The bluefin tuna season reopens Friday for two days after abruptly halting late last year because fishing quotas had been met.
"We got two days, whatever we catch," said Pete Manuel, president of the Winter Bluefin Tuna Association.
The National Marine Fisheries Service was scheduled to reopen the general category bluefin tuna season at 12:30 a.m. Friday and close it at 11:30 p.m. Saturday with 296,653 pounds of quota transferred from other fishing categories.
"It's going to be red hot fishing," said D.J. Dejarnette of Wanchese, who was in Beaufort this week preparing to work on the Moonshine from Kennebunkport, Maine.
The boat has been in Beaufort since the tuna season reopened on Dec. 1 after a temporary closure in November.
The season closed again Dec. 10 after all the quota was caught in the general category, which involves commercial hand-held gear.
The closure was a disappointment to North Carolina fishermen who in early November thought there would be plenty of quota left when the fish migrated south in December.
In late November, National Marine Fisheries Service transferred 330,693 pounds of quota from the general category to reserves after revised estimates showed overages of 2002 tuna catches in the recreational category. This left 106,042 pounds for December fishing.
The agency also failed to honor a request from the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries to temporarily close the December season in its first week so that tonnage would be left later in the month. Fishing closer to the new year would have allowed fishermen to take advantage of the high prices on the Japanese market when it reopens Jan. 5.
The Winter Bluefin Tuna Association had considered filing a lawsuit against the federal government. However, Manuel said that's not likely to happen because National Marine Fisheries acted on the state's request to establish a winter season and transfer some quota to it.