using live bait, this fleet enjoyed extraordinary success catching Yellowfin in very large numbers. For several years this fleet continued to grow and enterprising Vietnamese fishermen harvested a great deal of Yellowfin. Athough they caught comparatively fewer Bluefins, because they used live goggle eyed scad for bait they caught tremendous numbers of billfish. Eventually, NMFS prohibited the use of live bait by longliners, and this fishery too went into decline.

Today, just as on the east coast and New Engand, the longline effort in the GOM has been tremendously reduced. Compared to the past, the number of longline vessels fishing in the GOM (and off the east coast for that matter) is a small fraction of what it once was. During the 80's there were over 200 longline vessels fishing Bluefin in the GOM during the winter months. In 2009, only 75 longline vessels landed Bluefins from both the GOM and off the east coast. In 2009, only about 200 individual Bluefin Tuna were landed by the longline fleet in the southern region and only about 160 pieces in 2008. A significant number of these fish are likely harvested off of North Carolina.

Commercial Yellowfin production in the GOM remains comparatively poor now. I believe that the longline effort currently in the Gulf of Mexico has been so reduced as to be inconsequential to Bluefin stocks there, in spite of potential mortality to non retained specimens. It's questionable whether much culling takes place there today due to observer coverage of most sets in the GOM.

[CaptainAlex]

Fantastic post - dude knows his HMS stuff ...
It's true about the color/quality of longline-caught giants, a buyer told me late last week about how nice the condition of those fish are, as they initially struggle then have enough time on the the hook to process lactic acid buildup before being killed ... unlike the tail-hooked monster we got on Tuesday ...
Thanks for the great insight Heli; keep, 'em coming