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Bluefin Tuna Policy
Management of the World's Most Expensive Fish

Fishery Management of Atlantic Bluefin

Fishery Management of Pacific Bluefin

 

International Management of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Fisheries

Due to their large range and highly migratory nature, Atlantic bluefin have a complicated web of management. They do not respect the boundaries of nations’ territorial seas, which extend 200 miles from the coast, and as a result, international management is necessary.

What is ICCAT?

The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) is the international, governing authority for Atlantic bluefin. It was established by treaty in 1966 in response to the already declining numbers of bluefin tuna. ICCAT’s home offices are in Madrid, Spain. There are currently 45 member nations, ranging from North Africa, to Central America, to Asia. The United States, European Union (considered by ICCAT to be one nation, or "contracting party"), and Japan are among the most powerful members. Meetings of the full commission are held each November to set management measures for the following year.

Management Structure

Atlantic bluefin tuna are managed as two separate populations, a western and eastern, separated at 45ºW longitude. Fish caught west of 45 degrees are attributed to the western quota; fish caught east of 45 degrees are attributed to the eastern quota.

Management Measures

Each member country is responsible for implementing ICCAT management domestically. ICCAT has two different kinds of management measures – recommendations and resolutions. Recommendations are mandatory for member countries; resolutions are strongly encouraged. Click here to download a compendium of all active recommendations and resolutions.

Timeline of Bluefin Management at ICCAT

1974 –
First minimum size established (6.4 kg, with a 15% tolerance for smaller fish)
1981 –
Western bluefin fishery closed; 800 MT quota for scientific purposes
1982 –
Increase western quota to 2,660 MT for 1983;
Prohibition on directed bluefin fishing in the Gulf of Mexico;
15% tolerance for western bluefin less than 120 cm fork length
1991 –
8% tolerance for western bluefin less than 30 kg (115 cm)
1993 –
Reduce western quota to 1,995 MT for 1994, 1,200 MT for 1995;
Limit fishing in Central Atlantic;
Prohibit longline fishing for bluefin in the Mediterranean Sea during spawning months (June 1-July 31)
1994 –
Prevent catch increases in East Atlantic and reduce catch by 25% starting in 1996;
Increase western quota to 2,200 MT for 1995
1996 –
Purse seine fishing prohibited in the Mediterranean August 1-31;
Prohibit catch of bluefin <1.8 kg;
Increase western quota to 2,354 MT for 1997
1998 –
First catch limits for East Atlantic and Mediterranean (Total Allowable Catch (TAC) = 32,000 MT for 1999);
20-year rebuilding plan established for western bluefin: TAC = 2,500 MT until 2018; Prohibit catch of bluefin <3.2 kg;
Purse seine fishing prohibited in the Adriatic Sea May 1-31, in the Mediterranean July 16-August 15
2000 –
Eastern quota reduced to 29,500 MT
2002 –
TAC for western bluefin increased to 2,700 MT for 2003:
Eastern quota increased to 32,000 MT for 2003
2004 –
Prohibit catch of bluefin <10 kg in the Mediterranean Sea
2006 –
15-year recovery plan established for eastern bluefin: quota set at 29,500 MT for 2007, decreasing to 25,500 MT by 2010; purse seine closure extended to 7/1-12/31; minimum size raised to 30 kg; spotter planes prohibited
TAC for western bluefin reduced to 2,100 MT
2007 –
Eastern fishing nations encouraged to submit implementation plans of 2006 recovery plan for review by ICCAT; stock enhancement research promoted; catch documentation scheme adopted to track individual fish from catch to consumer

Other ICCAT Roles

In addition to prescribing management regulations, ICCAT also compiles catch statistics submitted by member countries, monitors bluefin tuna trade and penalizes countries and vessels that do not comply with ICCAT recommendations. ICCAT also plays a major role in coordinating scientific research. The Standing Committee on Research and Statistics (SCRS) convenes stock assessments, encourages specific studies (e.g., assessments of mixing rates of the western and eastern stocks), and provides a forum for sharing and analyzing tagging, genetics, and other data.

Key Issues

Meetings of Panel 2, the ICCAT group charged with bluefin management, are often the most attended and most controversial of the ICCAT week. There are many players, many unknowns and a lot of money at stake.

Population Structure & Mixing Rates:

The most contentious issue at present is the question of eastern vs. western. The current management structure assumes limited mixing of the two populations over the 45 degree line. Tagging data, including those provided by the TGF team, have provided evidence for substantially more mixing of the two populations than previously thought.  The problem? The western quota is 2,100 MT; the eastern quota is an order of magnitude higher at 28,500 MT. The severely depleted western stock is thus vulnerable to extensive overfishing in the East Atlantic whenever a western fish migrates east of 45 degrees. ICCAT is exploring alternative management structures, including separate Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic, and Mediterranean management units and moving the dividing line further east.

