September 12, 2022 — The following was released by Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:
Scientists from throughout the Western Pacific Region will meet Sept. 13 to 15, 2022, to provide advice and comments to the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council on the fishing regulations in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI), a false killer whale (FKW) analysis, uku essential fish habitat studies, American Samoa longline fishery performance and other topics.
Public attendance for the Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) meeting will be limited to web conference only. The full agenda, background documents and instructions for connecting to the meeting and providing oral public comments are available
Fishing Regulations in the NWHI
At its 192nd meeting in September, the Council will consider taking action on fishing regulations in the NWHI Monument Expansion Area. The SSC will consider the alternatives presented and may provide advice and recommendations on the definitions for non-commercial and subsistence fishing, as well as limits on fishing and any equity and environmental justice impacts.
FKW Interaction and Depredation Analysis
The SSC will discuss its input for an ongoing NOAA analysis evaluating how changes to fishing effort distribution during Southern Exclusion Zone closures may have affected the patterns in FKW interaction and depredation. The Council recommended this study at its March 2022 meeting to inform further Council discussion on managing FKW impacts from the Hawai‘i deep-set longline fishery.
Uku Essential Fish Habitat
The SSC will hear a report on the external independent review of essential fish habitat (EFH) models for uku (Aprion virescens, grey snapper, green jobfish) in the main Hawaiian Islands. Under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the Council must describe EFH and provide maps of the geographic locations or define boundaries within which EFH is found. The independent reviewers analyzed two studies that were a great improvement over the existing literature-based description of uku EFH. The SSC will discuss if these products are the best scientific information available to delineate uku EFH.
American Samoa Longline Fishery Performance
The SSC will discuss fishery performance of all pelagic vessels fishing and reporting catch in American Samoa, including “large” longline vessels more than 50 feet long. In 2002, the Council developed a Large Vessel Prohibited Area (LVPA) to minimize competition between the large-vessel longline fleet and smaller longlining alia (traditional double-hulled catamaran) boats in American Samoa. The LVPA excluded large vessels from waters 0 to 50 nautical miles seaward of Tutulia, Swains and Manu‘a Islands.
Due to declining fishery performance of the American Samoa Longline fishery following establishment of the LVPA, the Council had recommended allowing some American Samoa longline vessels an exemption to fish waters beyond 12 nm within the LVPA. Litigation between the American Samoa government and the National Marine Fisheries Service led to a 2017 court order to halt these exemptions. In 2020, federal courts reversed the 2017 decision. The exemption to the LVPA was reinstated in July 2021 to allow certain U.S. longline vessels 50 feet and longer to fish in portions of the LVPA. This exemption included a provision for the Council to annually review the impacts of the exemption on catch rates and small vessel participation.
The SSC will evaluate fishery changes due to the LVPA and the 2021 reinstatement of the exemption.
Other agenda topics include discussing the scientific justification for the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument expansion proposal, and reviewing the alternatives for establishing an Aquaculture Management Framework in the Western Pacific. The SSC may provide advice on potential environmental impacts from aquaculture to the Council before it takes final action at its September meeting.
Recommendations made by the SSC on these and other matters will be considered by the Council when it meets Sept. 20-22, 2022 in-person at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Instructions on connecting to the web conference, agendas and briefing documents are posted at www.wpcouncil.org/event/192nd-council-meeting-virtual.