NCMC Action Item - Bring Back the Big Fish program - background on conservation efforts for sailfish, marlin, swordfish, tuna and sharks

Information on NCMC's conservation efforts for sailfish, marlin, swordfish, tuna, and sharks

BRING BACK THE BIG FISH!

Background on big fish issues

NOTE: Big fish are also known as "highly migratory species (HMS)" or "large pelagic fish." On the US Atlantic Coast and Gulf of Mexico, fishing for these species is managed by NOAA Fisheries (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association), a branch of the US government. On the high seas (beyond 200 miles off the coast), they are managed by the International Committee for Conservation of Atlantic Tunas and Tuna-Like Fishes (ICCAT).

SWORDFISH
The Atlantic swordfish is in the early stages of recovery, but most of the broadbill out there are juveniles, many still years away from breeding. NCMC believes a true swordfish recovery means a swordfish population that revives the selective and sustainable commercial harpoon fisheries along with the once legendary recreational rod-and-reel fisheries. We are working with NOAA Fisheries to enact a far-sighted conservation plan that a) gives continuing protections for juveniles (i.e., keeping nursery areas closed to longlining) until they mature in order to restore a stable and balanced age structure, and b) transitions the U.S. fishery as much as possible away from non-selective longlines toward more sustainable and manageable commercial and recreational hand-gears, namely harpoon and rod-and-reel.

ATLANTIC SHARKS
The commercial shark fishery is unmanageable and unsustainable. The sandbar shark, which is the primary target of many commercial shark fishermen, is projected to take 70 years to rebuild while allowing limited catches. Recovery for porbeagle sharks is estimated at 100 years with zero catch. And the dusky shark could take from 100-400 years to get off the overfished list. Regulation of the commercial fishery is becoming increasingly restrictive, complex, time-consuming, and expensive, all to keep a relatively few fishermen in business. Sharks can handle only the most limited fishing. Commercial shark fisheries are simply not sustainable, and that fact isn’t going to change during the next century. The federal government and industry have discussed buying out latent or unused capacity. That’s just more expense with little benefit to the rest of us – or the sharks. What we propose is calling the whole thing off.

BLUE AND WHITE MARLIN, SAILFISH
Mostly due to being caught as bycatch in tuna and swordfish fisheries, blue and white marlin populations are severely depleted. Scientists estimate the blue marlin population is now about 40% of its optimum level, while the white marlin population is at about only 13% of its optimum level. Sailfish are not overfished, but they are on the edge and any increase in fishing would cause a decline. The longline time-area closures implemented by NOAA Fisheries in 2000 have reduced longline bycatch substantially (see map for details). NCMC is making sure NOAA continues to monitor the effectiveness of these closures and, if necessary, modifies them to further reduce longline bycatch, especially of severely overfished blue and white marlin. At the same time, we are pressuring the fisheries service to resist efforts by the longline industry to re-open these critical conservation zones. And while we clean up our own waters, NCMC is calling on the U.S. to make gaining complementary action by other countries our number one priority at future ICCAT meetings, in particular securing closures to longlining on the high seas where billfish congregate to feed and spawn.

BLUEFIN TUNA
NCMC is supporting U.S. action, including trade sanctions, to rein in the rampant overfishing by European nations. There is mounting evidence that eastern fishing fleets catch large numbers of migrating tuna from our depleted western Atlantic bluefin population. In U.S. waters, additional action is needed to protect fish spawning in the Gulf of Mexico, the only known breeding ground of the western stock. NCMC is urging NOAA Fisheries to implement a longline closure in the northern Gulf of Mexico for the brief period when bluefin tuna are there to spawn in order to decrease the number accidentally killed on longline gear. Read more on this issue.

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