Current Bluefin Tuna Regs

[Gerry Zagorski]

What are the Bluefin Regs for a For Hire HMS Recreational permit?? 1 over and 1 under 47 inches and you can keep one trophy fish per year over 73 inches plus??


I saw this on the NMFS site and now I'm totally confused

3-fish General category bluefin tuna limit for Jun-Aug 2013

The National Marine Fisheries Service is adjusting the General category Atlantic bluefin tuna daily retention limit to three large medium or giant (73" or greater curved fork length) bluefin tuna effective June 1-August 31, 2013. This limit applies to vessels permitted in the Atlantic tunas General category (a commercial handgear category), and to vessels permitted in the HMS Charter/Headboat category while fishing commercially. For further information, please see the notice in the library (link at left of page) or at: www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/hms/breakingnews/index.htm.

[Arbutis]

I would assume that to be correct as stated - However, the recreational angler still needs to have a permit and I believe if it is not a commercial vessel, the rec angler can only keep one fish on the boat per trip and one fish over 73" in the season.

[Gerry Zagorski]

Not sure what you meant by "correct as stated" ^^^

Let me ask this another way....

If I have an Highly Migratory For Hire (charter and party boat) Permit
how many fish can I keep at what sizes?

What is it for boats with a Recreational, not for hire Highly Migratory Permit ?

[My Retreat]

Recreational is 27" to less than 73" one fish per day/trip.

You are allowed one fish over 73" (Trophy) for the season.


The original 3 fish post is commercial regulations.


I hope that helps.

[Gerry Zagorski]

Retreat - Getting conflicting information.... As I mentioned in post above

"If I have an Highly Migratory For Hire (charter and party boat) Permit
how many fish can I keep at what sizes?"

The answer to this question from others is the boat is allowed an under 47 inch fish and an over 47 inch fish but not to exceed 73 inches. You can however keep one 73 plus fish once a year...

Is that right for the permit I have??

OK, now how about someone with a non not for hire permit which is a recreational permit?? They are only allowed one fish and it needs to be between 27 and 73 and they are also allowed to keep one fish over 73 once a year??

[Tenacious Sportfishing]

Gerry, a charter/headboat can fish either recreationally or commercially on a given day. When fishing recreationally the recreation limits apply. When fishing commercially the general category limits apply. Recreational boats with an angling permit can only fish recreationally and therefore the one fish limit applies.

[capt. carl]

Yes Gerry...
On the permit u have, u can take an over and an under each trip
..and 1 trophy per year.:D
And yes....the Angling Catagory can take 1 trophy per year also.

[GregW93]

What Bernie and Carl have said is correct. With your permit,You declare what you are fishing for by the first fish you kill. If you kill one under 73" you are recreational fishing. If you kill on over 73" you are commercial fishing, unless you claim it as your trophy fish. You can only sell fish over 73" if you have the commercial general category or the head boat/charter boat permit. It is illegal to sell any Bluefin under 73" regardless of what permit you have. Hope this helps!

[Suckafish]

Do I need a permit to catch and keep bluefin as a recreational fisherman on my boat

[Rob B]

Do I need a permit to catch and keep bluefin as a recreational fisherman on my boat
yes, a rec permit

[dfish28]

Do I need a permit to catch and keep bluefin as a recreational fisherman on my boat


You need an HMS permit, and if I read right which i probably haven't if your vessel is registered as commercial/charter fishing , recreationally of course... you can keep 1under and 1over other private vessels are only allowed one over 27 unless you get an over 73 trophy, one per year ...
Technically you even need one if you plan on trolling Albies and bonito... FYI , it's late I'm sure I'm wrong somewhere but I got heatstroke... That's my excuse!!:p

[barbarian]

call custumer service number on the permit, tuna office gloucester 978-281-9260 their more than happy to explain and answer any of your question

[Sharkyispy]

What Bernie and Carl have said is correct. With your permit,You declare what you are fishing for by the first fish you kill. If you kill one under 73" you are recreational fishing. If you kill on over 73" you are commercial fishing, unless you claim it as your trophy fish. You can only sell fish over 73" if you have the commercial general category or the head boat/charter boat permit. It is illegal to sell any Bluefin under 73" regardless of what permit you have. Hope this helps!


