Contact: Gordon Helm                FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                                    5/19/98   
        

The National Marine Fisheries Service has finalized 1998 Atlantic bluefin tuna allocations for commercial and recreational fishermen, the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced today. The 1998 allocation among the commercial and recreational user groups is: General - 657 metric tons (mt); Harpoon - 53 mt; Incidental - 114 mt; Purse Seine - 250 mt; Angling - 269 mt; Reserve - 52 mt.

The amount of bluefin tuna the United States is allowed to catch is determined by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), the international treaty organization responsible for conservation recommendations for Atlantic tunas, swordfish, and billfish.

Because the 1997 total quota was not reached, and ICCAT allows for a carryover in 1998 of unharvested quota, the United States can land 1,395 mt of Atlantic bluefin tuna this year without exceeding its quota.

Once the United States total quota is determined through ICCAT, the national quota is then allocated among the various U.S. user groups. The 1997 U.S. quota of Atlantic bluefin was 1,344 mt, of which 1,046 mt were divided among four commercial sector fisheries, and 265 mt were allocated to the recreational sector. An additional 33 mt were allocated to an in- season reserve.

Landings by the commercial sector totaled approximately 28 mt less than the quota, recreational landings are estimated to be approximately four mt under the Angling category quota, and about 19 mt remain in the in-season reserve. In addition to keeping within its overall national quota, ICCAT requires that no more than eight percent of the U.S. quota be school sized (27 inches to less than 47 inches in length) ABT. School sized landings for 1997 are 104 mt, just below the eight percent cap of 108 mt. The 1997 landings data are considered preliminary and minor revisions to the Angling category landings have been included since the proposed allocations were published.

With rules published in 1997, the fisheries service finalized a new tuna permit program to improve catch and fishing effort information; prohibited bluefin tuna fishing by General category permit holders on restricted-fishing days and prohibited retention of smaller size fish by General category fishers; prohibited the use of aircraft to assist all category vessels except Harpoon and Purse Seine permitted vessels; and split the Angling large school/small medium and trophy category quotas into North/South sub-quotas. The changes to the Angling category regulations should allow fishermen from a greater geographical area to pursue bluefin tuna for a longer period of time and lengthen the fishing season.

In addition, the fisheries service acted on comments from General category commercial fishermen to add three additional restricted-fishing days in July, substituted one restricted-fishing day for another in August, and modified the regulations to allow more flexibility in managing the 10 metric ton New York Bight set-aside.