News

The General category is open; 20.3 mt in the June-August subperiod was landed; 124.4 mt of the 58.2 mt adjusted January-March 2025 subquota was landed. Harpoon category is closed and landed 54.3 mt and longline category has landed 132.9 mt.

The Harpoon category has harvested its quota of bluefin tuna and closed at 11:30 a.m. this morning. Fishing for or retention of bluefin tuna by vessels with Harpoon category permits is prohibited after 11:30 a.m. July 2, 2025

Beginning on July 1, 2025,the recreational bluefin tuna retention limit for Angling category permit holders will be 1 fish 27" <73”" per vessel/day or trip. The limit for Charter/headboat permit holders while fishing recreationally will be 2 fish 27" <73" per vessel/day or trip, of which only 1 fish may be > 47". This will remain effective through December 31, 2025 unless modified by a later action or a closed fishery.

Restricted-fishing days (RFDs) in the Atlantic Tunas General category and HMS Charter/Headboat fisheries go into effect on July 1, 2025. Daily commercial bluefin tuna retention limits will be set to zero on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from July 1 through November 30. Atlantic Tunas General category permitted vessels cannot fish for (including catch-and-release and tag-and-release), possess, retain, land, or sell a bluefin tuna of any size class on an RFD. HMS Charter/Headboat permitted vessels can fish for, possess, retain, or land bluefin tuna recreationally under applicable HMS Angling category rules, but cannot commercially fish for or land a bluefin tuna on an RFD. Throughout the season, NOAA Fisheries may waive certain RFDs by increasing the bluefin tuna retention limit for those days; however, NOAA Fisheries will not modify RFDs in other ways (e.g., switching days, adding RFDs).

Beginning on June 3, 2025, the recreational bluefin tuna retention limit for Angling category permit holders will be 1 fish 27" to 47" per day. The limit for Charter/headboat permit holders while fishing recreationally will be 2 fish 27" to 47" per day.

NOAA Fisheries is adjusting the Atlantic bluefin tuna daily retention limits for both the General category and Harpoon category fisheries, when the fisheries open on June 1, 2025. The General category retention limit will be 1 large medium or giant bluefin tuna (i.e., measuring 73 inches or greater curved fork length) per vessel per day/trip. This limit is effective June 1 through June 30, 2025 unless modified by a later action. The Harpoon category retention limit is adjusted to 5 large medium and giant bluefin tuna (i.e., measuring 73 inches or greater curved fork length), combined, per vessel per day/trip; but no more than 2 of the 5 can be large medium bluefin tuna (i.e., measuring 73 inches to less than 81 inches curved fork length). This action is effective June 1 through November 15, 2025 unless modified by a later action. These changes apply to either: General category permitted vessels and Highly Migratory Species Charter/Headboat permitted vessels with a commercial sale endorsement when fishing commercially for bluefin tuna (General category limits); or exclusively to commercial vessels with an Atlantic Tunas Harpoon category permit (Harpoon category limits). The daily retention limits are effective for all areas except for the Gulf of America, where NOAA Fisheries does not allow targeted fishing for bluefin tuna. Consistent with Executive Order (E.O.) 14172 (Restoring Names that Honor American Greatness), this document uses Gulf of America for all references to the area known as the Gulf of Mexico in the specific regulations at 50 CFR part 635.

The Gulf of Maine trophy area is open. The Southern New England bluefin tuna trophy area closes at 11:30 p.m. on 5/16/2025 and 1.3 mt has been landed. The South and Gulf of America areas are closed, and 10.3 mt and 1.3 mt were landed, respectively.

The Angling Category Southern New England Trophy fishery for bluefin tuna 73 inches CFL or larger will close on May 16th at 11:30p.m. The closed area extends from Little Egg Inlet, NJ north to Chatham, MA and will remain closed through December 31,2025. Under this closure, Angling category and Charter/Headboat permitted vessels may not retain bluefin tuna 73 inches or greater in length as a recreational trophy catch.

The Atlantic bluefin tuna Angling category fishery for large medium and giant "trophy" BFT (measuring 73" or greater) in the Gulf of America is closed effective 11:30 p.m. local time, April 23, 2025 and the trophy fishery in this area will remain closed through December 31, 2025.

NOAA Fisheries has posted an Atlantic bluefin tuna annual catch summary report on the 2024 Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Landings Updates webpage. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/atlantic-highly-migratory-species/2024-atlantic-bluefin-tuna-landings-updates

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) closes the Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) Angling category fishery for large medium and giant "trophy" BFT (measuring 73" or greater) in the southern area effective 11:30 p.m. local time, February 28, 2025 and the fishery will remain closed through December 31, 2025. During the closure, fishermen may catch and release or tag and release BFT of all sizes, subject to the requirements of HMS catch-and-release and tag-and-release programs.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) closes the Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) General category January through March fishery for large medium and giant BFT (measuring 73" or greater) effective 11:30 p.m. local time, February 28, 2025 and the fishery will remain closed through March 31, 2025. The General category fishery will reopen on June 1, 2025. During the closure, fishermen may tag and release BFT of all sizes, subject to the requirements of catch-and-release and tag-and-release programs.

