October 11, 2015 — A government council says Hawaii’s longline fishing fleet is suffering a big economic impact because of quotas and that in turn means consumers are paying a high price at the market.
The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council says about one-fourth of the 145 longline boats in Hawaii haven’t been able to catch ahi, or bigeye tuna.
It says arbitrary quotas have them tied to the docks and accumulating debt.
The council also says the rest of the Hawaii fleet is being forced out of its primary fishing grounds in the Western and Central Pacific and have to travel farther into the Eastern Pacific.
Part of the problem some say is that young ahi are incidental catches for other fishers.