Mothership for tuna question??

Last year I was lucky enough to do a mothership tuna trip off the coast of New Jersey and land a nice Blue Fin Tuna in the 50-60 lb. range.   We posted a bunch of pictures on a couple different sites and we were informed that it  was against the federal rules for tuna fishing.   

We found out that we needed a special HMS permit for tuna (which we didn't have) but we thought that we would be covered under the charter boats permits.   We also found out that in order to fish for tuna,  you MUST launch and land the kayak from land,   so doing a mothership trip for tuna was out of the question for us this year.

There are a few spots on the east coast that getting them within a few miles from shore is possible,  but in NJ they are mostly out 30-80 miles.

I am guessing that the same rules and regs. are for the entire country,  but is there a way around this that maybe some of you on the west coast can figure out?

Getting the HMS permit is no problem,   first you have to have a registration number for your kayak and then just apply for the 20 dollar permit.

I would hate to spend a hundred grand on a boat to take myself offshore and then get out and fish from the kayak when there was no one around .   LOL

Danny V

That's a good question.

Pelagic species, at least off the coast of Oregon, are (AFAIK) regulated by ODFW - here is a quote from an email exchange with ODFW

"ODFW uses this data to satisfy the federal government's desire for
information. Over the past few years, because we have good estimates of
saltwater fishing effort and landings, we have successfully persuaded
the federal government that Oregon fishers do not need a separate
saltwater fishing license, like some other coastal states require. Since
you asked about tuna; because we have good estimates of sport-caught
tuna landings we were able to fend off an effort by the federal
government to put a more-restrictive limit on Oregon sport-caught tuna."

I do not believe HMS applies here on the west coast.

-Allen