Temporary Reopening of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna General Category Fishery

The Atlantic bluefin tuna quota General category fishery will reopen for two days within the October through November subquota period—effective 12:30 a.m., October 15 through 11:30 p.m., October 16, 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

This action applies to General category (commercial) permitted vessels and to HMS Charter/Headboat category permitted vessels with a commercial sale endorsement when fishing commercially for bluefin tuna.