Reporting tuna catches on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram doesn’t count!
I’m sure you saw the April headlines from along Carolina’s Outer Banks when several national publications picked up on a push of good-sized bluefin in tight to Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head. In addition to hook-ups by pier anglers – which was later acknowledged as “an illegal activity” – one local kayak angler reportedly pedaled out past the breakers, just beyond the pier, where he hooked, fought and landed a 136-pound bluefin. “Said a prayer on the way out for a safe day, and god blessed me more than I could imagine,” Stefan Turko later noted on Facebook.
According to one online fishing publication, at 69 inches in length, Turko’s bluefin was a legal fish for a vessel with an active Highly Migratory Species (HMS) permit. That same media outlet also noted “Turko also had a federal marine fisheries permit for harvesting tuna, but since the fish was caught in North Carolina state waters, federal regulations did not apply.” Actually, that last line is not correct. Whether in state waters, or outside the 3-mile-line in federal waters, bluefin tuna is a federally regulated fishery, which means a non-transferrable HMS vessel permit is required whether you’re fishing inside or outside the line. Kayak anglers can get an HMS vessel permit, but some type of boat documentation number is required, which means registering your kayak with your state DMV to obtain a registration number to apply towards the HMS permit (hmspermits.noaa.gov).
NOAA law enforcement later visited Jennette’s Pier to inform management that federal regulations do apply to coastal waters, explaining how it was illegal for pier customers to target bluefin. “It is a violation to fish for, catch, possess, retain, or land Atlantic bluefin tuna, blue marlin, white marlin, or roundscale spearfish without a valid permit or endorsement,” is the word that Jennette’s management received, thus prompting them to post signs advising pier anglers of a potential $2,000 fine.
“We were advised to remove all references to the bluefin bite from our social media platforms because it is considered promoting an illegal activity,” was also posted at the Jennette’s Pier Facebook page. As a reminder, since HMS Permits are only available for registered vessels, there is absolutely no legal way to target, catch and land bluefin from shore, or from a pier.
Along with your HMS Permit comes further responsibility for reporting your tuna trips, both the good days and the bad. The folks out of the New Jersey’s Bureau of Law Enforcement gave an official rundown in their March 20, 2025 report of an exceptional nearshore bluefin tuna run last fall off South Jersey, with state enforcement officers investigating several unreported landings. “Dozens of private and for-hire vessel owners and operators were determined to not have reported bluefin tuna landings in a two-month period; some fishermen landed as many as 20 fish of which none were reported,” the Bureau of Law Enforcement reported, adding that these cases were referred to the National Marine Fisheries Service.
By federal law, bluefin tuna must be reported within 24 hours of landing, and it’s important to think carefully about the reason why. Every year, U.S. delegates who represent our commercial and recreational fishing communities attend meetings around the globe through the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) where participating nations like China, Japan, and the European community sit and haggle over quota. If our diplomats don’t have accurate bluefin harvest numbers, how can they argue for an increased share of the global quota being used here in the United States? The answer is they can’t!
Bluefin reporting through the HMS Permit requirement can be a dual-edged sword; on the one hand, those 20 unreported bluefin tuna referenced by New Jersey enforcement officials may not have counted towards the 2024 quota, and thus there was no need to shut down earlier than normal before the angling category had hit last season’s magic number.
But could that overage be applied to 2025? Here’s the cutting truth – multiply that North Carolina kayaker’s 136-pound bluefin by the 20 unreported tunas identified by New Jersey enforcement, that’s 2,720 pounds of bluefin, more than a metric ton of tuna. That’s either one metric ton coming off future quota, or one less metric ton at the ICCAT negotiating table when U.S. delegates are fighting for a bigger piece of the bluefin pie.
Next week, Capt. Jim Freda helps us gear up for another year of Northeast tuna fishing; just don’t forget your HMS permit!