The General category bluefin tuna fishery has reached and exceeded the 58.2-metric ton adjusted January through March time period subquota. NOAA Fisheries will continue to monitor the fishery closely. Keeping harvest levels at or below established subquotas and quotas helps to ensure the U.S. baseline annual quota for bluefin tuna is not exceeded.

The Southern area bluefin tuna trophy fishery has reached and exceeded the 2.3-metric ton subquota. NOAA Fisheries will continue to monitor the fishery closely. Keeping harvest levels at or below established quotas helps to ensure the U.S. baseline annual quota for bluefin tuna is not exceeded.

The 2025 January - March time period subquota was adjusted to 58.2 mt after a transfer from the December 2025 time period subquota. The General category fishery is open until March 31 2025 or the quota is harvested, whichever comes first.

The General category is open and has landed 64.9 mt of the 76 mt Dec subquota; 219.3 of 192.4 mt for Oct-Nov; 374.8 of 355.4 mt for Jun-Aug; and 66.3 of 58.2 mt for Jan-Mar 2024. The Harpoon category is closed and landed 75.3 mt of the 70.0 mt quota. Longline has landed 149.1 mt.

NOAA Fisheries reminds all fishermen and boaters to keep a safe distance from whales. Whales can get hooked in tuna rigs or tangled in monofilament line. We recommend boaters keep a distance of at least 100 to 300 feet from all whales (and at least 500 yards from endangered North Atlantic right whales, as required by federal law). Recently, we have received increasing numbers of reports of tuna fishermen trolling their gear too close to humpback whales. This can result in injuries to both the whales and the people. Humpbacks create bubble clouds to corral their prey, and then lunge through the center to swallow the small fish. Fishermen or boaters in these bubble patches run the risk of colliding with a massive 79,000-pound humpback whale as it rapidly approaches the surface. When a whale collides with a vessel, it can be gravely injured and die from its injuries. Collisions with whales have also thrown boaters from vessels, causing injuries and even death. In addition to the potential risk of a collision, the close proximity of a boat may cause a whale to stop feeding. All whales in U.S. waters are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which makes it illegal for people to harm, injure, kill, chase, or harass whales or any other marine mammal. Harassment includes any activity that results in changes to the whales’ natural behaviors, such as feeding. Penalties for Marine Mammal Protection Act violations are fines of up to $20,000 and up to one year in prison. Get more information on safe boating near whales here https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/new-england-mid-atlantic/marine-life-viewing-guidelines/whale-watching-and-wildlife-viewing-new?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

Effective January 1, 2024, the recreational bluefin tuna (BFT) daily retention limit is the default limit of 1 school, large school, or small medium BFT (27 to <73"). This default limit applies to both HMS Angling category-permitted vessels and HMS Charter/Headboat category-permitted vessels, and is effective for all areas except the Gulf of Mexico. Angling and Charter/Headboat vessels may also land 1 BFT tuna measuring 73" or greater per vessel per year in all trophy areas. The recreational yellowfin tuna retention limit is 3/person/day or trip. The minimum size for yellowfin and bigeye tuna is 27" curved fork length. There are no recreational limits for bigeye, skipjack, or albacore tunas.

The southern trophy area fishery for bluefin tuna will close at 11:30 p.m. Friday, February 9, 2024.Recreational fishermen aboard vessels with an Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Angling category or Charter/Headboat permit (while fishing recreationally) may not retain, possess, or land large medium or giant Atlantic bluefin tuna (i.e., measuring 73 inches curved fork length or greater) in the southern area. The southern area is defined as the area south of Great Egg Inlet, New Jersey south to the Gulf of Mexico.

This notice outlines the procedure for obtaining a 2023 Atlantic Tunas Permit, which allows you to commercially fish for and/or retain Atlantic bluefin, yellowfin, skipjack, albacore, and bigeye tunas; a Swordfish General Commercial Permit, which allows you to commercially fish for and/or retain Atlantic Swordfish; an Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Angling Permit, which allows you to recreationally fish for and/or retain any regulated Atlantic HMS (Atlantic tunas, sharks, swordfish, or billfish); or an HMS Charter/Headboat Permit, which is required by vessels taking fee paying passengers fishing for or retaining HMS. The permits issued for the 2023 season will be valid from the date of issuance through December 31, 2023. The permit fee will vary between $26.00 and $52.00 depending on the permit you apply for, and is payable by credit card (Visa, Master Card, Discover, or American Express) or check/money order. You will need your Atlantic tunas or your Atlantic HMS permit number to renew your permit for this up-coming season. If you do not have your permit number from last year available, you may look it up at https://hmspermits.noaa.gov using your last name, phone number, and zip code, or a Customer Service representative may assist at the number below. Please check your current permit information carefully prior to renewing your permit.

