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Atlantic Bluefin Tuna General Category Fishery:  NOAA Fisheries Transfers 60 mt from the Reserve category to the September 2018 Subquota and Closes the Fishery Sunday, September 23, 2018

NOAA Fisheries transfers 60 metric tons (mt) of Atlantic bluefin tuna quota from the Reserve category to the General category September subquota period and closes the General category fishery until it reopens October 1, 2018.

Quota Transfer:

Although NMFS has published a proposed rule (83 FR 31517, July 6, 2018) to increase the baseline U.S. bluefin tuna quota from 1,058.79 mt to 1,247.86 mt and subquotas for 2018 (including an expected increase in the General category September time period subquota from 123.7 mt to 147.3 mt), NMFS does not anticipate that the final rule (the “quota rule”) will be effective until late September 2018.  The transfer of 60 mt of the currently available 78.5-mt Reserve category quota to the General category quota for the September 2018 fishery results in an adjusted subquota of 183.7 mt for the September 2018 fishery (207.3 mt if the ICCAT quota rule is finalized as proposed) and 18.5 mt in the Reserve category, and is intended to provide limited additional opportunities to harvest the U.S. bluefin tuna quota while avoiding exceeding it. 

Given the upcoming expected increases in available 2018 quota, from the ICCAT quota rule increase, the resulting recalculation of 2018 available Purse Seine category quota and transfer to the Reserve category, and carryover of 2017 underharvest, in addition to the fact that any unused General category quota will roll forward to the next subperiod within the calendar year, NOAA Fisheries anticipates that General category participants in all areas and time periods will have opportunities to harvest the General category quota in 2018, through active inseason management such as the timing of quota transfers, as practicable.  Thus, this quota transfer would allow fishermen to take advantage of the availability of fish on the fishing grounds to the extent consistent with the available amount of transferrable quota and other management objectives, while avoiding quota exceedance.

Closure of the Bluefin Tuna General Category September Fishery: 

Based on the best available bluefin tuna General category landings information (i.e., 145.6 mt landed as of September 17, 2018) as well as average catch rates and anticipated fishing conditions, NOAA Fisheries projects that the General category September subquota of 183.7 mt, as adjusted in this action, will be reached by September 23, 2018, and that the fishery should be closed to avoid exceedance of the adjusted quota.  The General category bluefin tuna fishery will close effective 11:30 p.m., September 23, 2018, until it reopens on October 1, 2018, with a baseline quota of 60.7 mt (72.2 mt under the ICCAT quota rule, if finalized as proposed) available for the October through November time period. 

Retaining, possessing, or landing large medium or giant bluefin tuna by persons aboard vessels permitted in the Atlantic tunas General and HMS Charter/Headboat categories must cease at 11:30 p.m. local time on September 23, 2018, through September 30, 2018.  The intent of this closure is to prevent overharvest of the available General category September bluefin tuna subquota.

Who is Affected?

This action applies to General category (commercial) permitted vessels and to HMS Charter/Headboat category permitted vessels with a commercial sale endorsement when fishing commercially for bluefin tuna.  For information regarding the CHB commercial sale endorsement, see 82 FR 57543, December 6, 2017.  For more information on bluefin tuna fishing regulations, including size and retention limits, please go to the HMS Permit Shop.

NOAA Fisheries will continue to monitor the bluefin tuna fisheries closely.  Dealers are required to submit landing reports within 24 hours of a dealer receiving bluefin tuna.  Late reporting by dealers compromises NMFS’ ability to timely implement actions such as quota and retention limit adjustment, as well as closures, and may result in enforcement actions.  Additionally, and separate from the dealer reporting requirement, General category and HMS Charter/Headboat category vessel owners are required to report their own catch of all bluefin tuna retained or discarded dead, within 24 hours of the landing(s) or end of each trip, by accessing the HMS Permit Shop, using the HMS Catch Reporting app, or calling (888) 872-8862 (Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.).  Depending on the level of fishing effort and catch rates of bluefin tuna, NOAA Fisheries may determine that additional action (i.e., quota and/or daily retention limit adjustment, or closure) is necessary to ensure available quota is not exceeded or to enhance scientific data collection from, and fishing opportunities in, all geographic areas.

NOAA Fisheries regulations at 50 CFR 635.21(a)(1) require that all bluefin tuna that are released be handled in a manner that will maximize survivability, and without removing the fish from the water.  For additional information on safe handling, see the Careful Catch and Release brochure.

This notice is a courtesy to bluefin tuna fishery permit holders to help keep you informed about the fishery.  For additional information, call (978) 281-9260, or go to the HMS Permit Shop.  Official notice of Federal fishery actions is made through filing such notice with the Office of the Federal Register.