Maine commercial and sport fishermen are reporting few large tuna this year, while at the same time seeing healthy numbers of small fish, which may bode well for the future.
Craig Bergeron of Saco Bay Tackle, who supplies the heavy tackle commercial and recreational fishermen need for tuna fishing, reports that his gear business has been down due to reduced numbers of large fish. He reports that “the fish moved in to the Maine coast, but there was no feed to hold them here.”
“We had a good amount of peanut bunker (small menhaden), and tinker mackerel, but herring is the number one food for tuna, and the herring have been getting hit hard by the mid-water trawl commercial fishing vessels,” he said, noting “our fish went right on up to Canada, where there is more feed, and Canada had a good season, filling their quota.”
Forty-year tuna fisherman Lexi Krause told a similar story, stating that earlier this month he saw “one of the largest bodies of fish I have ever seen move into the Kettle bottom (off Boothbay), but after the midwater boats there was no feed and they moved on quickly.”
He reported “seeing fish jumping as far as I could see, a mixed school of small fish on up to 500-pounders.” He feels that these fish came in from offshore, but moved on due to the lack of herring, which provide the fat for the winter that the tuna seek. He noted that some tagged fish moved out of the area within a week, showing up farther south near Cape Cod, and that there was a similar abundance reported in Nova Scotia.
The connection between herring fishing and the abundance of other species, including cod, haddock, whales and birds as well as tuna, has lately been a contested matter. The Maine Department of Marine Resources has requested a study on the effects of this fishery, and the East Coast Tuna Association takes a strong interest in the management of bait stocks. The mid-water trawl vessels in question currently provide the vast majority of bait used in the Maine lobster industry.
Fisherman Robert Bracy of Monhegan pointed out that there are many factors at work out in the ocean, and herring availability might not be the only factor.
“What with water temperature changes, and the way tuna can be here today and gone tomorrow anyway, there might be a lot of reasons for how many tuna we see,” he said. He added that he had seen quite a few small fish this year, noting that the minimum size for commercial retention is 73 inches. Bluefin are believed to mature at around 75 inches in length, and recreational anglers may keep tuna with a minimum size of 27 inches.