Saving Seafood

US congressional committee turns up heat on Western Pacific council’s handling of funds

September 5, 2019 — Four influential members of the US Congress have requested a federal investigation into the use by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (Wespac) of millions of dollars of funds intended to promote conservation, reports the Honolulu Civil Beat, an investigative journal based in Hawaii.

In a letter sent Aug. 29, Democratic representatives Raul Grijalva, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee; Jared Huffman, chairman of the Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife; Ed Case, from Hawaii; and Gregorio Sablan, an independent representative from the Northern Mariana Islands, asked Peggy Gustafson, the US Department of Commerce’s inspector general, to conduct a “comprehensive review of the Western Pacific Sustainable Fisheries Fund…and report on lapses in transparency and accountability and possible waste and abuse of government funds”.

The fund, which was initially seeded by millions of dollars in fines against foreign vessels fishing illegally in US Pacific islands, now relies on contributions made by the Hawaii Longline Association, a group that represents most of the state’s 144-vessel fleet.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

WPRFMC: BiOp Shows Hawai’i Longline Swordfish Fishery Poses No Jeopardy to Sea Turtles

July 2, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The National Marine Fisheries Service issued a biological opinion last week that shows the Hawai’i shallow-set longline fishery does not jeopardize loggerhead or leatherback sea turtles, according to the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council.

The Council deferred making final recommendations on the management of loggerhead and leatherback sea turtle interactions in the fishery three times since October 2018 as it awaited the final document. It again deferred action as the 500-page document was provided to Council members only 30 minutes before it took up the issue on its agenda during last week’s meeting.

Council Member Michael Goto noted the gravity of the BiOp. The fishery, which accounts for half of the U.S. swordfish production, is currently closed due to a settlement made in the 9th Circuit Court, which found inconsistencies in the previous 2012 BiOp. Goto argued against making “a snap decision on a process that took almost a year to complete,” he stated in a press release. ” … In my opinion, the review can’t be done within the course of day.”

To ensure Council members have time to read the 500-page document, the Council will take up final action during a special meeting to be held by teleconference in late July or early August. In advance of this meeting, the Council will convene its Scientific and Statistical Committee and the Hawai’i Advisory Panel to review and make recommendations for Council consideration.

The Council’s initial recommendation was to manage the fishery under annual fleet-wide limits of 16 leatherbacks and 36 loggerheads. It also recommended trip limits of two leatherback and five loggerheads per vessel. Once either limit is reached, the vessel would be required to immediately return to port after which they may resume shallow-set fishing. The fishery has 100 percent observer coverage to monitor every turtle interaction encountered by a shallow-set vessel.

The final BiOp authorizes the accidental hooking and subsequent release of 21 leatherbacks and 36 loggerheads. However, if the fleetwide leatherback interaction reaches 16, the BiOp requires the fishery be closed for the remainder of the calendar year, according to the WPRFMC statement. The final BiOp also includes the Council’s recommended trip limit of two leatherbacks or five loggerheads per vessel per trip. However, once a vessel reaches this trip limit twice in a year it can no longer shallow-set fish for the remainder of the year.

Furthermore, the following year that vessel would be allowed to reach the trip limit only once before it is prohibited from shallow-setting for the remainder of the year. There is no hard cap required in the new BiOp for loggerhead turtles, which has a stable and increasing population.

During public comments on this item, Hawaii Longline Association Executive Director Eric Kingma said that, since 2004, the fishery has been operating under the most restrictive regime possible for the fishery, including hard caps for sea turtle interactions, 100 percent observer coverage, gear and bait requirements, release and handling requirements, set limits and set certificates. Those measures reduced the fishery’s interactions with sea turtle by more than 90 percent and are now the standards internationally for shallow-set fisheries for swordfish

“This fishery is not jeopardizing the continued existence of these sea turtle populations, or any other ESA-listed population,” Kingma said in the press release. He described the measures as “overly punitive” and “not consistent with the impact. … [We] have a highly regulated fishery, one of the most regulated fisheries in the world, the most highly monitored regime, 100 percent observer coverage. You can’t get any more certain than that. … And we know the impact. The impact on these species is non-jeopardy.”

Kingma said HLA supports the trip limits but not the hard caps because they are “a blunt measure that is not the appropriate match to the impact.” Furthermore, HLA supported the Council deferring because “no one should be put in that position where they have to make a decision upon receiving a 500-page document,” Kingma said in the release.

