The biggest fish I ever caught was a bluefin tuna. I wish I could say I caught it under IGFA rules, but I can't. Fact is, we were fishing commercially, using rod and reel, heavy, 150-pound line and harpoons instead of gaffs. We were 90 miles south of Nantucket in the shipping lanes and in one week we hung three fish, the smallest was 450 pounds, the biggest weighed 636. The price of tuna at the time was about $10 a pound, so it was a pretty good week.
Catching a bluefin, for me, is the ultimate adventure, especially in the Northeast where the weather can turn on a dime and in some years the best bite occurs in early fall. Wearing thick and rubbery, PVC foul-weather gear from head to toe, you leave the dock before the dawn and just hope for the best. It's always an adventure. But the fact of the matter is, that for bluefin tuna, time is running out.
Populations of bluefin tuna are hovering on the edge of collapse, especially in the western Atlantic where countries such as Spain, France and Italy have hammered the fish to no end. The current situation is so bad that the European Union is considering a ban on bluefin tuna fishing. Estimates show that populations of bluefin are down more than 80 percent of where they were in 1970.
Another move is seeking to list trade restrictions for bluefin under CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species). Such a move would really hurt Japan, which consumes more than 20 percent of the bluefin catch. French president Nicholas Sarkozy, among others, is supporting the CITES listing.
Here at home, groups are looking to push longliners out of the Gulf of Mexico. "We're asking for the U.S. Government to close off commercial longlining from March to September, during the period of the highest incidence of bycatch of marlin and spawning bluefin tuna in the Gulf of Mexico," says Ellen Peel, president of The Billfish Foundation. "TBF is pleased the National Marine Fisheries Service is willing to consider practical changes to the Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan. But comments must be in by Monday, August 31, so we don't have much time. We're trying to get an extension of the comment period to build more awareness for billfish and tuna and the need for the closure."
TBF has produced a letter that interested anglers can sign and submit to NMFS. Go here for more information.
Weighing In

Charlie Levine
Senior Editor - Marlin Mag
















