Bluefish

Life History

Bluefish

One of the most popular recreational fish along the Atlantic coast, a father and sons with a bluefish. Photo credit: John McMurray, www.nyflyfishing.com

Bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) are a migratory, oceanic species found throughout the world in most temperate, coastal regions, except the eastern Pacific. Bluefish migrate seasonally, moving north in spring and summer as water temperatures rise and moving south in autumn and winter to waters in the South Atlantic Bight. During the summer, concentrations of bluefish are found in waters from Maine to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. In winter they tend to be found offshore between Cape Hatteras and Florida. Bluefish generally school by size, with schools that can cover tens of square miles of ocean, equivalent to around 10,000 football fields.
Bluefish are fast growers and opportunistic predators, feeding voraciously on almost any prey they can capture. Bluefish live up to 12 years and may exceed lengths of 39" and weights of 31 pounds. Bluefish reach sexual maturity at age two and spawn offshore from Massachusetts through Florida. Discrete groups spawn at different times and are referred to by the season in which they spawn: the spring-spawned cohort and the summer-spawned cohort. Recent research has also identified a fall-spawned cohort, demonstrating an expanded and prolonged spawning season. The cohorts mix extensively on the fishing grounds and probably comprise a single genetic stock.

Commercial & Recreational Fisheries

Bluefish

Bluefish are predominantly a recreational fishery, with recreational landings accounting for approximately 87% of total landings by weight in recent years. As bluefish migrate seasonally up and down the Atlantic coast, anglers from Maine to Florida target these voracious predators near inlets, shoals, and rips, where they come to feed on large schools of bait. Recreational harvest peaked at 151.46 million pounds in 1986, but quickly declined in the 80s and 90s to its current average annual recreational harvest of approximately 32 million pounds. In 2020, recreational anglers harvested an estimated 9.3 million fish weighing 13.6 million pounds. Harvest during 2018-2020 was exceptionally low compared to the ten year average of 25.69 million pounds. Bluefish recreational releases have averaged approximately two thirds of the total catch in numbers of fish since 1999.
Commercial landings decreased from 16.5 million pounds in 1981 to 7.1 million pounds in 1999. Since a state-specific quota system was implemented in 2000, commercial landings have averaged around 5.8 million pounds annually. 2020 marks a commercial landings time series low of 2.4 million pounds. The majority of bluefish were landed in North Carolina, Rhode Island, and New York in 2020.

Stock Status

Bluefish

Based on the 2021 management track stock assessment conducted by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, bluefish are overfished, but were not experiencing overfishing in 2019. The updated stock assessment incorporated data through 2019. SSB in 2019 was estimated to be 211 million pounds, which is 95% of the SSB threshold of 222 million pounds. Fishing mortality (F) in 2019 was estimated to be 0.172, below the F threshold (FMSY PROXY= F35% =0.181). Although fishing mortality was below the threshold in 2018 and 2019, fishing mortality exceeded the updated threshold every year from 1985 to 2017. The largest recruitment in the time series occurred in 1989 at 98 million fish, and the lowest recruitment was in 2016 at 29 million fish. Recruitment over the last 10 years has varied around the time series average of 46 million fish. A research track stock assessment is scheduled for November of 2022.

Atlantic Coastal Management

Bluefish

Bluefish is currently managed under Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Bluefish and Addendum I. Amendment 1 allocates 83% of the resource to recreational fisheries and 17% to commercial fisheries. However, the commercial quota can be increased up to 10.5 million pounds if the recreational fishery is projected to not land its entire allocation for the upcoming year. The commercial fishery is controlled through state-by-state quotas based on historic landings from 1981-1989. The recreational fishery is managed under a coastwide 3-fish bag limit for private anglers and shore-based fishermen, and a 5-fish bag limit for for-hire fishermen. A coastwide biological sampling program to improve the quantity and quality of information used in future bluefish stock assessments was implemented in 2012 through Addendum I.
In June, the Board and Council jointly recommended approval of the Bluefish Allocation and Rebuilding Amendment. The Amendment updates the FMP goals and objectives, initiates a 7-year rebuilding plan, establishes new allocations between the commercial and recreational sectors, implements new commercial allocations to the states, revises the process for quota transfers between sectors, and revises how the management plan accounts for management uncertainty. Additional information regarding the recommended changes are available at http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/60c7b24fpr21-11_Bluefish-Amendment.pdf. Pending approval by NOAA Fisheries, the changes will go into effect for the 2022 fishing year.
Based on the 2021 stock assessment findings and rebuilding plan projections, the Board and Council set new specifications for the 2022 and 2023 fishing seasons. For 2022, the commercial quota was set at 3.54 million pounds and the recreational harvest limit (RHL) was set at 13.89 million pounds. Compared to 2021 landings limits, this represents a 28% increase in the commercial quota and a 67% increase in the RHL in 2022. Despite the significant increase in the 2022 RHL, no changes were made to recreational measures because 2022 harvest is expected to achieve but not exceed the RHL. 

Meeting Summaries & Reports

Press Releases