On September 18, a public consultation period for the development of national regulations in Spain for bigeye and yellowfin fisheries in the Atlantic Ocean began. It will continue for the next 15 business days. The initiative comes from the General Secretariat of Fisheries.

Despite the fact that the catches of the Spanish fleet have remained stable, bigeye quotas in the Atlantic have been reduced in recent years as a consequence of overfishing by third countries that are members of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). The Director-General of Fishing Resources also met with representatives of fleets fishing in the region to discuss management measures for catching tropical tuna in the Atlantic.

A 42-year old Hawaiian longliner, Miss Emma, caught fire about 8 miles south of Honolulu, Hawaii. The crew sent out a Mayday on Tuesday afternoon and abandoned the vessel and escaped on a life raft. The six crew members and the NOAA observer were rescued by the Honolulu-based Coast Guard cutter, Joseph Gerczak.

The cutter took the seven men on board and stayed throughout the night at the scene to prevent any collisions. Attempts by a fireboat to extinguish the fire and save the stricken vessel failed. The 36 G/T Miss Emma sank early in the morning. It is highly likely that the 3,200 gallons of diesel on board for the fishing trip burnt up in the fire as the Coast Guard’s aircraft equipped with a pollution responder found no evidence of oil slick.

A southern bluefin tagged on December 17, 2004 in the Great Australian Bight was caught this week near the Australian town of Bermagui after 14 years and eight months at liberty. When first tagged, the fish was 111 centimeters long. After 5,368 days on the loose, the tuna had grown roughly 70 centimeters. 

This recapture is expected to set a new record for time at liberty for a bluefin under a tagging program. The previous record was under the NSW game fishing tagging program -- a total of 2,208 days (approximately six years).