January 5, 2016 — HONOLULU (AP) — Many Hawaii residents were thankful for plentiful platters of ahi tuna they were able to enjoy over the holidays. But few realized the critical role the late Sen. Daniel Inouye played in making sure Hawaii fishermen could get it to them.
A federal rule allowing Hawaii-based fishermen to catch more bigeye tuna than permitted under international agreements can be traced to his time as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
In 2010, catch limits forced Hawaii fishermen to stop catching bigeye in waters west of Hawaii in November. That left Hawaii markets without much locally caught tuna just as holiday demand spiked.
This year, Hawaii longline fishermen hit their limit in August. But the National Marine Fisheries Service created new limits for U.S. territories like Guam and allowed Hawaii’s fleet to use up to half of them.
The fisheries service’s Pacific Islands regional administrator, Michael Tosatto, said Congress directed the federal agencies to create the quota transfer program in a 2012 appropriations bill.
Inouye was Senate appropriations committee chairman at the time, not long before his death in December 2012. The senator’s then-chief of staff said Inouye was troubled to see local fishermen abiding by quotas that U.S. diplomats had agreed to, only to see foreign fishermen keep fishing.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at New Jersey Herald