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

[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]

Originally Posted by Gerry Zagorski

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]

Originally Posted by JDTuna

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.