Saving Seafood

Guam Not Paid Directly For Selling Tuna Quota

HAGÅTÑA, Guam (Pacific Daily News) — Dec. 23, 2015 — Hawaii longline fishermen’s $200,000 payment to use half of Guam’s bigeye tuna catch limit isn’t being paid to Guam directly.

Federal regulations require that payment to be deposited into the Western Pacific Sustainable Fisheries Fund, which in turn pays for fishery development projects for Guam, said Sylvia Spalding, communications officer for the Honolulu-based Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council.

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council is one of eight that Congress established in 1976 to have authority over fisheries in their respective jurisdictions. The Western Pacific council includes Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Marianas.

Hawaii has exceeded its catch limit of 3,500 metric tons for this year, so it’s using half of Guam’s quota of 2,000 metric tons of bigeye tuna catch for the remaining month of the year. Without using Guam’s quota, Hawaii would have faced a shortage of fish for sashimi and other popular holiday dishes, according to The Associated Press.

Environmentalists have criticized the process that allows Hawaii bigeye tuna fishermen to use a loophole by using quotas for other jurisdictions like Guam, the Northern Marianas and American Samoa.

David Henkin, an attorney for Earthjustice, said, according to the AP report, that all developed fisheries — like Hawaii’s longline fishery — need to reduce their catch to make sure bigeye is available for future generations.

Read the full story from Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno at the Pacific Daily News

 

Hawaii-based longline fishermen allowed to keep catching ahi

November 28, 2015 — HONOLULU (AP) ” Hawaii-based longline fishermen have exhausted multiple catch limits for ahi this year, but federal regulators said Friday a new agreement will ensure the fish will be available in the state through the holidays.

Regulators have approved a deal allowing Hawaii fishermen to attribute up to 1,000 metric tons of bigeye tuna catch to Guam, said Mike Tosatto, National Marine Fisheries Service regional administrator for the Pacific Islands.

The agreement will enable Hawaii fishermen to keep catching ahi as usual and deliver their haul to Honolulu. In exchange, Hawaii fishermen will pay $200,000 toward the development of the fishing industry on Guam.

“We want to inform the public that fish will continue to be available through the holidays,” Tosatto said.

Environmentalists say the arrangement contributes to the overfishing of bigeye tuna in the western and central Pacific.

“There’s just absolutely no way to reconcile that behavior with what the science says, which is that all fishing nations ” including the United States ” need to show some restraint. And need to reduce catch, not increase catch, which is what the fisheries service is allowing to happen here,” said David Henkin, an attorney for Earthjustice.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Bedford Standard – Times

 

Fishery Managers Agree on Catch Limits for US Pacific Territories Bottomfish, Bigeye Tuna

October 23, 2015 — UTULEI, American Samoa — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

The bottomfish annual catch limits (ACLs) in American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) should be equal to their acceptable biological catch (ABC), the Council deemed yesterday as it concluded its two-day meeting in Utulei, American Samoa. The ABCs are set by the Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee and refer to the amount of fish that can be harvested without causing overfishing. The amounts are 106,000 pounds for American Samoa; 66,000 pounds for Guam; and 228,000 pounds for CNMI. In making its decision, the Council determined that the difference between recent harvest levels and ACLs in all three island areas were sufficient to ensure the ACLs will not be exceeded.

The Council yesterday also approved the proposed management policy, goals and objectives for the American Samoa, Hawaii, Mariana, Pelagic and Pacific Remote Islands Area Fishery Ecosystem Plans (FEPs), which are undergoing a five-year review. The proposed policy is to apply responsible and proactive management practices, based on sound scientific data and analysis and inclusive of fishing community members, to conserve and manage fisheries and their associated ecosystems. The proposed goals are to 1) Conserve and manage target and non- target stocks; 2) Protect species and habitats of special concern; 3) Understand and account for important ecosystem parameters and their linkages; and 4) Meet the needs of fishermen, their families and communities. The National Marine Fisheries Service will review the draft plans to provide comprehensive agency feedback, input and guidance by mid December.

Certificates and plaques of recognition were awarded to 40 seafood vendors who are helping local and federal fishery managers better understand American Samoa’s commercial fishery. Pictured (from left) are Council Chair Ed Ebisui Jr., American Samoa DMWR Director Ruth Matagi-Tofiga, Aukuso Gabriel of Josie’s Restaurant, Charles Nelson of Equator Restaurant, Hana of P n F Mart, Council Executive Director Kitty Simonds, Tom Drabble of Sadie’s Hotels, and Michelle Shaosxia Ma and Tua Agalelei of Sunny’s Restaurant

During its two-day meeting in America Samoa, the Council also maintained its recommendation made in June to specify the 2016 US longline bigeye tuna limits for the three US Pacific Territories at 2,000 metric tons (mt) each. Up to 1,000 mt per territory would be authorized to be allocated to US fishermen through specified fishing agreements authorized under Amendment 7 of the Pelagic FEP. The Council recognized that these limits are consistent with the conservation and management framework of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission and are not impeding international conservation objectives to eliminate bigeye overfishing.