In related matters, the Council also requested NMFS complete the Endangered Species Act Section 7 consultations for the Hawai’i deep-set and American Samoa longline fisheries by Sept. 1, and for the U.S. tropical purse-seine fishery by Oct. 1. The Council further requested that NMFS provide the Council with any draft Reasonable and Prudent Measures or Reasonable and Prudent Alternatives prior to the release of the entire draft BiOp, as well as the full draft BiOp.

The following was released by SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Fishery Managers Recommend Removing Bigeye Tuna Quota Limit for US Pacific Territories Consistent with International Provisions

June 28, 2019 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, yesterday in Honolulu, recommended removing the 2,000 metric (mt) annual catch limit for bigeye tuna caught by longline in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) for the US Pacific Territories of American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). Removal of the catch limit would bring parity between the US Territories and other Territories and Small Island Developing States (SIDs) in the region. The recommendation will go the US Secretary of Commerce for approval as part of Amendment 9 to the Pacific Pelagic Fishery Ecosystem Plan (FEP) for the Western Pacific Region.

Under the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), an international regional fishery management organization to which the United States belongs, Participating Territories (including the US Territories) and SIDS have no longline-caught bigeye tuna limit in the WCPO. This is because the WCPFC recognizes the aspiration of SIDS and Participating Territories to develop their fisheries. The Council, however, recommended and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) established limits of 2,000 mt per US Territory under Amendment 7 of the Pelagic FEP for the Western Pacific Region. This was at a time when there was some concern about the status of the Pacific bigeye tuna stock. Subsequently, the 2017 and 2018 bigeye tuna stock assessments by the Pacific Community (SPC), the science provider for the WCPFC, show the Western stock as being neither overfished nor experiencing overfishing.

Besides removing the WCPO longline-caught bigeye limit for the US Territories, the Council yesterday recommended that each US Territory be allowed to allocate up to 1,500 mt of its quota to federally permitted, Hawai’i-based longline vessels under specified fishing agreements for fishing years 2020 through 2023. Currently under Amendment 7 of the Pelagic FEP, the allocation level is set at 1,000 mt per Territory per year.

Fees paid by vessels to the Territories under these agreements are deposited into the Western Pacific Sustainable Fisheries Fund (WPSFF) for projects identified by the governor of each Territory in its respective Marine Conservation Plan (MCP). The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Pacific Islands Regional Office oversees the WPSFF, while the Council administers sub-awards from the fund to the Territories. The Council has recommended that fees from the agreements go directly to the Territories, which would require a revision to the section regarding the WPSFF in the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

Eric Kingma, executive director of the Hawaii Longline Association (HLA), noted during public comments that the allocation increase would provide “more flexibility in these agreements, as well as the utilization of a resource that is not experiencing overfishing or overfished, and the opportunity for Territories to benefit.”

FAST FACTS ABOUT THE HAWAII LONGLINE BIGEYE TUNA FISHERY AND QUOTA

  • Local longline fleet for bigeye tuna is the largest food producer in Hawai’i, landingabout 5,358 mt based on 2017 data. This better reflects the capacity of the fleet and the demand of its market.
  • About 80 percent of the landings remain in the islands, yet the amount of imports of fish species targeted by the local fisheries has been increasing.
  • The US quota of longline-caught bigeye tuna in the WPCO set by the WCPFC for 2018-2020 is 3,554 mt. This amount is based on the catch by the Hawai’i-based longline fleet in 2014 minus a few incremental decreases over the years.

Under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976, the Council has authority over fisheries seaward of state waters in Hawaiʻi and other US Pacific Islands. The Council meeting concludes today at the YWCA Fuller Hall at 1040 Richards St. For more information, go to www.wpcouncil.org; email info@wpcouncil.org or phone (808) 522-8220.

HAWAII: Swordfish season could re-open later this year

April 10, 2019 — A sudden end to the “Swordfish Season” for Hawaii long-liners, but not because the fish stock is running low.  Instead, it is because of run-ins with another ocean creature.

While those fishing boats are now idle, Hawaii’s swordfish season could get a second wind.

Alicia’s Market in Kalihi is known for its seafood, including the swordfish it sells.

“I dry my swordfish. I have smoked swordfish, and I use a lot of the fresh nairagi,” said Leonard Kam, the owner of Alicia’s Market.

Hawaii’s longline fishing boats are no longer reeling them in as swordfish season has come to an end.

“This year the swordfish industry is closed, it closed about two weeks ago,” stated Eric Kingma the Executive Director for the Hawaii Longline Association.

