Bluefin tuna closure 8/12/25
 

See attached


Ironic how they state it’s closing because the limit quota has been met .

yet commercial buyers already said it would be closed in August back in the beginning of July

Re: Bluefin tuna closure 8/12/25
 

Not that it’s right but this happens every year so no big surprise.

The shame here is more fish are being landed because there are more fish around, so just like Seabass shouldn't we be given more fish?

Re: Bluefin tuna closure 8/12/25
 

They don’t close the entire fishery every year .
They only close the trophy size fishery for giants

This is the second recreational closure this season , now for every size category of bluefins

And they are claiming the quota was reached , yet the best 2 months of the Northern season around Massachusetts hasn’t even started yet .

This closure has nothing to do with actual landings .
It’s being pushed because the commercial buyers don’t want us catching fish at all above 47”
.

Re: Bluefin tuna closure 8/12/25
 

Sounds like we have another fight on our hands here Dan but I'm not familiar with how Bluefin are managed. I do know it's much different than other fisheries I've dabbled in and I have no contacts within those national management circles.. I'm certainly willing to learn and get involved where I can, once the Seabass is squared away.

Re: Bluefin tuna closure 8/12/25
 

Re: Bluefin tuna closure 8/12/25
 

That is correct!
Thats the reason why its only closed to the recreational angler.
The commercial season remains open.

Re: Bluefin tuna closure 8/12/25
 

Wow... Where do you even start?

Re: Bluefin tuna closure 8/12/25
 

Lawsuit against the federal government, only thing that will change this insanity. And as mentioned before, it should be funded by all the fishing tackle retailers / manufacturers, gas spend and boat manufacturers that the recreational sector spends hundreds of millions of dollars on every year.

We're way past petitions and public comments. The question we should be asking is how do you change the behavior of the Department of Commerce? Therein lies the answer to how you change the inequity in regulations between the commercial and recreational sectors as well as the overall mismanagement of various fisheries. Come up with an answer to that question and the recreational angling community and various stocks stand a fighting chance.

Re: Bluefin tuna closure 8/12/25
 

Yeah I believe the Lord mentioned "kicking against the goads" [Look it up].. we all know the reason they don't want anyone catching bluefins...

Smithsonian Magazine

"Large bluefin tuna can fetch extremely high prices at auction, with a recent example being a 608-pound tuna that sold for $1.3 million in Japan. Prices can vary significantly based on size and market
demand, with record sales reaching as high as $3.1 million".


People with a lot of money around the world will pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a couple ounces of raw Bluefin sliced paper thin... I don't get that at all, but they are worth their weight in gold- figuratively speaking of course.... bob

Re: Bluefin tuna closure 8/12/25
 

EXACTLY!!!!! Money is the only thing these agencies understand

Re: Bluefin tuna closure 8/12/25
 

Saw they had two approximate 180lb. bluefins weighed in at the White Marlin Open today capturing 1st and 2nd place for total combined money of ~$850k. Wonder if the timing of the closure had anything to do with the timing of the tournament.

Re: Bluefin tuna closure 8/12/25
 

Did a bit more reading on this and it seems like the ICCAT organization manages the Bluefin Tuna fishery internationally. Kind scares me a bit just like the Word Health organization.

Maybe I'm not understanding it correctly, but it seems to me ICCAT decides what our and other countries Bluefin quota is and all we get to do is carve that up at a federal level with regulations. And, just like just like other fisheries, if we are deemed to have overfished in current years we're penalized in future years with reduced quotas.

Thinking the root of the problem and the main pressure point here is ICCAT and for the US to fight the science and or for a better allocations for us at ICCAT?

While that does not solve the inequities we currently have at a federal level with Commercial and Recreational regulations, it gets us more fish to argue over.

I'd be interested in other's take on this...

Re: Bluefin tuna closure 8/12/25
 

On the other side of the Atlantic in places like Spain the Bluefin fishery is controlled by pirates and kickbacks. ICCAT knows there is nothing they can do to stop them.

Spain is a major player in the global bluefin tuna industry, both in fishing and farming. The Mediterranean and Atlantic are key fishing areas, with Barbate, Cadiz, and Almeria being important ports. The industry is tightly regulated by ICCAT quotas to ensure sustainability. Spain also leads in bluefin tuna farming, raising caught juveniles in sea cages. A significant portion of Spain's tuna production, especially from farming, is exported to Japan for sushi and sashimi.

Re: Bluefin tuna closure 8/12/25
 

Interesting....

More from AI https://www.google.com/search?q=how+...k7b9WA&csuir=1

Re: Bluefin tuna closure 8/12/25
 

And this which explains how bad we’re getting screwed by ICCAT since the US is only getting a 3% of the total allocation

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6376795835112

Re: Bluefin tuna closure 8/12/25
 

looked this up on Wikipedia a few years ago...NMFS was formed back in 1871 but under a different name while U. S. Grant was president It had 3 sections: study of fish and U. S. waters: the study of fishing methods and collection of fish catch and trade stats and the introduction and propagation of food fishes in the nation.
Somewhere I read on Wikipedia it was really formed to protect the commercial sector, later primarily from the Brits coming over and depleting the cod population. It was made to sound like the recreational sector was equally important.
U.S. Fish Commision was formed with several reorganizations and name changes until Pres. Nixon, in 1970 transferred the then named Bureau of Commercial Fisheries and other formed bureaus to the Dept. of Commerce and it was then renamed the NMFS and on Oct. 3, 1970, through a reorganization of the Environmental Science Services Administration, NOAA replaced it with NMFS under its control.

Let's face it, without a total reappointment/election of members throughout all the Agencies, things will never get better for the Recs. here stateside and forget about any control in the Med or eastern Atlantic--the same with the Indonesian waters and their surrounds.
It doesn't matter how rebuilt any of the stocks are, the commercials will get them all while the recs deal with the reductions and closures.
There, my 2 cents...

Re: Bluefin tuna closure 8/12/25
 

Reality sadly is bluefin have an insane price tag on their heads and for that reason alone, they're a money maker for the corrupt political machine, both domestic and internationally. Very complex and complicated situation, same as our domestic fisheries, only more so as it crosses international lines, governments and laws. Good news I suppose is it seems like the BFT population has improved over recent years, hopefully that's a true statement, and if so at least something appears to be working. But to think in the world we live in with fish having a much higher consumer demand than years past, commercial interests and economics I'm afraid will always be at the center of how regulations are set. Fish stocks are a gold mine for governments, politicians and corrupt business and political organizations so why share it with the recreational sector.

In 2022, NOAA estimated salt water angling alone in the US generated $138 billion in sales impacts so I'd imagine from their perspective why fix what isn't broken. Sad part is the recreational community contributes that much to the economy yet we can't manage enough funds to sue those same agencies depriving us access and our fair share of these public resources. Lot of people getting extremely wealthy at our expense, sound familiar.

Re: Bluefin tuna closure 8/12/25
 

always about the money,never about the people.