Bluefin tuna Atlantic Bluefin Tuna General Category Fishery to Reopen for Three days

The Atlantic bluefin tuna General category fishery will reopen for three days within the October through November 2018 subquota period, effective 12:30 a.m., October 31 through 11:30 p.m., November 2, 2018.  This action is intended to provide a reasonable opportunity to harvest the full annual U.S. bluefin tuna quota without exceeding it, while maintaining an equitable distribution of fishing opportunities across time periods.  In addition, it will help achieve optimum yield in the bluefin tuna fishery and optimize the ability of all permit categories to harvest their full bluefin tuna quota allocations.

OAA Fisheries recently published a final “quota rule” that increased the baseline U.S. bluefin tuna quota from 1,058.79 mt to 1,247.86 mt and accordingly increased the subquotas for 2018, including an increase in the General category October through November period subquota from 60.7 mt to 70.2 mt. On October 4, 2018, NOAA Fisheries transferred 55 mt to the General category and closed the General category fishery effective October 5, 2018, based on projections that landings would meet or exceed the adjusted October through November subquota of 127.2 mt by that date. After determining that 45.4 mt remained available, NOAA Fisheries reopened the General category fishery for two days, October 15 and 16, 2018.

Read the full NOAA release here 

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