Recommendations by the Council that are regulatory are transmitted to the Secretary of Commerce for final approval.

The Council also directed staff to request that the Department of Justice consider directing funds received from fines and penalties from marine pollution violations that occur in waters of the Territory of American Samoa or in the US exclusive economic zone waters around American Samoa be provided to the American Samoa government. The funds would be used to support conservation and management activities identified in the America Samoa’s Marine Conservation Plan.

The Council officers for 2016 were selected and will remain the same as this year, with Edwin Ebisui Jr. of Hawaii as chair and Michael Duenas (Guam), John Gourley (CNMI), McGrew Rice (Hawaii) and William Sword (American Samoa) as vice chairs.

The Council also appointed Mike Tenorio to the Scientific and Statistic Committee; Peter Crispin to the Pelagic Fisheries Sub-Panel and Nonu Tuisamoa to the Ecosystem and Habitat Sub-Panel of the American Samoa Advisory Panel; Daniel Roudebush to the Ecosystem and Habitat Sub-Panel and Geoff Walker to the Pelagic Fisheries Sub Panel of the Hawaii Advisory Panel; and Archie Taotasi Soliai, StarKist manager, to the Fishing Industry Advisory Committee.

The Council provided certificates of recognition to 40 seafood vendors who provided their monthly receipts of fish sales to help improve understanding of American Samoa’s commercial fishery. Vendors who submitted 100 percent of their receipts each month for the past year received special plaques of recognition. The project is a partnership involving the Council, NMFS Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center and the American Samoa Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources.

For more on the meeting, go to www.wpcouncil.org, email info@wpcouncil.org or phone (808) 522-8220. The Council was established by Congress under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act in 1976 to manage domestic fisheries operating seaward of State waters around Hawai`i, American Samoa, Guam, the CNMI and the US Pacific Island Remote Island Areas.

Bottomfish Catch Limits Could Increase for American Samoa, Decrease for Guam

HONOLULU — October 14, 2015 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

The Scientific and Statistical Committee, a group of renowned fishery scientists who advise the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, concluded its two-day meeting in Honolulu today by setting the 2016 and 2017 acceptable biological catches (ABCs) for bottomfish in the US territories of American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). The ABCs are the amount of fish that can be harvested annually by the fisheries over time without causing overfishing of the stock.

After considering a variety of alternatives, the scientists set the ABCs to a level that corresponds to a 37 percent probability of overfishing in 2017 for American Samoa and 36 percent in 2017 for Guam and CNMI. Federal regulations allow up to a 50 percent level of overfishing. None of the bottomfish stocks in the US Pacific Island territories are currently overfished or experiencing overfishing. Historically, only Guam has experienced overfishing and only in the year 2000. Based on these risk levels, the 2016 and 2017 bottomfish ABCs are 106,000 pounds annually for American Samoa; 66,000 pounds for Guam; and 228,000 pounds for CNMI.

The Council will utilize these ABCs to recommend annual catch limits (ACLs) when it meets Oct. 21 and 22 in American Samoa. The Council could set the ACLs at the ABC levels, which it has done in the past, or recommend ACLs lower than the ABCs based on social, economic, ecological or management uncertainties. The current ACLs (fishing year 2015) are 101,000 pounds for American Samoa; 66,800 pounds for Guam; and 228,000 for CNMI.

In addition to the bottomfish ABCs, the SSC during its meeting this week considered options to address continued Pacific-wide overfishing of bigeye tuna. Reports from the scientists will be forwarded to the Council for its review. They include potential spatial management options, such as applying quotas only to the equatorial region, which is where bigeye tuna catches are highest; establishing separate quotas for each region in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean based on the stock assessment for that region; and closing the high seas to longline fishing in the area near the Line Islands that is suspected to be a bigeye tuna spawning area. The SSC also reiterated its recommendation that the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, the international organization that develops the Pacific bigeye tuna quotas, require registration of fish aggregation devices as fishing gear.

Action items on the Council’s agenda include specifying the 2016 catch limits for longline bigeye tuna for the US Pacific territories and reviewing non-regulatory modifications to the Fishery Ecosystem Plans for the Western Pacific Region. For more on the Council meeting, go to www.wpcouncil.org, email info@wpcouncil.org or phone (808) 522-8220. The Council was established by Congress under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act in 1976 to manage domestic fisheries operating seaward of State waters around Hawai`i, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the US Pacific Island Remote Island Areas. Recommendations by the Council are transmitted to the Secretary of Commerce for final approval.