December 2, 2020 — Longline fishermen based in Hawaii will voluntarily switch to using monofilament leaders on their gear to promote shark conservation, the Hawaii Longline Association announced this week.
Based at Honolulu Harbor, the fleet of about 140 active vessels produces 90 percent of U.S. bigeye tuna and 50 percent of its swordfish and was sixth in landed value among U.S. ports with $100 million in 2018. The longline fishery is closely monitored and uses a suite of mitigation tools to reduce interactions with protected species.
That includes a 45-gram minimum weight on baited lines so they sink quickly and out of depths where seabirds forage and use of circle hooks to reduce interactions with sea turtles and false killer whales. But sharks are still more likely to be caught by circle hooks, according to the association.
“Hawaii longline vessels don’t retain sharks and most are released alive, but since most sharks are unable to bite through a wire leader, some sharks die on the line,” the group explained in a statement. “Unfortunately, this includes oceanic whitetip sharks, which are now listed as ‘threatened’ under the Endangered Species Act.”