CAPITOL IDEAS
IS AN ESA LISTING ON THE HORIZON FOR BLUEFIN TUNA?
By Dr. Russell Nelson I
N AMOVE PREDICTED BYCCA and other sportfishing conserva- tion groups last May, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) has filed a petition with NOAA Fisheries seeking to list the species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA). The move was almost inevitable after Atlantic bluefin tuna did not receive a CITES (Convention on Inter- national Trade in Endangered Species) listing that would have eliminated the species’ international trade.
The NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) will evaluate all existing scientific and commercial information to determine if the species would qualify for an endangered or threatened listing.
The petition cited International
Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) assessment results showing declines in spawning stock biomass on the order of 80 per- cent since 1970 for both east and west Atlantic stocks and the continued fail- ure of international and domestic man- agement to develop recovery pro- grams adequate to rebuild both stocks. Claiming that both stocks of bluefin tuna meet the criteria for listing as endangered or threatened under the Act, CBD is seeking to invoke the dra- conian measures necessary to prevent extinctions to solve an admittedly seri-
50
ous, but not fatal fisheries manage- ment problem. NOAA Fisheries agreed last Sep- tember that the petition presented ade- quate evidence to conclude that a sta- tus review of the status of bluefin rela- tive to the ESA was appropriate. This review is ongoing and must be com- pleted by May 24 of this year. In the process the NMFS will evaluate all existing scientific and commercial information to determine if the species would qualify for an endangered or threatened listing.
In recent months we have heard
increasing discussions among our members and supporters encouraging a voluntarily halt
to targeting bluefin.
Under the ESA, an endangered list- ing is warranted if a species is found to be in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range. A listing as threatened can be made if the review concludes that the species is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future. If either listing action is taken, the agency will have one additional year to develop a final set of regulations to implement protections mandated by the ESA. Either listing will have dramatic
consequences for U.S. bluewater an- glers. A listing would only affect fish- ing and harvesting in U.S. waters and by U.S. citizens regardless of where they are fishing. We would expect a total closure of bluefin fishing, includ- ing catch-and–release fishing, to fol- low and possibly all big game fishing in areas known to hold bluefin would be affected as well. Coastal Conservation Association, along with the Center for Coastal Conservation, American Sportfishing Association, International Game Fish Association and The Billfish Foun- dation were united in strong support of a CITES listing that would have effec- tively removed the lucrative Japanese market incentive from the bluefin fish- eries. Removing the profit incentive would have allowed sportfishing and modest commercial harvest to supply
www.joincca.org
domestic markets and taken much pressure of these stocks. Few in the sportfishing conservation community do not agree that bluefin tuna in the Atlantic are seriously overfished and all have a history of support for strong domestic and international conserva- tion measures and low annual quotas for this species. The heavily depleted eastern stock of bluefin that may now supply half of the bluefin taken by recreational and commercial harvesters of the U.S. East Coast is a major exam- ple of management failure and has, until perhaps this past year, received lit- tle protection from commercial harvest. The western stock has been reduced to only 20 percent of its former abundance while under severe, science-based quo- tas for the past two decades. In recent months we have heard
increasing discussions among our members and supporters encouraging a voluntarily halt to targeting bluefin. Every angler must decide how they will personally deal with such conser- vation issues. However, an objective review of the facts and the science in this case suggest that any listing under the ESA would not be appropriate. Given an 80 percent decline in spawning biomass between 1970 and the early 1990s, western bluefin have nevertheless remained at stable levels of abundance for the past 20 years. Harvests in the west have stayed below the annual quota levels and all sectors of
the fishery are tightly managed. While it is quite possible that this stock may never rebuild to the levels seen in the 1960s, there is no indication that there is a real risk of extinction after more than two decades at stable stock sizes. Some of us can recall that redfish in Florida had been reduced to less than one percent of the virgin spawn- ing stock biomass before gamefish sta- tus. Strict angling rules generated a recovery that saw the stock increase to a level of nearly 40 percent. Wise man- agement actions can produce great suc- cesses in overfished fisheries. In the east, spawning stock has declined by 80 percent in the past 20 years and, until just recently, manage- ment has been jeopardized by illegal fishing, under-reported catches and a lack of serious consideration of the overfishing problems by the European Community, especially the fishing nations of the Mediterranean. How- ever, things appear to be changing. In the past two years, ICCAT has adopted quotas within the range recommended by scientists. Perhaps singed by the
TIDE
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64