What is changing?
The daily retention limit will decrease from three large medium or giant bluefin tuna (measuring 73” or greater) to one large medium or giant BFT per vessel per day/trip.
Who is affected?
The changes apply to General category permitted vessels and HMS Charter/Headboat permitted vessels with a commercial sale endorsement when fishing commercially for bluefin tuna. The daily retention limit is effective for all areas except for the Gulf of Mexico, where NOAA Fisheries does not allow targeted fishing for bluefin tuna.
Catch reporting
Dealers are required to submit landings reports within 24 hours of receiving bluefin. Late dealer reporting compromises NOAA Fisheries’ ability to implement actions such as quota and retention limit adjustments or fishery closures and may result in enforcement actions.
Separate from the dealer reporting requirement, General category and HMS Charter/Headboat permitted vessel owners are required to report the catch of all bluefin retained or discarded dead within 24 hours of landing or the end of each trip by:
- Accessing the HMS Permit Shop.
- Using the HMS Catch Reporting app.
- Calling 888-872-8862 (Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.).
This notice is a courtesy to fishery participants to help keep you informed about the fishery. Official notice of Federal fishery actions is made through filing such notice with the Office of the Federal Register.
More information can be found in the Federal Register notice.
