Wednesday February 26, 2025
Western Outdoor News —
In 2012, the population of Pacific bluefin in the eastern Pacific reached a low point from overfishing by the commercial purse seine fishery. From there, the quotas were lowered, and by 2016, the Pacific bluefin population began to recover faster than expected. Unfortunately, purse seine quotas are rapidly increasing, drawing concern from community sportfishing leaders, including CCA Cal, CCA National, ASA, IGFA, Wild Oceans, NNMA, and the Center for Sportfish Policy.
The Return of Pacific Bluefin
The Pacific bluefin has always been a mysterious species. Once found off the coast of Southern California in the 1950s, it disappeared and was rarely seen for decades. Then, suddenly, in 2016, it was back in Southern California.
“For most of my angling life in Southern California, larger Pacific bluefin tuna were nonexistent in our waters,” said Bill Shedd, CEO of the American Fishing Tackle Company (AFTCO). “But then, in 2016, the fish suddenly reappeared in incredible numbers. It was unbelievable. A reliable fishery was established almost overnight, bringing a tremendous economic boom to this area.”
Shedd said that the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), an international treaty organization that manages Pacific bluefin, started lowering commercial quotas in 2012. As a result, this once-overfished population rose to almost 22% of its potential unfished level. This goal wasn’t expected to come to fruition until 2022. A similar situation happened in Florida, where longlines were removed from most South Atlantic Bight, allowing swordfish stock populations to recover and creating a recreational economic spending stimulus.