U.S. fishermen use surface longline fishing gear in the Gulf of Mexico to catch yellowfin tuna and swordfish, but this nonselective gear also catches and kills more than 80 types of marine life incidentally, including severely depleted Atlantic bluefin tuna. Protecting this only major spawning area for western Atlantic bluefin tuna is critical to their recovery. Unfortunately, NOAA is considering weakening protections passed just years ago.
In 2015, NOAA put in place two new Gulf of Mexico Gear Restricted Areas that prohibit the use of surface longlines during the peak of the bluefin spawning season in April and May. The Gear Restricted Areas have reduced unwanted bluefin catch at the peak of their spawn by 82 percent annually, while target catch of yellowfin tuna in the Gulf actually increased by 38 percent. These measures are working better than expected. Now the agency wants to get rid of them.
Eliminating these proven protections for spawning bluefin tuna is bad for fish and fishermen. NOAA’s preferred action would allow for a significant increase in catch of bluefin tuna and, by their estimates, result in up to a 20 percent decrease in revenue for the Gulf surface longline fishery. Allowing longlines back in the Gear Restricted Areas just doesn’t make sense.