Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Fisheries; Atlantic Bluefin Tuna
NMFS adjusts the October-December subquota for the General category Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) fishery by transferring 40 metric tons (mt) from the Longline South subcategory quota, 50 mt from the Angling category (25 mt from the school size class North and 25 mt from the school size class South subcategories), and 3 mt from the Trap category for a revised coastwide General category subquota of approximately 431.9 mt for October-December, including the addition of underharvest from previous time periods. NMFS reopens the coastwide BFT General category until the adjusted October-December subquota has been filled. These actions are being taken to allow for maximum utilization of the U.S. landings quota of BFT while maintaining a fair distribution of fishing opportunities, preventing overharvest of the adjusted subquotas for the affected fishing categories, helping to achieve optimum yield in the General category fishery, and allowing the collection of a broad range of data for stock monitoring purposes, consistent with the objectives of the Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Tunas, Swordfish, and Sharks (HMS FMP).
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration