Gale Winds of Change

The US government is considering sweeping changes to the way we manage bluefin tuna domestically. The stated goal is to provide US fishermen with greater opportunity to harvest the ICCAT quota while balancing the need to end overfishing of the Gulf of Mexico-spawning, western Atlantic population by 2010 and rebuild the population by 2019.

2003 was the last year that the US caught (or exceeded, as the case may be) its full quota. Since then, we've caught just 15-69% of our quota. Less than 25% of the commercial quota was caught in 2008. Speculations abound about why US landings are at such a low level, ranging from a decreased prey base to decline of the population. Unfortunately, there is a lot of evidence to support the latter.

The new management options being considered are too numerous to mention (click here for the full suite of options), but most of them lift restrictions on harvest to increase catch. The most alarming proposal is to lower the commercial minimum size from 73" to 65". There is extensive scientific evidence that changing the targeted size classes of exploited living natural resources can change the genetic structure and life history of the species. In written comments submitted to NMFS earlier this week, TAG expressed opposition to the proposal to lower the minimum size.

Another concerning proposal is to eliminate the daily bag limit in the commercial handgear fishery. Fishermen can now land up to 3 fish per day. While catching the limit is rare, allowing unlimited retention could be disastrous in a hot fishery, as an entire cohort of fish could be caught due to bluefin schooling behavior. This potential glut of tuna landings would also flood the market, resulting in lower prices and lower profits.

The same (or stricter, in reality) regulations that are now under consideration for weakening resulted in full utilization or overharvest of the US quota up until 2004. Lifting restrictions on the fishery now could have the opposite result of the stated goal of quota utilization. Increased harvest could lead to further population declines, which would lead to even lower catches in the future. And the likelihood of ending overfishing and rebuilding western bluefin tuna would be blown away on the gale winds of change. The good news is that we can rebuild western bluefin by 2019 if we use the best available science to manage them.

the End of the Line

This past weekend I was asked by the Monterey Bay Aquarium to provide commentary following a special screening of an edited version of the new film, “The End of the Line.” I had not seen the film, and didn’t know much about it – other than that it dealt with the decline of the bluefin tuna fishery.

I was provided with a DVD of the edited film, which I popped into my laptop to view. For the next 23 minutes, I sat rapt by this hard-hitting documentary. It is visually gritty – beginning with a sequence of the ritual tuna slaughter at the Straits of Gibralter – and seems to put the viewer consistently in the position of witnessing things that we may not want to see.

I wondered how it would be to stand in front of an audience having just watched the film – a representative of the science that only gets passing mention, but someone concerned for the animals nonetheless. And of course, I got to find out the following day.

In both of the screenings (one Saturday and one Sunday), the crowds were small – just a dozen or so people in an auditorium that seats over 250 people. But those that saw the film seemed engaged and concerned. Nearly everyone had questions, ranging from informational (Are all the tunas from the same stock?) to concerned (What can we do to help stop this?) to incredulous (How can ICCAT let this happen?). It was refreshing to be talking to people who were already interested, rather than being in the more familiar position of having to get them interested.

In this sense, I think that the film does an amazing job. It raises awareness and causes concern about a topic that most people wouldn’t otherwise think about. As with any film of this nature, it will have its critics; some people will question the science that was used, and others will quarrel about whether blame is being put in the right place. But at the end of the day, it will have people talking about these issues. From my perspective, that is a fantastic first step towards making change. And change needs to happen.

To learn more about the film, visit http://www.endoftheline.com/.

Talking Turkey

Call it what you will..."an international disgrace" or "pirates of the Mediterranean" - there's no question that things have gotten out of hand in the eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna fishery, particularly in the Mediterranean Sea. Recent quotas have been set twice as high as recommended by scientists, and illegal fishing has resulted in landings twice again as high. A recent paper published in the journal, Conservation Letters, predicts that the eastern Atlantic population will decline 75% between 2005 and 2011, and remarkably in some years, every adult will be caught (McKenzie et al., 2009).

At its November 2008 meeting, ICCAT reduced the 2009 eastern quota from 27,500 to 22,000 metric tons (mt), a step in the right direction although scientists have shown that a further quota reduction to 15,000 mt - or likely even 8,000 mt - is necessary to reverse the decline. Turkey was given 683 mt of the new quota, the seventh highest allocation of the fifteen parties that receive a share of the eastern Atlantic catch. The Turkish government was not satisfied with this quota and has filed a formal objection to the ICCAT ruling, vowing to unilaterally set a quota for its fishers. Similarly defiant, Turkey has already been documented landing tons of fish below the 30 kg minimum size.

Likewise, despite proclamations of compliance in the 2009 fishery by the European Community (EC) on behalf of its member fleets, there appears to be continued illegal activity within the EC fishery, with media reports of undersized fish being landed in Italy. Apparently the EC's newly added monitoring and control measures are insufficient.