NOAA Fisheries strongly encourages fishermen to get confirmation that a dealer will buy your fish before you leave on a trip. If you land a bluefin that you are not able to sell, read on for reporting instructions. NOAA Fisheries requires bluefin tuna to be sold only to Federally permitted Atlantic tunas dealers. NOAA Fisheries has become aware that some dealers are limiting their purchases of bluefin tuna due to market conditions, and that some fishermen have not been able to sell their catch.  To ensure that landed fish are fully utilized, NOAA Fisheries encourages commercial bluefin fishermen to locate a dealer that will purchase their fish prior to leaving for a fishing trip. What should I do if a fish cannot be sold? 1) Whether a bluefin is sold or not, vessel owners are required to report their entire catch of bluefin tuna retained or discarded, within 24 hours of the landing(s) or end of each trip by one of these following methods. A report confirmation number is provided upon successful reporting: • Reporting online via the this website (HMS Permit Shop) • Using the HMS Catch Reporting App on a smartphone or similar device • Calling 888-872-8862 (Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.). 2) In addition to the above, if a fish cannot be sold, the vessel operator MUST contact NOAA Fisheries at 978-281-9213 and report the fish, immediately upon landing. If requested, the fish must be made available to enforcement for tagging. Alternatively, the vessel operator can request that an Atlantic tunas dealer tag the bluefin tuna and then report it as being “landed but not sold,” but this is solely at the dealer’s discretion.

NOAA Fisheries is reminding commercial Highly Migratory Species (HMS) vessel permit holders that they are required to obtain a United States Coast Guard (USCG) Commercial Fishing Vessel Dockside Safety Examination. Effective October 15, 2015, the law requires completion of a mandatory dockside safety exam at least once every five years. See USCG Marine Safety Information Bulletin, or MSIB, 12-15 for clarification about the five-year mandatory dockside safety exam. Commercial fishing means: a vessel that commercially engages in the catching, taking, or harvesting of fish which, either in whole or in part, is intended to enter commerce through sale, barter, or trade. So, whether your vessel is USCG documented or State registered, if you catch fish beyond 3 nautical miles with the intent to sell them, you are operating a commercial fishing vessel. The USCG categorizes vessels that hold one or more of the follow HMS permits as commercial fishing vessels subject to mandatory dockside safety exams: • Atlantic Tunas General Category • Atlantic Tunas Harpoon Category • HMS Charter/Headboat Category • General Commercial Swordfish • Atlantic Tunas Longline • Atlantic Tunas Purse Seine • Shark Directed Limited Access • Shark Incidental Limited Access • Atlantic Smoothhound • Swordfish Directed Limited Access • Swordfish Incidental Limited Access • Swordfish Harpoon Limited Access Commercial fishing vessels are required to comply with the commercial fishing vessel safety regulations found in 46 CFR Part 28. For more info about dockside safety exams and how to obtain a decal: https://www.uscg.mil/msib/docs/012_15_10-20-2015.pdf USCG has a helpful tool to assist vessel owners/operators prepare their fishing vessel prior to examination. Commercial Fishing Vessel Checklist Generator: https://www.uscg.mil/d13/cfvs/test/1ChecklistCover.html This notice is a courtesy to commercial HMS permit holders to help keep you informed about the fishery. For additional information, call (978) 281-9260, or go to hmspermits.noaa.gov. Official notice of Federal fishery actions is made through filing such notice with the Office of the Federal Register.

Regulations implemented under the authority of the Atlantic Tunas Convention Act and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act governing the harvest of Highly Migratory Species (HMS), including tunas, sharks, swordfish, and billfish by persons and vessels subject to U.S. jurisdiction are found at 50 CFR part 635. Under these regulations vessels are required to posses a permit to fish for HMS, regardless of fishing recreationally or commercially. These permits are legally issued to ONLY those vessels that have a valid registration, which can be verified with the U.S. Coast Guard or by the issuing State. No temporary registrations are allowed. It is unlawful for any person or vessel subject to these regulations to falsify information required on the application, and if discovered the responsible parties may be prosecuted.

The Large Pelagics Survey (LPIS) collects length data on recreationally landed Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT). The LPS Procedures Manual (prior to 2005) specified that interviewers should measure and record the straight fork length (SFL) of BFT, not the curved fork length (CFL) that is used to define size classes for management purposes. Recently, some members of the recreational and commercial fishing industry have questioned whether or not this procedure has been consistently followed in the field. Some individuals have reported seeing LPS interviewers measuring CFLs of landed BFT. Therefore, they have raised a concern that the interviewers may actually have been recording CFLs rather than SFLs. The CFL of a given fish is greater than its SFL by some small factor (typically between 1-5%). If such errors have occurred, then LPS estimates of landed weight of BFT by size category would most likely be positively biased since length data are converted to weights for landings estimates. This evaluation was conducted to: 1) determine the extent to which CFLs were mistakenly recorded, and the extent to which such errors may have biased the overall BFT landed weight estimate, and 2) investigate the effects that biased measurements could potentially have had on prior stock assessments.