With stiff wind and sea conditions, Capt. Birch aboard Fish Guts Charters, Seaside Park, felt the ocean was not an option. Capt. Birch was prepared to take a local charter, Tom and his son, Ryan, fishing. Father and son were scheduled for an inshore wreck trip, but were more than willing to give crabbing a try.

Capt. Birch reported the crabs have been crawling in and around Seaside Park, and he proved just that with 10-year-old Ryan having the best time hooting, hollering and dancing around with nonstop action.

They called it a day with more than 70 big blue claws and a crabbing trip father and son will remember for a lifetime. Check out Capt. Birch at www.fishgutscharters.com next time you are down the Shore.

Fish Monger Charters from Brielle continues to stay on fish; Capt. Jerry had charter David Back and friends for a return trip and headed to the fluking grounds. What started as a slow pick, the crew got into a good drift and was able to mix it up with sea bass and 13 keeper fluke up to 6 pounds. The Fish Monger remains consistent and knows how to improvise to save any trip. Check them out at www.fishmongercharters. com.

Capt. Nick aboard the Luna Sea had Uncle Luna and friend Matt aboard for some fluking. Capt. Nick worked it hard from Chapel Hill all the way to the tip of the Hook and managed to put six nice fluke in the box from 19 to 21 inches with plenty of short action along the way. Uncle Luna and Matt went home with smiles and plenty of fillets for the table.

Who will look out for the future of tuna?

The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) is the intergovernmental management authority composed of 16 member countries with the mandate to regulate fishing fleets to avoid overexploitation of tuna in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.

Tuna is not recovering from the fishing fleets. In addition, it is not just conservation groups that say so, but also the IATTC's own scientists. With increasing urgency at meeting after meeting, these highly skilled fisheries experts have used some of the best fisheries information in existence as the basis for recommending a suite of urgently required specific, decisive actions to avoid overfishing of tuna stocks.

Things are not looking good for the fish, especially the region's big eye tuna. These highly prized fish may be on the same downward spiral that has taken blue fin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean to the brink of economic extinction.

Conservation, research and nongovernmental fisheries organizations argue that either hard decisions are taken now, or impacts on the fish and people dependent on marine resources will only get worse.

So who will look after the future of tuna? If recent history is repeated at the IATTC meetings this week in La Jolla, Calif., it will not be the IATTC. Fortunately, market mechanisms may force the IATTC's hand.

A new consortium known as the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) is bringing together tuna processors, scientists and environmental nongovernmental organizations to get behind the IATTC and other fisheries management organizations so they base management on scientific recommendations aimed to protect tuna stocks and reduce their impacts on nontarget species such as dolphins, turtles, sharks and seabirds.

If the IATTC does not act soon, it will fall to consumers to make their tuna purchases from responsible processors and brands that offer fish from areas that are acting to ensure that tuna populations stay healthy for the long term. This would be not only good business and good news for the fish, but also for the consumers who enjoy tuna that is responsibly captured. But for now, all eyes are on the IATTC.

For updates and more information, log on to www.billfish.org.

Fish On!