Bluefin Tuna

[swashbuckler]

Any Bluefin Tuna fishermen on this site?

Do you fish General Category?

What do you think of Friday, Saturday and Sundays being closed starting 18 Nov?

Do you think with weekends closed that some of the Northern fisherman might stay home?

Looks like the northern guys are having another tuff season, as of July 27 only 20 tons have been caught. Maybe NMFS will share some of the unfilled quotas with the southern fisherman. There are 908 tons in the general category. What's your opinion?

Last year there was over 300 tons that was not filled. None was allotted to the southern fisherman. As a matter of fact the NMFS closed the season in mid Nov and did not reopen until 2nd week of December. I spent my vacation time waiting around for the season to open. Then when the season opened, we had to compete with the northern fisherman. It was estimated that over 100 boats came down from up north. I met many of these guys from up north in Morehead and Beaufort and they were really nice. I was not one of the many that cussed them on the VHF. I blame the NMFS and NCDMF for all the extra boats fishing during the winter months. We also have the right to go up north and fish during the summer.

Here's my opinion;

I do not like the fact that the season will closed three days out of the week. During December, mother nature will do that for us. I do like the fact that tuna quotas are not equally distributed through out the year. I do not like the fact that 539 tons are allotted June - August and 269.5 for September but only 89.8 tons are allotted October - Janurary. Mid Nov is when these fish start showing up in NC. I do not competing with the northern fisherman, these guys get over 700 more ton allotted and then come down here and dip into our resources. I do not like the fact that the NMFS clearly violates the southern fishermans' rights under the Magnuson-Stevens Fisher Conservation and Management Act under the equal distribution description. I have emailed, phoned and faxed Senator Dole with my concerns and this has fallen upon death ears.

Enough said, that is my opinion. Can't hardly wait until the BFT season starts in NC. See ya on the water.

Capt Randy