From: cherasia@viper.bear.com (Peter Cherasia)
Newsgroups: rec.outdoors.fishing
Subject: Re: New Jersey Tuna Fishing
Date: 28 Sep 92 22:57:32 GMT
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]

Robert Drongowski (Robert.Drongowski@cc.umich.edu) wrote:

: 	Was Farley Mowat wrong about the virtual destruction of the Bluefin Tuna
: or not.  Your article leads me to believe that there are still
: substantial bluefins around, the program mentioned above indicated that
: they are near extinction.  Which is correct?? Should I feel ok about
: eating tuna bought from a local fish store??  Are these tuna Bluefins or
: some other species??  
: BOB DRONGOWSKI--"ICE FISHING IS REALLY A MISNOMER, MOST OF THE TIME"  The
: Polish Fisherman

Sorry it took me so long to get back to answering  your question. Was F.M. 
wrong about the virtual destruction of the Bluefin tuna? Well it sounds to
me like he certainly emblished the truth a bit! In 1992 East Coast commercial
fisherman caught 947 tons of Bluefin Tuna while recreational fisherman caught
301 tons, thats a lot of fish for a nearly extinct species. As another example
in june of this year we were out on boat shark fishing (C&R only) when the 
water around our chum slick exploded with school bluefin tuna busting water.
The school covered an area at least 1mi square and we were able to troll around
them for 3-4 hours catching 17 fish in the 15 - 30# class and keeping 3 of them.

Does that mean the bluefin are not in trouble, NO WAY. The population of fish
is way down and the breeding stocks are being decimated by both commercial and
recreational fisherman. But there is still a very healthy population of smaller
fish. The problem lies in the fact that the fish take a long time to reach 
maturity and their breeding population keeps dipping lower and lower every 
year. As for the programs assertion that tournament angling is as much a 
problem as commercial pressure, I doubt it. The only major bluefin tournament
that i know of is the ICCAT out of rhode Island and I would be surprised if
more than 3-5 fish made the minimum weight this year. On the other hand
commercial fisherman follow the giants from their spawning grounds in the 
gulf of mexico to their summer grounds off the northeast coast and back again.

It seems to me that there are several ways to help the bluefin return to the 
numbers they had prior to the 1970's. We all could stop eating them or we 
could develop a fisheries plan that attempts to deal with the problem and not
sidestep the fact that the fish are in trouble. There are still relatively 
vast numbers of bluefins roaming the east coast and they are fairly well 
protected. The breeding population however is still fair game for both
commercial (I'm not sure what their limit is) and recreational fisherman (1 per
boat per day). The answer seems pretty clear to me ... shut down the fishery
for medium and giant tuna. ITs absolutely ridiculous to impose strict 
regulation on the non-spawning population and to allow the breeding population
to decline to a dangerously low point.

So what's the real problem ... the NMFS doesn't have the balls to stand up to
the commercial lobbying effort when Giant bluefin tuna are selling for $68,000
apiece in Tokyo and the retail value of a 700# fish is around $250,000 in Japan
(Thats dollars not yen). 

Sorry I started to rave there. To answer the question it sounds like the 
program you saw painted a much bleaker picture of the situation than really
exists. The population of east coast bluefin is still relatively large. However
if something isn't done to reduce the pressure on the fishery soon, that
documentary might become a reality.



			Pete Cherasia

			My opinions not my employers