BLURRING THE BOUNDARIES

It was the headline that first caught my eye.

“Sportfishing boat burns at Newburyport waterfront, deemed total loss.”

I read the article almost out of reflex.  Anyone who spends much time on the water understands that, even at the best of times, there’s a shadow of risk and impending tragedy that always lurks somewhere around the margins of the maritime life, even when conditions are good.

A boat just sunk on a glass-calm day out at Montauk, apparently the victim of a bad through-hull fitting. 

A boat burned at the Newburyport docks.

When you see articles like that, you read them, as much out of empathy than anything else.  You sympathize with the folks on the vessel, because sometimes things happen, and you’re always aware that someday they may happen to you.

But as I read the article, I found myself thinking about the headline.  It had nothing to do with the fire and loss, which were tragic enough, but about what the term “sportfishing boat” means.

According to article, the boat was owned by “Hitlist Sports Fishing LLC,” so it was probably a charter boat, and given that it had seven people on board, it was probably had customers on board at the time it caught fire.  The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, which governs all fishing in federal waters, defines “charter fishing” as

“fishing from a vessel carrying a passenger for hire…who is engaged in recreational fishing.”

That sounds like “sportfishing” to me.

The article also notes that the boat was

“[taking] part in Gloucester’s Bluefin Blowout [fishing tournament]…, catching fire while the captain and mate were waiting to unload an Atlantic bluefin tuna.”

Tournament fishing is certainly one aspect of sportfishing, so nothing seemed out of line there, either.

But out of curiosity, I went to the webpage of the Bluefin Blowout, just to learn a little bit about the tournament and how it was run.  I found out that it does truly good work, donating many thousands of dollars each year to Alzheimer’s research.  I also took a look at the tournament rules, and found a provision that read

“It shall be the responsibility of the boat to notify their dealer of arrival time, and in the event a dealer is delayed, the fish will be put back on the boat until dealer arrival, or the boat may then bring the fish to the dealer’s wharf.  [emphasis added]”

That’s when things start to get a little blurry, because sport fishermen don’t have any “dealers.”  Sport fishermen have nothing to “deal,” as sport fishermen just don’t sell fish.

A lot of folks are going to object to that statement, particularly those in the northeast tuna fishery, because it’s pretty common for folks who claim to be anglers to flaunt their big, expensive boats at the dock, then turn around and sell all their tuna, because “You gotta pay for the trip.”  

But the fact remains that sport fishermen don’t sell fish; and that’s not just my opinion.  It’s the law.

Magnuson-Stevens clearly states that

“The term ‘recreational fishing’ means fishing for sport or pleasure.”

If you fish with intent to sell, that falls under an entirely different definition.

“The term ‘commercial fishing means fishing in which the fish harvested, either in whole or in part, are intended to enter commerce or enter commerce through sale, barter, or trade.”

So if you’ve got a dealer waiting for you on the dock, or you deliver your fish to a dealer’s wharf, you’re a commercial fisherman.  There’s no argument you can make to the contrary.

Of course, when you talk about bluefin tuna charters, things get blurry again.

The National Marine Fisheries Service issues three different categories of Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Permits to rod and reel bluefin tuna fishermen.

One is the Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Angling Permit.  According to NMFS, the Angling Permit

“Authorizes vessels to recreationally fish for or retain any Atlantic HMS with rod & reel; tunas, sharks, and swordfish with handline; and free-swimming tunas (excluding bluefin) with a speargun.  NO SALE OF CATCH ALLOWED.”

But there is also the Atlantic HMS Charter/Headboat Permit, which

“Authorizes charter and headboat vessels to take for-hire passengers to recreationally fish for or retain any Atlantic HMS with rod & reel; tunas, sharks, and swordfish with handline; tunas with green-stick or bandit gear; and free-swimming tunas (excluding bluefin) with a speargun.  Authorizes some commercial sale of tuna, swordfish, and sharks, with restrictions depending on the for-hire status of the vessel and the additional possession of certain limited access permits.”

It turns out that, in the case of bluefin,

“When fishing other than in the Gulf of Mexico and when the fishery in the General [commercial] category has not been closed…, a person aboard a vessel that has been issued an HMS Charter/Headboat permit may fish under either the retention limits applicable to the General category…or the retention limits specified under the Angling category…The size category of the first [bluefin tuna] retained will determine the fishing category applicable to the vessel that day.”

 That means that, if the first bluefin retained measures 73 inches or more, a charter boat can engage in commercial fishing even though it has passengers on board, and sell such tuna, but if the folks on the boat elect to keep a smaller tuna before hooking and landing the 73-incher, they may not sell any fish caught that day, because bluefin less than 73 inches in length may not be sold.

Thus, bluefin caught by recreational fishermen may not be sold, unless such recreational fishermen fish from a charter boat, in which case their bluefin may be sold, but only if the first fish that they kill is at least 73 inches long, and provided that the charter boat has a Commercial Sale endorsement.

As I said, the whole situation can get a little blurry…

And, it can have some real consequences, apart from just the “what can I keep and what can I sell?” aspect of the thing.

For example, all vessels are required to have safety equipment, such as life preservers, on board, in order to help protect passengers in case of a sinking or other catastrophic event.  The requirements for charter boats are more stringent than those for private vessels, while the requirements for commercial vessels may be even stricter, mandating items such as full-body survival suits for every person on board when fishing in colder waters—which is exactly where most of the bluefin fishery takes place.

Not long ago, because charter boats could sell their fish, there was concern that they had to have the same survival equipment on board their boats as was required for the commercial fishing fleet, something that isn’t practical when they may be carrying passengers of many different sizes and shapes, who would require different survival suits, etc.  That problem was solved by requiring charter boats that intended to sell their catch to get a Commercial Sale endorsement on their permit; vessels which had such an endorsement would fall under the Coast Guard requirements for survival gear when embarked on a commercial trip.

But that’s the sort of complications that you’re likely to run into any time that supposedly recreational fishermen try to blur the line by selling their catch, losing their “recreational” status and becoming commercial fishermen in their spare time.  

So far, I've mostly be talking about charter boats.  But the same situation exists in the private boat fishery.  And let’s be honest about one thing:  When you talk about private-boat anglers who sell their fish, most of them don’t need the money.

If you can pay anywhere from $100,000 or so into the millions of dollars to buy a tuna-capable boat, you don’t need “to pay for the trip.”  Maybe what you need is a slightly smaller and more economical boat, but you don’t need to sell fish to survive.  

You’ve got your day job for that.

But then, sometimes the line between “need” and “greed” gets a bit blurry, too.