Seeking private-boat bluefin tuna anglers for focus group: Feb 6, Toms River, NJ

[Willy G.]

Hi all,

I'm a PhD student in the Fisheries Science Department at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), where my dissertation focuses on both the biological impacts and human dimensions of the recreational bluefin tuna fishery. The former largely concerns a post-release mortality study using pop-up satellite archival tags (when bluefin are caught and released, do they survive?), while the latter involves socioeconomic surveys of both private and for-hire bluefin tuna fishermen to assess motivations, management preferences, and overall valuation of the fishery.

Through the surveys, we hope to gain an understanding of what components of the bluefin tuna fishing experience (including fish size, number of fish hooked, and number of fish kept) are considered most valuable from the perspective of anglers. This information will be useful for finding ways to maximize the socioeconomic benefits of the fishery while maintaining catches at acceptable levels. At the same time, better understanding angler behavior will improve the ability of managers to predict bluefin tuna harvest as regulations or fish availability changes. In time, this knowledge could lead to better management of the recreational sub-quota--for example, regulations that better align with angler preferences.

Prior to rolling out these surveys, I and my co-advisor, marine resource economist Dr. Andrew Scheld, are conducting a series of focus groups up and down the east coast to review survey materials with bluefin tuna anglers and to solicit their thoughts regarding the recreational bluefin fishery and management. We are looking for a few more attendees for our focus group to be held on Saturday, February 6 from 9 am-12 pm at the TR Hotel in Toms River, NJ. Participants will be compensated for their time. This focus group will be oriented toward folks who recreationally target bluefin tuna on private vessels (not on charters)—either the vessel owners themselves (HMS Angling permit-holders), or those who otherwise fish for bluefin on private boats.

Please let me know if you would be interested in attending by emailing me at wmgoldsmith@vims.edu. And feel free to send me an email if you have any additional questions about the study.

Thanks so much,

Willy Goldsmith

[Gerry Zagorski]

Are you concerned with school bluefin tuna, giants or both?

[Willy G.]

Hi Gerry,

Both! The focus group in question (Feb 6) will inform the development of a survey that will be distributed to HMS Angling category permit-holders, who, with the exception of the annual 73"+ trophy, are generally restricted to harvest of the smaller fish. But we're interested in hearing from all private-boaters who target bluefin recreationally. Hope that helps clarify it!

-Willy

[Gerry Zagorski]

Willy - not sure you are going to get many takers either way.... Our Bluefin fishery isn't what it used to be so not many people in NJ fishing for them much anymore, especially Giants.

The private boaters targeting school Bluefin has declined as well since the current regulations of one under and one over does not make it worthwhile for many boats to target them.

Good luck with your project.

[nmc02]

Hey Will. Hope all is well. Fished w you in CC w reel deal. - Nick

[AndyS]

ICCAT ?

https://www.iccat.int/en/

[Gerry Zagorski]

I will post this to our NJfishing.com group facebook page Will. It's a closed group so if you'd like to join just send a request to join.

[Willy G.]

Gerry,

Thanks so much for sharing this message on the Facebook group page! Really appreciate your help. We're certainly aware that bluefin effort these days appears to largely be concentrated in MA and NC, with comparatively little targeting off NJ (we're holding focus groups in MA and NC as well). That being said, we're interested in learning about the values, preferences, and motivations of both current and potential bluefin tuna anglers up and down the coast (i.e., HMS permit-holders)--that includes folks who may have stopped targeting bluefin because either a) the fish aren't available off the NJ coast (if they reappeared, would they start targeting them again?) and b) regulations don't make targeting them worthwhile (if regulations were different, how would fishing effort change?). Learning what NJ anglers have to say will help us to paint a more complete picture of the recreational bluefin tuna fishery up and down the coast.

Nick, good to see you on here! Ramping up for field season off the Outer Banks in a month or so--hoping to deploy some more tags!

Andy, ICCAT is responsible for establishing country-specific quotas for bluefin in the Atlantic--for 2016, the U.S.'s quota is about 1059 metric tons, 195 metric tons of which is allocated to the recreational bluefin fishery. One goal of my study is figuring out how we can maximize the socioeconomic value of the recreational fishery while keeping catch within that 195 metric ton limit.

[Gerry Zagorski]

Willie - check your PMs...

[JDTuna]

The private boaters targeting school Bluefin has declined as well since the current regulations of one under and one over does not make it worthwhile for many boats to target them.

Good luck with your project.

