The international commission charged with managing the highly migratory, high-priced Atlantic bluefin tuna has pulled back in setting 2011 catch limits for both sides of the ocean — the overfished and under-regulated coasts of Europe, and the more lightly fished stable west, along America's East Coast.
On this side, bluefin are caught throughout the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank and landed in Gloucester and New Bedford, among other ports, primarily with longlines and harpoons.
On the other side, bluefin are herded like cattle, ranched and farmed after capture.
The quota levels after a week of face-to-face but closed-door deliberations in Paris by delegates from the 48 member nations of ICCAT — the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna — hardly distinguished between the two stocks despite dramatically different sizes, strengths, fishing methods, techniques and degrees of commitment to conservation of the most prized of the of all protein foods.
Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times.