Bluefin, Managing a Fish without a Country

Recreational fishing for Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) is a long-standing traditional activity in the United States, with significant contributions to both science and to local economies.  However, as BFT are highly migratory they tend to travel through the territorial waters of many nations, not to mention spending time in international waters.  As a result of these vast migration patterns, international management divides the Atlantic BFT population into two stocks: western Atlantic and eastern Atlantic/Mediterranean.  The Highly Migratory Species Management Division manages the U.S. fishery for western Atlantic BFT under the Consolidated Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan. The fishery is regulated through various methods such as permitting, reporting, prohibitions on retention or possession, minimum sizes, landing limit, and gear restrictions.  Therefore, the management of the U.S. BFT recreational fishery poses some relatively unique challenges  due to these international management dynamics, the species vast geographic distribution, and the value of these fish to both the commercial and recreational domestic fisheries.