With all due respect, I don't think this is an accurate representation at all. When bluefin do hold off NJ in the inshore/offshore areas (they really didn't this year), many boaters target them. In fact, even when the limit was just 1 per boat there were still lots of people targeting them on the inshore/offshore grounds. I have been out many times in recent years when there was a fleet of 50+ boats out there every weekend. This included both charters and private boats. The fish just passed us by as a whole last season so they weren't targeted as frequently in the past year.

[Gerry Zagorski]

With all due respect, I don't think this is an accurate representation at all. When bluefin do hold off NJ in the inshore/offshore areas (they really didn't this year), many boaters target them. In fact, even when the limit was just 1 per boat there were still lots of people targeting them on the inshore/offshore grounds. I have been out many times in recent years when there was a fleet of 50+ boats out there every weekend. This included both charters and private boats. The fish just passed us by as a whole last season so they weren't targeted as frequently in the past year.

I hear you JD.... I too know several guys who still target them inshore of the Canyon but not as often as they used to. Doesn't take too many trips burning a hundred plus gallons of fuel combined with the restrictive regulations we have for people to think twice about making the trip... The lack of fish this past year didn't help either...

However, if fuel prices stay were they are and there are fish around next year, a lot more people will be targeting them.

[Willy G.]

Guys,

Glad to see the discussion here! In fact, your thoughts are exactly the kind of information we're looking to obtain at the focus groups. The survey will be using what is called a "stated-choice" approach--given regulations, anticipated/actual number of fish caught/kept, cost, and perhaps other factors (number of fish hooked but lost?), would you choose to target bluefin or not? What factors have the most weight in determining whether you would go bluefin fishing? How important is it, say, to keep a second bluefin after you've already got one on deck? We'll get at these questions by presenting anglers with simulated fishing trips (with varying levels of the factors mentioned above) and seeing which trip (if any) is preferred.

Of course, as you guys are mentioning, the "value" of going bluefin fishing, or the different weight that each factor holds in determining decision-making, varies across anglers--be it by port location, primary gear type used, primary target species, etc. By surveying anglers up and down the coast, we'll hopefully be able to gain insight into this variability.

[NoWorries]

Got back in to private boat fishing again with the purchase of a 23' Mako in October 2014. I use to make around 6-8 trips every summer to the 20 fathom curve off Manasquan inlet from the 80's into early 2000's then sold my boat a 24'Rampage. Last year I only made 1 trip after getting my anglers category permit. Clean water was the issue in July/August or the lack of it. Not much in the way of action till the little tunny showed in late summer. So really not worth going ! I plan to go more often if the tuna show up or there are better conditions inside 30 miles or so. Not sure what you're looking for other than a few hours of my time ?

[Willy G.]

Thanks for the input! We're interested in learning not only about past behavior/bluefin targeting, but also about what might compel you to target bluefin again in the future--in other words, what would make it "worth going!"

We'd definitely appreciate your thoughts at the focus group next Saturday if you're able to make it. Please shoot me a PM or an email (wmgoldsmith@vims.edu) and let me know!

Thanks,

Willy

Got back in to private boat fishing again with the purchase of a 23' Mako in October 2014. I use to make around 6-8 trips every summer to the 20 fathom curve off Manasquan inlet from the 80's into early 2000's then sold my boat a 24'Rampage. Last year I only made 1 trip after getting my anglers category permit. Clean water was the issue in July/August or the lack of it. Not much in the way of action till the little tunny showed in late summer. So really not worth going ! I plan to go more often if the tuna show up or there are better conditions inside 30 miles or so. Not sure what you're looking for other than a few hours of my time ?

[Willy G.]

Thought I would give this a bump--still room for a few more attendees on Saturday!

[NoWorries]

Thought I would give this a bump--still room for a few more attendees on Saturday!

Sent a PM

[Fish Head]

Darn - wish I saw this earlier....let me know if you ever do something like this again..thx!

[NoWorries]

Darn - wish I saw this earlier....let me know if you ever do something like this again..thx!
I attended this meeting in Toms River yesterday. The topic was centered on a survey that will be mailed to permit holders in the Angling category . The purpose that I gathered is to better understand the activitities of private boat owners fishing for bluefin on our East coast . There were 6 of us who had the opportunity to take and comment on a sample survey in a 3 hour period. Surveys will at some point be mailed to anyone who has a Angling category bluefin permit. This may be a random selection process.

[Willy G.]

Thanks for attending yesterday, John! We very much appreciated your input.

For those interested, we are developing surveys for both Charter/Headboat permit-holders and Angling-permit-holders, and plan to begin distributing surveys in the late winter/early spring. As John pointed out, only a subsample of Angling permit-holders will be sent a survey, while all Charter/Headboat permit-holders will be sent a survey. Please send me an email (wmgoldsmith@vims.edu) if you have any questions or would like to learn more!

-Willy Goldsmith