TOP: Capt. Peter B. Wright angles for a bluefln tuna while sitting in a chair. 

 BOTTOM: Fishing for bluefln tuna is popular during the winter months off Cape 

 Hatteras and Cape Lookout National Seashores. 



fishery can extend the season for the charter 

 and headboat industry, turning Hatteras and 

 Morehead City into destinations for recre- 

 ational anglers, says Louis Daniel, assistant 

 to the director of the N.C. Division of Marine 

 Fisheries (NCDMF). 



"Fishing for bluefln tuna has become a 

 world-class fishery because of the size of the 

 fish caught," adds Daniel, who also serves on a 

 federal fisheries management council. 



Swordfish Limit 



North Atlantic swordfish are showing 

 promising signs of recovery just four years into 

 a 10-year recovery program. However, much 

 of the new stock consists of small juvenile fish 

 that need continued protection. 



NOAA Fisheries attributes the recovery 

 to the conservation efforts of anglers and 

 restrictive fishing limits placed on the com- 

 mercial industry. 



Federal regulators recently began limiting 

 recreational swordfish catches to one per per- 

 son, up to three per boat, per day. This applies 

 to all recreational vessels, including charter 

 and headboats fishing in federal waters of the 

 Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. 



The retention limit is designed to 

 discourage illegal sales as well as to ensure 

 the protection of juvenile fish in nursery areas. 

 In addition, there is a minimum size limit for 

 recreational fisheries of 47 inches (whole fish) 

 to protect juveniles. 



Capt. Kevin Kates of Intrinsic Value out 

 of Pompano Beach, Fla., says the limits need 

 to be enforced in order to sustain the swordfish 

 fishery. "Before the new limits, a lot of sword- 

 fish were being killed," he says. 



Atlantic waters off Florida are one of the 

 few places in the world where, on any given 

 night, anglers get a chance to catch a sword- 

 fish, Kates adds. Depending on the night, a 

 boat generally can catch one to three swordfish 

 around the Pompano Beach area. 



Sharks 



New regulations recently took effect for 

 Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean shark 

 fisheries, increasing recreational catch limits 

 and defining recreational shark fishing gear as 

 rod and reel and handlines. 



Recreational anglers now may possess 



one shark per vessel per trip, with a minimum 

 size limit of four and a half feet. In addition to 

 this limit, sportfishers may take one bonnethead 

 per person per trip with no minimum size limit 

 and one Atlantic sharpnose per person per trip, 

 with no minimum size limit. 



"These recreational regulations compli- 

 ment a suite of new commercial fishing limits 

 on sharks, including large cutbacks in annual 

 quotas, gear restrictions, and a closure January 

 through July each year off North Carolina 

 to protect shark pupping grounds," Rogers 

 explains. 



Circle Hooks 



To reduce the mortality of billfish and other 

 HMS, many groups — including Sea Grant 

 programs, NOAA Fisheries, fishing clubs and 

 tournament boards — encourage the use of circle 

 hooks in recreational fisheries. 



For example, since the mid-1990s, NOAA 

 Fisheries has supported training and outreach ef- 

 forts in proper baiting and hooking techniques. 



Anglers also are encouraged to use circle 

 hooks in tournaments. In 2003, the Big Rock Mar- 

 lin Tournament in Morehead City began giving 

 additional release points for use of circle hooks. 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 9 