Dave from Tuna.com outlines this for his trips. The charter has to make the decision whether to keep the small one, making it recreational or go for the larger size tuna and retain those. He would be a great resource for you Gerry.

[Gerry Zagorski]

OK let's see if I have this correct...

If I own a boat and I have or am a licensed captain, I can get a fore hire permit and can keep an under and an over daily and one trophy fish over 72 once a year.

If I own a boat and am not or dont have a licensed captain I get a recreational permit and can keep one fish up to 72 dialy and one fish over 72 once a year.

Now let's talk about commercial. It's my understanding that these licenses are more expensive, they stay with the boat and the boat needs to have life rafts, survival suits etc.

When Bernie and Greg say a for hire like me can choose if im fishing recreational or commercial based on what I kill, this assumes I have a commercial license too?

Pass the popcorn please :)

[Sharkyispy]

OK let's see if I have this correct...

If I own a boat and I have or am a licensed captain, I can get a fore hire permit and can keep an under and an over daily and one trophy fish over 72 once a year.

If I own a boat and am not or dont have a licensed captain I get a recreational permit and can keep one fish up to 72.

Now let's talk about commercial. It's my understanding that these licneses are more expensive, they stay with the boat and the boat needs to have life rafts, survival suits etc.

When Bernie and Greg say a for hire like me can choose if im fishing recreational or commercial based on what I kill, this assumes I have a commercial license too?

Pass the popcorn please :)

Gerry, I believe you are spot on now, the key being the commercial license possession. I'll defer to Dave C.(in between video shoots) for confirmation but that's how I'm reading it all.

[Fish Head]

Gerry your latest post is spot on....to my knowledge unless something has changed.?? The original post was regarding "Commercial" so it seemed confusing. Most of us are eaither just Rec or Charter/Headboat permitted.

Now go catch em!

[Gerry Zagorski]

Thanks guys.... Can you please email my wife and let her know that I was finally right about something :D

[dfish28]

Lol ^^^^^^^^^^^ just one more inch and your perfect

[capt. carl]

Yes Gerry....
Also....remember...the vessel can't be registered under 2 permits. If you get the Hms Charter/Headboat permit, there has to be a licensed captain onboard.....if no captain shows, you cant just switch over to the Angling catagory for the day.
And if you fish commercially, yes you need commercial safety gear onboard just like all the big commercial boats have.

[Gerry Zagorski]

Thanks Captain Carl....

So it looks like you can't switch back and forth between charter head boat and recreational angling permits...

Bernies post would indicate if you had a charter head boat permit and commercial you could choose which one to use, right??

So as an expample, I go out and decide to keep a 73 inch tuna. If could then keep another over 73 under the commercial permit and not keep anything under 73. Or I could keep the 1 73 as my once a year fish under the charter headboat permit and then keep an over and under fish??

[capt. carl]

Now you got it bro!
Yup....and don t forget if fishing commercially, u must comply with commercial safety regulations!

[BWhaler23]

Now I'm confused and also suffered heat stroke this week so my brains may still be a little scrambled, but lets see if I got this stright....I have a captains license, and the boat is registered commercially, and I have the headboat/charterboat HMS license. From what I understand if I take paying customers I have to abide by recreational rules, but I can make a commercial trip and commercial rules apply, and if memory serves me, I don't need the commercial safety gear, that would only apply if I had a general or commercial only license, also the safety gear would depend on size of crew/vessel. It was a bad week to get sick, would have been a good time to try and look for some bluefin.