Still others argue that the higher mixing rates suggest that there is only one population of Atlantic bluefin tuna, with fish spawning randomly in the Gulf of Mexico, Mediterranean Sea, or elsewhere. This theory supports universal management for all Atlantic bluefin, with no dividing line. However, scientific data, including electronic tagging, genetics, and microconstituent analysis, strongly support the presence of distinct western and eastern populations.

The following reports are from special workshops convened by ICCAT to discuss issues related to the mixing debate:

» Report of the 4th Meeting of the Working Group to Develop Integrated and Coordinated Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Management Strategies (ICCAT, 2006)
» Report of the 2nd Meeting of the Working Group to Develop Integrated and Coordinated Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Management Strategies (ICCAT, 2004)
» ICCAT Workshop on Bluefin Mixing (ICCAT, 2001)

Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing:

Whether or not they are members of ICCAT, many countries and/or vessels refuse to play by the rules. Countries will purposefully underreport catch levels, vessels will fish under the flag of other nations to evade regulations, or fishermen will ignore minimum size limits, gear restrictions or closed areas. Several “non-contracting parties” fish for bluefin, even if they don’t participate in ICCAT meetings or have a quota allocation. World Wildlife Fund (WWF) released a highly publicized report in May 2006 showing that the catch level in the East Atlantic and Mediterranean is likely greater than 50,000 MT per year, a greater than 50% exceedance of the quota. IUU fishing by the European Union (especially France and Spain), Libya, and Turkey is largely to blame. In 2007, WWF and Greenpeace released compelling evidence based on trade and export data that Spain alone had under-reported their catch by approximately 3,000 MT per year – the quota for the entire West Atlantic is only 2,100 MT!

Bluefin Farming or Ranching:

Tuna farming has emerged as a major fishery practice in the Mediterranean Sea. Bluefin are caught in purse seines and transferred to pens where they are held and fed until their fat content and market conditions are ideal. Farming is confounding from a statistical perspective, especially when the country that caught the fish is different from the country that farmed and/or killed the fish. Against which country’s quota is the fish counted? Which weight is recorded – at catch or at death? Tuna farms are also controversial due to the high volume of forage fish harvested to feed the captive bluefin (potentially reducing the baitfish available to wild bluefin) and the potential for coastal pollution from the dense population of penned fish.

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Domestic Management of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Fisheries in the United States

NOAA Fisheries (formerly known as the National Marine Fisheries Service, or NMFS) is charged with implementing ICCAT regulations in the United States. The Highly Migratory Species Division within the Office of Sustainable Fisheries sets domestic regulations and monitors catch levels of bluefin. Under the Atlantic Tunas Convention Act of 1975 (ATCA), NOAA Fisheries must comply precisely with ICCAT regulations, and the fishery must be managed to allow U.S. fishermen to catch their full ICCAT quota.

ATCA supersedes other domestic laws, such as the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA). Because bluefin tuna are overfished and overfishing is still occurring, MSA mandates implementation of a 10-year domestic rebuilding plan, which would likely severely limit catch levels. With ATCA, however, NOAA Fisheries must manage bluefin fisheries to allow the full ICCAT quota – 1,693.9 MT for the 2008 fishing year (1/1/08-12/31/08) – to be caught.

Bluefin tuna are managed by NOAA under the Consolidated Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan, finalized in July 2006. This is a revision of the original Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Tunas, Swordfish and Sharks adopted in 1999.

There are seven quota categories for U.S. bluefin catch: general (includes rod & reel, handline), harpoon, longline, trap, purse seine, angling and reserve. General category fishermen have the biggest quota allocation, followed by the purse seiners.  The purse seine category is limited access – only five boats are permitted to land bluefin in U.S. waters with purse seine gear. The longline category is for incidentally caught bluefin only; bluefin can not be targeted with longline gear in U.S. waters.

The bluefin fishery is further regulated by size limits, bag limits, and quota suballocation according to time period, geography and fish size. Regulations change mid-season, and permit holders are notified of changes via fax or e-mail.

The quota for the 2008 fishing year, which runs from January 1 to December 31, 2008 is 1,693.9 MT. Current landings are shown in the table below. Note that the quota in the table is less than the total quota because only large medium and giant class fish are included in the table's Angling Category record. An additional 302.4 MT landings are allowable in the recreational category for smaller fish. For more information on current regulations and landings, click here.

Current Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Landings (As of June 1, 2008)

Category
Sub-Category
Number of Fish
Average Weight (lbs.)
Gross Weight (MT)
2008 Quota
Percent of Quota Landed
General
-
231
340.4
35.5
740.0
4.8%
Handline
1
530.0
0.2
Harpoon
Rod & Reel
230
340.4
35.5
Harpoon
-
61.2
0%
Longline
-
145
529.1
34.8
North
26
365.0
4.3
47.7
9.0%
South
119
565.0
30.5
34.0
89.7%
Trap
-
1.6
0%
Purse Seine
-
292.2
0%
Angling
-
North
2.4
0%
South
4.7
0%
Reserve
-
207.6
0%
Total
376
413.7
70.5
1,391.4
5.1%

Download landings table directly from the NOAA Fisheries website.

