A friend has offered to take me on an offshore tuna trip. He says that we will probably catch more tuna than I have freezer space. I know that a person has to have a commercial licence to sell tuna to a resturaunt, but what are the laws on bartering for future meals?

dont get caught

if your in port A go into a resteraunt and ask if the owner is there not the manager. If so ask to talk to him tell him you have more yellowfinn than you can handle for the frezer and you would like to have dinner and he can have the rest as long as dinners free.

Something like that may work and I have heard my friend say that he sells his but he may have a friend with a comercial liscense or something.

How about be reasonable and legal. If you cannot freeze it for your own personal use then you don't need it. Conservation. That means leaving one or two for the future.

We already have enough federal restrictions on snapper, amberjack, grouper, ling, etc. It's overfishing or the perception of it that leads to more regs, which we don't need.

good point! dont take more than you can eat.

Relax guys! I wasn't talking about being a game hog and filling the boat up. I just live in a small beach house, I don't have a lot of freezer space, and just wanted to know if there were any laws against bartering for meals. Sheesh! This thread took any ugly turn real quick..

Landpirate ---
I think that is the best and most intelligent response to any question or comment that I've ever read on this forum. Kudos to you for your way of thinking (mine also, by the way). There aren't many of us left who think that way and will say it. Conservation and common sense is a way of life.

Thanks Icatchemall.

Palehorse,
Wasn't trying to bust your chops or anything. I'm just trying to spread the word about conservation.

The reason? I spend most of my spare time fishing offshore. In the good ol' days we could run out and load up on snapper, aj, mahi, ling, kings, grouper and so on. We didn't think much about it. We never considered that we were in competetion with the commercial fleet. We hauled in our limits everytime, whether we needed it or not.

Fast forward to today. The Gulf Council is using their own made up version of "science" to determine when, where, how many, how big or small our catch can be. They use stats from the Atlantic Ocean and off of Florida's coasts to determine what whe can catch off Texas' Coasts. It's a dang mess. And we did it to ourselves.

This year Red Snapper will not overlap with Amberjack. Snapper have been reduced to 2 fish per person per day and AJ is 1. Grouper is 1 also. I have to run 40 miles to get into good depth where I can catch snapper, aj and grouper. And now I can only fish for one or the other.

It's to the point that it's hardly worth making those long runs and burning that much gas for that few fish.

The environmentalist tell us that Tuna stocks are over fished. What that means is that it's only a matter of time before the Gulf Council severely limits the tuna catch.

I hope now you can see where I'm coming from. Let's not let our actions add fuel to the fire. We're already battling the evironmentalist that want to close fishing altogether. Let's not give them a reason as we did in past years. A little self restraint will go a long way.

No problem compadre, and I agree with you on every point you've made.

Well, that, and the fact that tuna does not keep long in the freezer, even when vac. packed.
Therefore, unless you eat tuna 3 times a day, every day,
keeping more than 40# is probably wasteful in the long run.
just my opinion, not flaming on anybody.
regardless, kech 'em up! & post pics!
tight lines
-Brian

What are the Survival rates on released tuna... do they need to be vented....Just curious

Venting would depend on how deep they were caught. My experience is that most fish caught 60 or so feet deep don't need venting. Get over 100' and most require it.

they build up a lot of lactic acid I believe on a long fight, and I wouldn't think they would do good after release???? I am just thinking off the top of my head here... although.. i have seen some come to the boat, and a missed gaff renews thier "meanness" for another hour... so a leader and breakoff of a degradeable circle hook might be a good idea???

I can testify to that even after 3-4 week vacuum packed and frozen at -19 I won't eat it raw, and after about 5-6 months it is pushing the limits where i would eat it very marinaded and well done.

The commercial stuff from overseas has been treated to last longer which is why it has a strange "shine" to it in the right light.