Restrictions on the Sale of Atlantic Billfish

The following paragraphs regarding the sale of billfish are excerpted from federal regulations, found in their entirety at 50 CFR Part 635.  These regulations can be reviewed in full at http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/index.html.

(b) Billfish.

(1) Persons may not sell or purchase a billfish takenfrom its management unit.

(2) A billfish or a closely related species, namely, black marlin, Makaira indica, striped marlin, Tetrapturus audax, or shortbill spearfish, Tetrapturus angustirostris, or a part thereof, in the possession of a dealer or seafood processor is considered, for purposes of this part, to be a billfish from the Atlantic Ocean management unit. However, a billfish or a closely related species will not be considered to be from the Atlantic Ocean management unit if-

(i) It was landed in a Pacific state and remains in the state of landing, or
(ii) It is accompanied by a Billfish Certificate of Eligibility that documents that it was harvested  from other than the Atlantic Oceanmanagement unit.

Billfish Certificate of Eligibility means a certificate that accompanies a shipment of billfish indicating that the billfish or related species, or parts thereof, are not from the respective Atlantic Ocean management units. (Click here for a copy of the Billfish Certificate of Eligibility)

Management unit means in this part:

    (1) For Atlantic tunas, longbill spearfish, blue marlin and white marlin, means all fish of these species in the Atlantic Ocean;

    (2) For sailfish, means all fish of this species in the Atlantic Ocean west of 30 deg. W. long.;

For more information regarding the importation of Atlantic billfish and the sale of such billfish in the United States, see our webpage at www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/hmspg.html or contact  The NMFS Highly Migratory Species
Division at 301-713-2347.