Fishing Year & the 250 Rule

The government is considering changing the beginning of the fishing year from June 1 to January 1. This means counting of the 250 marlin limit will start on the selected date. This can have some impact on tournaments or fishing outside of tournaments if the activity falls late within the fishing year. The later in the fishing year a tournament is scheduled, the greater the chance is that it will be affected if the 250 fish limit is reached. i.e. If the year begins on January 1, then tournaments in the last quarter could be prohibited from landing any marlin regardless of what event rules state. Alternatively, if the fishing year remains with a June 1 start date, marlin tournaments held in March and May could face the same fate. To date, we have not officially reached the 250 fish limit, but things can change. Remember the counting is to include landings from all U.S. vessels whether fishing within U.S. waters or not.

The cap could apply only to marlin landed in tournaments if the government prohibits landings outside of tournaments, and it could only apply to blue marlin, if the government prohibits the landing of all white marlin. (see below)

Prohibit Landings of Marlin Multiple versions are up for consideration: Prohibit landings of white marlin in tournaments. Totally prohibit the landing of white marlin. Totally prohibit possession, landing and retention of any Atlantic blue marlin and white marlin whether in a tournament or not.

TBF recommends any prohibition on the landings of white marlin include a sunset date - i.e. 5 or 7 years from completion of the next stock assessment. The government may prefer to sunset a prohibition on landings in conjunction with a specified recovery level of the stock.