Hungry 



LCI 



TUN 



Put Outer Banks in the Spotlight 



By Carta Burgess 



"uring the past two winters, 

 giant bluefin tuna have become the 

 surprise hit of the season for recre- 

 ational anglers off Cape Hatteras and 

 Ocracoke. Weighing more than 300 

 pounds, these monster-sized fish have 

 appeared in increasing concentrations 

 around wreck sites in recent years. The 

 prime locations are 12 to 24 miles from 

 the beach in 80 to 100 feet of water, just 

 inshore of the Gulf Stream. 



Although anglers may not target 

 these tuna for harvest during winter, 

 catch-and-release is increasingly 

 popular. 



"Charter boat fishing normally 

 shuts down in October, and the captains 

 go fishing commercially for yellowfin 

 tuna or king mackerel in the winter," 

 says N.C. Sea Grant fisheries agent Jim 

 Bahen. But when news of the giants hit 

 the grapevine, activity "snowballed." 



"Hatteras Island started bustling 

 with people driving in and flying in to 

 go fishing for these big fish," he says. 

 "This past summer the word really got 

 out, and now charter boats are starting 

 to advertise it. There's no time and no 

 other place that you'll see this large 

 concentration of animals in shallow 



water. It's almost like they're in a pen." 



The lure for recreational fishermen 

 is even more attractive because this 

 long-lived species is a strong, smart fish 

 with notoriously picky eating habits. 

 The hungry tuna off Hatteras are an 

 enigma to seasoned anglers and 

 biologists alike. 



But as tall tales of big tuna spread 

 far and wide, so has the controversy and 

 confusion over regulation of this 

 species. Since the early 1980s, resource 

 managers have enacted progressively 

 stricter management of all classes of 

 bluefin on the heels of heavy harvest 

 throughout the 1970s. Bluefin stocks 

 have declined by 80 percent since then, 

 according to National Marine Fisheries 

 Service (NMFS) data. 



The commercial season in North 

 Carolina is short — about three months 

 during summer — and the catch is 

 limited to one fish per trip. But even 

 with the restrictions, the effort is 

 lucrative. Giant tuna are a minimum of 

 81 inches long, and some top 1,000 

 pounds. A giant bluefin may bring 

 thousands of dollars on the Japanese 

 fish market. 



Sportfishermen must obtain special 

 permits to pursue this category of tuna. 

 And in exchange for the privilege of 



targeting them, anglers must properly 

 tag giant bluefins before releasing them. 

 As tagged fish reappear, resource 

 managers hope to learn more about the 

 species' biology and migrations. And 

 because of concern over mortality, the 

 tagging may also reveal how the fish are 

 faring after release. 



These concerns and others are the 

 basis of a December conference orga- 

 nized by N.C. Sea Grant. Bahen is 

 arranging the meeting, slated for Dec. 16 

 in Nags Head, to answer questions about 

 current management and to encourage 

 proper tag-and-release techniques. 



No one really knows why North 

 Carolina has become host to a visible 

 giant bluefin population that tradition- 

 ally lured anglers to the Bahamas or 

 New England and Canada. The anec- 

 dotal evidence is split about evenly on a 

 theory. One is that these fish may have 

 been here all along, says NMFS 

 biologist Kevin Foster, who has inter- 

 viewed Hatteras locals. Because most 

 fishermen don't catch a quarter-ton to 

 half-ton animal by accident, maybe the 

 fish haven't been caught because they 

 haven't been targeted. Several gillnetters 

 have told stories of gaping holes 

 knocked in their nets by unseen perpe- 

 trators. And many rod-and-reel anglers 



18 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1995 