Capt. Pat

[capt. carl]

Whaler..
Under the rules of the Charter/Headboat permit....
If you have paying customers and you take and keep a fish under 73 inches, you are fishing on the recreational side of the permit...(allowed 1 over and 1 under).u can still take 1 trophy per year....unless you harvested that trophy already....the safety gear is not required on these
Trips (ie...raft, survival suits for every person onboard, Type 1 Auto Epirb instead of Type 2 Manual deployed)).
I am goinh to double check on this but i was told , If you fish the commercial side of the permit and take the 3 fish at 73 and over...you are now just like a liveliner or scalloper and all the applicable safety gear must be onboard as well...and you ARE REQUIRED to sell that catch to a dealer.....cant just go out and say I'm fishing commercially, catch your 3 big ones and then keep the catch for yourself.
Will definately find the correct answer for us....in the meantime, anyone who fishes commercially on these permits can maybe chime in?

[Gerry Zagorski]

^^^^^ All starting to make sense now. I guess that's why when you fish for Giants with the commercial guys up in Gloucester, you can't keep any fish. By law the boats have to sell them.

I guess if you as a for hire headboat or charter, or recreational angling permit, could keep 1 giant a year if you wanted to, but you are not allowed to sell them.

Now we need to be able to indentify the different tunas... Here is a helpful chart I found on the NMFS site. Probably something handy to print out and have with you on the boat. http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/hms/Tuna/2012/hms_tunas_id_guide_Aug_2012.pdf

[Sharkyispy]

Whaler..
Under the rules of the Charter/Headboat permit....
If you have paying customers and you take and keep a fish under 73 inches, you are fishing on the recreational side of the permit...(allowed 1 over and 1 under).u can still take 1 trophy per year....unless you harvested that trophy already....the safety gear is not required on these
Trips (ie...raft, survival suits for every person onboard, Type 1 Auto Epirb instead of Type 2 Manual deployed)).
I am goinh to double check on this but i was told , If you fish the commercial side of the permit and take the 3 fish at 73 and over...you are now just like a liveliner or scalloper and all the applicable safety gear must be onboard as well...and you ARE REQUIRED to sell that catch to a dealer.....cant just go out and say I'm fishing commercially, catch your 3 big ones and then keep the catch for yourself.
Will definately find the correct answer for us....in the meantime, anyone who fishes commercially on these permits can maybe chime in?

You've got it......I'll see if I can upload what I have form Tuna.com for our reservation that outlines these items......

[BWhaler23]

In any event, I can't wait to have the probem.... but it's good to know before U go..

[bigal427]

What are the fines for illegal Bluefin ?

[Gerry Zagorski]

Good question but I couldn't find anything online about fines, other then I saw where one guy in Florida who took and sold one when the season was closed. He was fined $800 and a number of days of community service but there was also a resisting arrest charge in the mix.

[TUNA.COM]

What Bernie and Carl have said is correct. With your permit,You declare what you are fishing for by the first fish you kill. If you kill one under 73" you are recreational fishing. If you kill on over 73" you are commercial fishing, unless you claim it as your trophy fish. You can only sell fish over 73" if you have the commercial general category or the head boat/charter boat permit. It is illegal to sell any Bluefin under 73" regardless of what permit you have. Hope this helps!

That is best stated and all correct.

Now the question is can I catch a bass in state waters and later go tuna fishing in federal waters while retaining bass on board in federal waters even though I did not catch the bass in federal waters AND can I have an undersized cod on my hook for bait while tuna fishing OR how about a legal size cod on the hook for bait, however the cod season is closed? :)

[DMac]

Don't you have to be running charters to apply for charter or headboat license or if you have captains license can you just apply for that permit. Maybe I'm missing something. I thought you had to be coast gaurd inspected charter headboat to apply for that permit? Please clear this up I just want yo make sure I understand it and have correct info.

[TUNA.COM]

Don't you have to be running charters to apply for charter or headboat license or if you have captains license can you just apply for that permit. Maybe I'm missing something. I thought you had to be coast gaurd inspected charter headboat to apply for that permit? Please clear this up I just want yo make sure I understand it and have correct info.

You must provide a copy of your license when applying for the permit, in addition there must always be a licensed captain on board, however it does not have to be the same captain that applied for the permit.

To be truthful about all this talk, if you ask the CG, EP or NOAA about the discussion on this board, they would be more confused than Gerry fighting a tuna...lol.

With that said, don't test the system.

[DMac]

Thanks for clearing that up dave. Much appreciated