Bluefin Tuna Article in National Geographic

[reel fool]

I hope that all that are alarmed over this travesty are going to do their part & harvest NO BLUEFIN TUNA THIS YEAR OR NEXT. NEVER AGAIN UNTIL THE PROBLEM IS RESOLVED.

[Squidnation]

I certainly understand the data and maybe even believe it. But I guess the question I have is why is it that in my little part of the world I have seen the numbers of Bluefin and white marlin increase almost every year. But it is not just those two species. Dolphin have almost become a nuissance. I saw boats consistantly limited out on yellowfins this summer. In the late 80's and early 90's this was not the case. Their is not a trip that I didn't see a handful (or bucket full on some occasions ) of turtles. Whales every trip were spotted and the porpoises everywhere, by the hundreds. I personally have never seen more juvinile bluefins in my life. granted I am one person fishing one sliver of our great ocean. Whos making all these babies? Like I said - I am sure the facts are correct. But it really does confuse me a bit.

[twofinbluna]

Originally Posted by reel fool

I hope that all that are alarmed over this travesty are going to do their part & harvest NO BLUEFIN TUNA THIS YEAR OR NEXT. NEVER AGAIN UNTIL THE PROBLEM IS RESOLVED.

Thats ridiculous. This problem is in the eastern atlantic. the entire US catches less than single farms in the med. Incase you havent paid attention if we dont catch our fish we dont get to have any say on how they are managed.

[Hudson]

The Western Atlantic, New Zealand, and the waters around Alaska according the the article are probably the areas with the most promise. But if you look at the Pacific Rim area, Southern Africa, Eastern Atlantic and the Med...those areas have been crushed over the past 10 years. I don't know shit about world fisheries -- only from what I read. And I've read enough to want to do more to help.

[reel fool]

Originally Posted by twofinbluna

Thats ridiculous. This problem is in the eastern atlantic. the entire US catches less than single farms in the med. Incase you havent paid attention if we dont catch our fish we dont get to have any say on how they are managed.

It's not ridiculous. Your way of thinking is not far from those who "manage" the fishery. IF you want radical change, be part of it. When you harvest a single fish, you can't stand on your soapbox & preach conservation. IF the bft are in such danger of becoming extinct, then the right move is to forbid their harvesting. I would support this. but don't harvest your allotment & expect someone else to throw theirs back. That's ridiculous.

[OVER-BOARD]

Originally Posted by Squidnation

I certainly understand the data and maybe even believe it. But I guess the question I have is why is it that in my little part of the world I have seen the numbers of Bluefin and white marlin increase almost every year. But it is not just those two species. Dolphin have almost become a nuissance. I saw boats consistantly limited out on yellowfins this summer. In the late 80's and early 90's this was not the case. Their is not a trip that I didn't see a handful (or bucket full on some occasions ) of turtles. Whales every trip were spotted and the porpoises everywhere, by the hundreds. I personally have never seen more juvinile bluefins in my life. granted I am one person fishing one sliver of our great ocean. Whos making all these babies? Like I said - I am sure the facts are correct. But it really does confuse me a bit.

i'll second that bill, and agree that in the one and only part of the ocean i fish, the numbers seem to be going up. i see a lot more life out there then in the past. i remember in the early 90's we had several no fish days in a row and did not see much life. i was fishing with some of the best at the time, so it is not that we didn't know what we were doin. a lot of days in the past four or so years the small bluefins have been such a pain in the ass, a good thing on a slow day i guess? much better than bein covered up with SILVER DORADO'S{blue fish} though.

i also remember findin a good yellwfin bite in the early 90's one day and goin back the next day to see a couple purse seiners right there were we caught the day before and couldn't buy a bite. they all had chinese writing on the hulls. today ya don't see that anymore, so maybe it is part of whats helping here?

I'D ALSO LOVE TO SEE A SIX PER BOAT YELLOWFIN LIMIT, PER DAY, PRIVATE OR CHARTER BOAT.

[Surfperch1]

Here is a thought on why we are seeing more. Because there is less bait and they have had to move in for different food sources. EX: BFT with Large grey trout in their belly's.

[twofinbluna]

Originally Posted by reel fool

It's not ridiculous. Your way of thinking is not far from those who "manage" the fishery. IF you want radical change, be part of it. When you harvest a single fish, you can't stand on your soapbox & preach conservation. IF the bft are in such danger of becoming extinct, then the right move is to forbid their harvesting. I would support this. but don't harvest your allotment & expect someone else to throw theirs back. That's ridiculous.

Harvest our allotment? The problem with what has happened in the east/med. is that they have doubled their quotas in most years. And we are talking about doubling the 25,000 mt quota that they have been told to follow. Thats years with 50,000mt or more, and thats REPORTED. There is undoubtedly more that has been taken.

On the other hand the entire US is repsonsible for 1000mt or less, and we havent even been getting that much lately.

Bluefin arent about to go extinct. If you believe that then I dont know what to tell you. The problem is that the east has been doubling the scientist-recommened quota and they need to start follwoing that quota. I am not talking about having them stop fishing, thats not it at all. Its about following the quotas. Thats all.

If I though bluefin were even CLOSE to be being 'extinct' I would probably not be fishing anymore.

And keep in mind that there is signifcant release mortality so its not all who harvests what. Catch and release accounts for mortlaity too so why dont we just stop fishing for everything...right?

No. Follow your quotas and dont double them. Thats what has to happen.

[twofinbluna]

Its funny that NG does an article and only then do so many people get into this discussion. US commercial fishermen have been spending money to fight this ICCAT fight for almost 3 decades. This is not new. This problem has been going on for years. Dont tell me about soapboxes. I have been in this fight for a long time and I dont all of a sudden read an article and become qualified.

[twofinbluna]

People need to realize that the 'data' that enviros use is often junk. Dont believe me, look into what happened in NEngland a few years back with teh aerial photos taken by the pilots. A handful of pictures were able to show that the 'data' that enviros were using was so wrong its laughable. There is going to be long term problems if the east/medt. dont comply, but lets not fool ourselves, bluefin are not even remotely close, in any way, to being extinct or even endangered.