Fishing Restrictions for Tropical Tuna in the Eastern Pacific Ocean for 2025 and Beyond

NMFS proposes regulations under the Tuna Conventions Act (TCA) of 1950, as amended, to implement a resolution adopted at the 102nd Meeting of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) in September 2024: Resolution C-24-01 (Conservation Measures for Tropical Tunas in the Eastern Pacific Ocean During 2025-2026).

The proposed rule would implement management measures for U.S. commercial fishing vessels targeting tropical tuna (i.e., bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus), yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), and skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis)) in the IATTC Convention Area. The IATTC Convention Area is defined as the waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean bounded by the west coast of the Americas, 150° W. longitude, 50° N. latitude, and 50° S. latitude. This action is necessary for the conservation of tropical tuna stocks in the EPO and for the United States to satisfy its obligations as a member of the IATTC. The fishing restrictions apply to large purse seine vessels of class sizes 4-6 (carrying capacity of 182 metric tons (mt) or greater) and longline vessels greater than 24 meters (m) in overall length that fish for tropical tuna in the IATTC Convention Area.

The proposed rule would maintain and extend management measures including purse seine time and area closures, fish aggregating device measures, retention requirements, and longline catch limits for bigeye tuna.

Two regulations would be revised to remove references to specific years so that they apply indefinitely beyond the 2024 calendar year. First, this proposed rule would remove references to 2023 and 2024 for bigeye tuna restrictions and continue to state that if U.S. purse seine vessels exceed a certain annual catch level of bigeye tuna, they are required to observe an increased number of closure days in the following year. Second, existing regulations for active FAD limits for purse seine vessels would be amended to apply until amended in the future.

The public comment period for this proposed rule is 30 days. Comments may be submitted here.