The quota for the 2007 fishing year, which ran from June 1, 2007 to December 31, 2007 was 1,654.2 MT. Click here to view a table of final 2007 commercial landings. Less than 14% of the commercial quota was landed, but the recreational quota was exceeded by nearly double. In total, approximately 40% of the U.S. quota was landed.

The following graphs show cumulative landings in metric tons and in number of fish landed by month for the years 2000 through 2008, illustrating the significant decline in the fishery in recent years. This year has gotten off to a good start based on numbers, but effort in the January North Carolina rod and reel fishery was also much higher than in previous years, so the landings alone may be deceiving.

Key Issues

Similar to the situation at ICCAT, heated debate surrounds management of bluefin fisheries at home in the U.S. The various user groups, differentiated by gear, geographic locale, or motive (occupation, sport, conservation, etc.) oftentimes differ greatly in their management proposals and goals.

Protection of Spawning Bluefin:

Directed fishing for bluefin on their spawning grounds in the Gulf of Mexico has been prohibited since the early 1980s. Nonetheless, spawning bluefin continue to be taken incidentally in longline fisheries that target yellowfin tuna. TGF data suggest a significant source of mortality that should be reined in to prevent further declines of the western population. A coalition of environmental groups has petitioned NOAA Fisheries to implement a seasonal closure to longline gear in the Gulf of Mexico in the area of highest bluefin incidence. A similar longline closure exists in the New York Bight area during the month of June to protect migrating bluefin.

Harvest of Juvenile Bluefin Tuna:

The minimum size set by ICCAT for harvest of western bluefin tuna is 30 kg, roughly equivalent to 47", the lower bound of the large school size class in the U.S. The commercial minimum size is 73". However, recreational fishermen fishing under an Angling Category permit can land one school size fish (27"-47"), in addition to two larger fish. These fish are landed legally under an ICCAT provision that allows 10% of landings by weight on fish below the minimum size. This provision was motivated largely by the U.S. recreational industry.

U.S. recreational landings used to be nominal when compared to commercial landings. In recent years, as the commercial fishery has declined and recreational bluefin fishing has increased in popularity, the balance has shifted. In the last five years, recreational anglers have landed almost as many fish by weight as all the commercial categories combined. Because the calculation is by weight, and the recreational fish are typically much smaller than commercial fish, it is likely that the recreational catch exceeds the commercial catch by number of fish landed. Monitoring of the situation is critical to prevent harmful and excessive fishing mortality of young fish before they have reproduced, while cognizant of the higher natural mortality of juveniles.

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International Management of Pacific Bluefin Tuna Fisheries

In contrast to the long history of management in the Atlantic, there are no international regulations specific to bluefin tuna in the Pacific. No quotas, no bag limits, no minimum size – nothing. Tuna fisheries for yellowfin, bigeye, albacore, and skipjack have long dominated the Pacific and have thus been the focus of management.

That said, a framework for future international management of bluefin tuna has developed within the last five years. The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) is active in the eastern Pacific, and the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) covers the rest of the ocean basin.

Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC)

The IATTC was established via treaty in 1949, but the original convention text omitted bluefin tuna from the commission’s jurisdiction. However, the Antigua Convention updated the treaty in 2003, and the new language adds all tunas and tuna-like species caught in the eastern Pacific to the IATTC’s management purview. At this time, the IATTC’s bluefin management is limited to compiling catch data and performing cursory stock assessments.

Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC)

The WCPFC is one of the newest international fisheries management organizations, having been established by treaty in 2000. It applies to all highly migratory fish stocks, including bluefin tuna. The U.S. has signed the treaty but has not yet formally ratified it. As with the IATTC, the WCPFC does not yet have any regulations specific to bluefin tuna.

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Domestic Management of Pacific Bluefin Tuna Fisheries in the United States

Similar to the situation on the international level, U.S. management of Pacific bluefin is much newer and more cursory than that of Atlantic bluefin. This can be attributed to the relative youth of the fishery and the fact that Pacific bluefin are not considered to be overfished.

Though both Pacific and Atlantic bluefin fall under the jurisdiction of NOAA Fisheries, Pacific bluefin are managed by one of the regional councils (the Pacific Fishery Management Council), while Atlantic bluefin are managed by an office within NOAA headquarters. Northern bluefin are formally included in the Fishery Management Plan for U.S. West Coast Fisheries for Highly Migratory Species, adopted in 2004. At this point, there are no specific bluefin regulations; catch reporting is all that is required. However, discussions are underway about implementing a recreational bag limit for bluefin tuna.

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