December 4, 2018 — Hawaii’s longliners caught their quota for bigeye tuna early again this year. But that may not be an issue going forward if U.S. officials can negotiate a higher limit next week with an international fisheries commission.
Meanwhile, consumers can expect stable tuna prices for the holidays as the longline fleet continues to haul in a steady stream of fresh ahi to Honolulu’s fish auction.
The season for bigeye tuna, one of two types of fish known as ahi in Hawaii, was uninterrupted thanks in part to a quota-sharing agreement that lets the longliners fish beyond the internationally agreed upon limit for the U.S. in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean.
The Hawaii longline fleet of roughly 145 vessels, based in Honolulu, had a 2018 limit of 3,554 metric tons, which it hit Nov. 1.
But under an agreement with the Northern Mariana Islands, the longliners, as they have for the last few years, paid $250,000 into a fishery development fund and continued fishing for another 1,000 tons. The longliners were about 57 percent of the way through that extra allotment as of last week.