An Email from NOAA Recreational Fisheries Coordinator

[jorluivil]

Originally Posted by Mahigeer

I just got this Email and thought to share it.
April 21, 2015

Good evening,

Based on a recommendation of the Pacific Fishery Management Council, the National Marine Fisheries Service is proposing to modify the existing Pacific bluefin tuna (PBF) recreational daily bag limit in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) off California, and to establish filleting-at-sea requirements for any tuna species in the U.S. EEZ south of Point Conception, Santa Barbara County.

The proposed regulations would reduce the existing bag limit of 10 PBF per day to 2 PBF per day and the maximum multiday possession limit (i.e., for trips of 3 days or more) from 30 PBF to 6 PBF.

In addition, the proposed regulations would establish requirements for filleting tuna at-sea (e.g., each fish must be cut into six pieces placed in an individual bag so that certain diagnostic characteristics are left intact), which will assist law enforcement personnel in accurately identifying different tuna species. These requirements would apply to any tuna species caught south of Santa Barbara (i.e., south of a line running west true from Point Conception, Santa Barbara County).

To view the proposed regulations and to submit comments, please visit: http://www.regulations.gov/#!documen...2015-0029-0001

Comments are due by May 6 2015, at 11:59 PM ET.
Regards,
Craig Heberer
Recreational Fisheries Coordinator
NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region
WCR Recreational Fisheries Homepage West Coast Region, NMFS, NOAA | westcoast.recfish@noaa.gov | http://www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/
7600 Sand Point Way NE
Seattle, WA 98115

Funny thing about this thread is that the OP never mentioned anything about global heating.

[jorluivil]

I did my own research and found some charts that may help

[TroutBum]

^^^^ HAHAHA

[YakDout]

Recreational fishing doesn't put a dent in the tuna population compared to the Seiners. You know, those guys who drag nets and are pulling up 10's of thousands of tuna at a time. Limit the recreational fisherman? Why? We're small timers on the big scale. On a good year all of San Diego's sport boats combined will pull in 10k BFT. Seiners do it every day....

[chris138]

Originally Posted by YakDout

Recreational fishing doesn't put a dent in the tuna population compared to the Seiners. You know, those guys who drag nets and are pulling up 10's of thousands of tuna at a time. Limit the recreational fisherman? Why? We're small timers on the big scale. On a good year all of San Diego's sport boats combined will pull in 10k BFT. Seiners do it every day....

Good point... That way we can do absolutely nothing and still complain.

[YakDout]

Originally Posted by chris138

Good point... That way we can do absolutely nothing and still complain.

So limit the guys who do it for fun a couple times a year and catch .05% of the population? Makes sense

[chris138]

Originally Posted by YakDout

So limit the guys who do it for fun a couple times a year and catch .05% of the population? Makes sense

So do nothing? What are you proposing? Or are you part of the "not in my lifetime" camp? No one is stopping you from catching as much bluefin as you want, you just have to release them after you get two. Is that really such a huge sacrifice for you? If you kept more than two decent sized BF, I'd bet $100 it would just sit in your freezer for six months and be catfood grade by the time you got around to eating it anyway!

Look I'm not trying to make enemies or piss people off. I just don't get why a bunch redneck kayak fishermen (myself included here) think they know more than scientists who have devoted their entire lives to understanding marine ecology and climate. The folks at fisheries aren't eco-nazis... Many of them are avid anglers themselves. Just recently I had dinner with a former director of fisheries. This person was so excited and stoked to see pictures and hear stories of fish that I had caught. They love the ocean and want to make it accessible to all of us, especially our future generations. Who do you think will be able to limit the evil commercial fisherman anyway? A bunch of disgruntled kayakers?