All this, and we're only 1 month into the fishing season. Estimated landings in the eastern Atlantic in recent years top 60,000 mt. All eyes will be on the Med until the major purse seine fishery closes on June 15th to gauge to what extent the new 22,000 mt quota is adhered to by the fishery. Tag-A-Giant's electronic tagging research has demonstrated unequivocally that fish from the Mediterranean Sea enter North America's coastal waters to feed before returning east to breed. The overfishing in the Med - both "legal" and illegal - has hurt our western fisheries. Let's hope that the 2009 eastern fishery achieves a much higher level of compliance and commitment to science-based management.

Tuna on a Treadmill

Although we often focus on the work we do in the wild, tagging and tracking tunas in their migrations across the seas, there is also a massive research effort that goes on every day in our Tuna Research and Conservation Center here in Pacific Grove, CA -- a unique collaboration between Stanford University and the Monterey Bay Aquarium. For the past several weeks, we have been using a large apparatus called a "respirometer" to study the metabolic rate of tunas under different, controlled conditions. This work allows us to answer questions about how these animals work - how efficiently they swim at different speeds, and how they function at different temperatures.


Jake Nogueira from the Tuna Research and Conservation Center explains how the tuna respirometer works.

In our most recent experiment, we are studying tunas that have been outfitted with special tags that monitor their heart rate, and we have been observing their metabolic rate and internal temperature following feeding. When these data are combined, we hope to gain insights into the patterns we observe in tags on wild fish -- leading to a more complete understanding of how and when they feed in the wild, and how they use the energy from the food they eat. Ultimately, this will allow us to better understand how these apex predators fit into the broader open ocean ecosystem, and what resources they need to survive.

Hatteras, Part II

Well, it took me a while to finally post an update and some pictures, but it was well worth the wait. We managed to get out for another day on the water out of Hatteras, NC on Thursday the 2nd of April. We were not disappointed as the fishing was similar to Tuesday, with plenty of bluefin tuna in the 160 pound range. These are the same fish that have been off the coast of Hatteras for several weeks, and the same fish that others have been seeing along the East Coast at other times of year. Interestingly, we never saw these fish down in Morehead City when the fleet was fishing down there in December and January. We ended up the day with 9 bluefin tagged, 4 additional hook-ups and 3 yellowfin tuna. A pretty good day by any measure and a great way to end the tagging season on a high note. Thanks to the crew of the Sensation (Dale and Alan) and everyone else who helped us this year for making our time on the water fun and productive!

Back in Business!

The Tag-A-Giant team was back in action on Tuesday with another day on the water in Hatteras, North Carolina. We had been getting reports of good numbers of fish being caught off Hatteras and Oregon Inlet in the recent weeks, so we dusted off the tagging equipment, assembled a team and decided to head out to try our luck. Dale, Alan and Andre were joined by TAG alum Charles Perry to round out the tagging crew. Also on board were anglers Johnny Wilson, Alex Scholz and William. We were not disappointed as there were plenty of bluefin in the 120-165 pound size range. After we found the fish, the action really picked up and we had over 20 bites, keeping the anglers busy and tired all day. After our extended hiatus, the TAG team was a little bit rusty but we ended up tagging 10 fish for the day. A vast improvement over our January and February exploits. Once we get pictures, we'll post those. We're planning on heading out on Thursday as well, so stay tuned!

Tagging North Carolina Giants on Camera

We're pleased to have some beautiful video we shot at TAG NC last month here for viewing pleasure. In this piece we're releasing a large fish that we caught with our excellent angler - aboard long time TAG vessel Sensation. Dale Britt was the Captain and his mate Alan wired this fish on a relatively light leader. This fish was remarkably beautiful on deck at 259 cm curved fork lenth, it was the second largest bluefin ever measured by our team off NC- in over 850 fish tagged. We were at the time a bit surprised by the large size and you may pick that if you listen to our reaction- thats Dr. Andre Boustany at the head end, myself and our mate Alan.
It was so large - we had trouble doing our usual turn - and put the fish out tail first- most go head first. Our team worked very hard the first week of the year- getting some film for teams producing TV shows in 2009-helping to raise awareness about bluefin tuna science- tagging a few fish. We recognized in 2009, once again the challenge we face as a team- tagging giants, when the commercial fishery is wide open. I certainly miss the days when all the fish came our way for tagging. The good news is the footage was awesome and hopefully we can share the story of Carolina bluefin with millions of folks across the globe. I enjoyed tagging and releasing three and wish everyone could feel the exhilaration of seeing a fish up close and personal- and the joy of satellite tagging the animal and letting the fish go.

Thanks to Bill and our colleagues- for this wonderful footage and Dr. Randy Kochevar for his nice edit! Barb