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Delay sought for
catch of bluefin tuna
November 13, 2004
By Patricia Smith, Daily News Staff
Jacksonville Daily News
P.O. Box 196
Jacksonville, North Carolina 28546
910-353-1171
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Morehead City, North Carolina - Eddie Mullen unloaded a bluefin tuna from the back of a pickup truck at Homer Smith Seafood in Beaufort Friday, took the giant fish inside and began to clean it. A crew member on the Capt. Stacy VII, out of Atlantic Beach, caught the 275-pounder, the first bluefin the vessel had snagged this season. It was the first to come through Homer Smith's this fall, too, though others had been caught elsewhere on the North Carolina coast earlier in the week. But it's too early, said Tony Frost, who owns the fish house. "We'd rather for them not to be catching now," Frost said. "We want to wait until December." He could get his wish. Pete Manuel, president of the Winter Bluefin Tuna Association, said his organization asked the National Marine Fisheries Service to go ahead and close the commercial bluefin tuna season and reopen it in December, when prices are higher. Manuel said Friday he had received word NMFS likely would do so by Tuesday night. Headed for Japan Most of the bluefin caught in waters off Carteret County is shipped to the lucrative Japanese markets for use in sushi. North Carolina fishermen can get paid as much as $10 per pound for their catch, especially when the supply is low. When that December season starts, it will likely lure a fleet of boats from New England and other northern states that could bring an economic boon to the local marinas, some of which are already reaping the benefits. "We're booked solid," Diane Willis, office manager at Town Creek Marina in Beaufort. Boats from New York, New Jersey and South Carolina will fill most of the marina slips by Monday, Willis said. "They've been coming in for a couple of weeks," she said. More boats will also mean greater competition for fishermen. Rich Ruais, executive director of the East Coast Tuna Association, said he has encouraged the boats in New England to travel to North Carolina this year to make up for what they did not catch when the fish were off their coast this summer. "We had a terrible fishing season," Ruais said. The herring stocks are low in the waters there and the tuna went elsewhere to forage, he said. Anywhere from 700 to 1,100 boats participate in the bluefin tuna fishery in New England, Ruais said. Many of the fishermen are considering a trip to North Carolina this winter, but are waiting to see how much quota will be available. As of this week, there were about 400 metric tons of bluefin quota left in the general category, which covers commercial hook-and-line fishing.
But officials were waiting on results of a recreational survey that
could mean subtracting some pounds from the general category, said
Louis Daniel of the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries.
Manuel said he is confident fishermen in North Carolina will be able to catch at least the same amount of quota as last year -- 108 metric tons. Winter Bluefin Tuna would like to slow the catch of that quota out over the December-January season in an attempt to control the market and keep prices high. So North Carolina has asked NMFS to limit the commercial tuna fishing days during those months to Monday through Thursday. It would also allow the recreational fishermen the weekends to fish without competing with the commercial fleet, Manuel said. Ruais, however, said the boats from the north do not like that idea. He said that in their experience, the bluefin don't care about the market conditions. "When they're there, catch them," Ruais said. "Catch them as fast as you can and be prepared to leave." Manuel said this style of fishing is not in the best interest of North Carolina fishermen, though it may please the northern fishermen. "What they want to do is catch every bit of quota left between now and Christmas and go home," Manuel said. Contact Patricia Smith at 252-808-2275.
Copyright 2004, Jacksonville Daily News.
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