US fishing boats can keep catching striped marlin; the fish stock is recovering

US regulators are withdrawing a proposed rule that would have limited how many striped marlin fishing boats could catch. A new assessment shows the fish stock is no longer overfished and is rebuilding. This means fishing vessels will not face new restrictions on catching striped marlin in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean.

The US government had planned to restrict striped marlin fishing because it believed the stock was overfished. This new assessment changes that. It means fishing operations that target or incidentally catch striped marlin will not face new economic constraints or operational changes. The decision relies entirely on the new stock assessment, which effectively reverses the prior scientific finding.