Supermarket Perimeter - August 2019 - 58

Seafood: Tuna and swordﬁsh

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) is in the third year of a project to restore tuna and
swordﬁsh populations impacted by the Deepwater Horizon
oil spill.
NOAA is partnering with ﬁshermen on a voluntary break
from pelagic longline ﬁshing, and participants also have
options to use alternative gear that reduces bycatch.
The partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife
Foundation and pelagic longline ﬁshermen in the Gulf of
Mexico, which engages with a variety of stakeholders like
seafood dealers, is seeing positive results so far, according
to NOAA.
"This temporary restoration project includes ﬁnancial
support to a portion of the pelagic longline ﬁshing community
in the Gulf to refrain from ﬁshing. The project also provides
options to use alternative gear types that reduce bycatch of
non-target species. This helps ﬁshermen bring some ﬁsh to
market, helping keep the Gulf's seafood supply chain moving
and local economies and the environment healthy."
The goal is to restore impacts from the oil spill to both target and non-target ﬁsh species by giving them time to grow
and reproduce during a voluntary break from ﬁshing. This
year, ten ﬁshermen are participating in the six-month period,
eight from Louisiana and two from Florida. Ten also participated last year. The ﬁshery includes an estimated 35 active
ﬁshing vessels.

58 - AUGUST 2019

The Deepwater Horizon natural resource trustees managing the project continue to reﬁne the effort. They included
some improvements to the project last year, and smaller scale
enhancements this year. These changes stem from engagement with participants, ﬁsh dealers and other stakeholders to
adaptively manage the project.
Pelagic longline gear is deployed off of ﬁshing vessels and
consists of lines approximately 28 miles long, with hooks and
bait to catch ﬁsh, and buoys to keep the line aﬂoat. Because
the lines ﬂoat in the ocean for hours or days, non-target
species can get caught by accident. These include blueﬁn tuna
and protected sea turtles.
So far, data collected from previous years show clear beneﬁts related to the reduction in bycatch when ﬁshermen opt in
to use the alternative gear. The amount of bycatch caught was
minimal, and many that were caught, were released alive.
Tuna, billﬁsh, and other ﬁsh species inhabiting the open
ocean areas of the Gulf of Mexico were signiﬁcantly injured
by the spill. Along with helping these species recover, the
project is also providing the ﬁshing community with an opportunity to use and improve proﬁciency with the alternative
gear at no cost. Fishermen are being educated and improving
seafood sustainability in the Gulf.

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RICHARD CAREY - STOCK.ADOBE.COM

NOAA makes progress on restoring tuna, swordfish populations

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Supermarket Perimeter - August 2019

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