September 2, 2014 — In an effort to reduce the number of giant bluefin tuna killed by fishing fleets, the U.S. is putting out new rules about commercial fishing in the Gulf of Mexico and parts of the western Atlantic. The rules have special protections for giant bluefin — fish that have grown to 81 inches or more.
The new requirements were recently published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in a nearly 750-page amendment to its management plan. The agency hopes the changes will help rebuild the tuna population and improve data it gets from fishing vessels.
As NPR's Christopher Joyce reports for our Newscast unit, commercial fleets in the Gulf cannot target giant bluefin tuna, whose numbers have fallen since the 1970s. The Gulf is of crucial importance, as it is the fish's breeding ground.