Read the full story at KITV4

 

National Coalition for Fishing Communities: An Open Letter to America’s Chefs

October 31, 2018 — WASHINGTON — The following was released by Saving Seafood’s National Coalition for Fishing Communities:

Members of the National Coalition for Fishing Communities have long believed that the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) is one of the great success stories in fisheries management. Originally co-sponsored in the House over 40 years ago by Reps. Don Young (R-Alaska) and Gerry Studds (D-Massachusetts), the MSA has become a worldwide model, and is one of the reasons the U.S. has some of the best-managed and most sustainable fish stocks in the world. The bill is named for its Senate champions, Warren Magnuson (D-Washington) and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska).

But we are concerned by a new “nationwide #ChefsForFish campaign targeted at the new 2019 Congress, to launch after the elections in early November,” being organized by the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which the Aquarium calls the “next phase” of its “defense” of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. The Monterey Bay Aquarium described this campaign in an October 25 email sent to its “Blue Ribbon Task Force chefs.” The email asked this network of chefs to support the “Portland Pact for Sustainable Seafood” (attached).

On the surface, the Portland Pact matter-of-factly states sound principles:

  • “Requiring management decisions be science-based;
  • Avoiding overfishing with catch limits and tools that hold everyone accountable for the fish that they remove from the ocean; and
  • Ensuring the timely recovery of depleted fish stocks.”

However, in the last Congress, the Monterey Bay Aquarium used similar language to falsely characterize legitimate attempts to pass needed improvements to the MSA as betraying these principles. In fact, these changes would have made the landmark law even better.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has repeatedly called on Congress to reject efforts, such as H.R. 200, which passed the U.S. House in July, and was sponsored by the now Dean of the House Don Young, that would amend the Act to introduce needed updates for U.S. fisheries management. If the chefs being asked to sign onto the Portland Pact were to talk to our fishermen, they would know how important these reforms are for the health of our nation’s fishing communities.

Any suggestion that the original co-sponsor of the bill would, 40 years later, act to undermine America’s fisheries, is inappropriate. In fact, most of the “fishing groups” that opposed Congressman Young’s bill, are financially supported by environmental activists and their funders.

No legislation, no matter how well designed is perfect or timeless. In fact, Congress has twice made significant revisions to the MSA, first in 1996 with the passage of the Sustainable Fisheries Act and in 2007 with the MSA Reauthorization Act. Like many other valued and successful laws, the Magnuson-Stevens Act is both working well, and in need of updates.

We agree that “management decisions be science-based.” One of the most significant issues with the current MSA is that it requires that fish stocks be rebuilt according to rigid, arbitrary timeframes that have no scientific or biological basis. Bills like H.R. 200, officially the Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act, would instead require that stocks be rebuilt according to an appropriate biological timeframe determined by the regional councils that manage the stocks.

H.R. 200 would also introduce other important measures that would better allow the councils to adapt their management plans to fit changing ecological conditions and the needs of fishing communities, which will become increasingly important as our coastal areas experience the effects of climate change.

American fishermen, like many American chefs, are committed to sustainable fishing and healthy oceans. Our businesses need sustainable, abundant fish stocks for us to make a living, and we all want a thriving resource that we can pass down to the next generation. We would never endorse a law that would threaten the long-term survival of our environment or our industry. That is why we endorse changes to the MSA that would ensure both.

We ask that any chef who is considering signing onto the Monterey Bay Aquarium letter to Congress first consult the local fishermen who supply them with fresh, quality products to learn how this law affects their communities.

NCFC members are available to connect chefs with seafood industry leaders, who would be happy to discuss how the MSA can be updated to help both fish and fishermen.

Sincerely,

Alliance of Communities for Sustainable Fisheries
Kathy Fosmark, Co-Chair
CA

Atlantic Red Crab Company
Jon Williams, President
MA

California Wetfish Producers Association
Diane Pleschner-Steele
CA

Delmarva Fisheries Association
Capt. Rob Newberry, Chairman
MD, VA

Fishermen’s Dock Co-Op
Jim Lovgren, Board Member
NJ

Garden State Seafood Association
Greg DiDomenico, Executive Director
NJ

Hawaii Longline Association
Sean Martin, Executive Director
HI

Long Island Commercial Fishermen’s Association
Bonnie Brady, Executive Director
NY

Lunds Fisheries, Inc.
Wayne Reichle, President
CA, NJ

Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance
Rich Fuka, Executive Director
RI

Seafreeze, Ltd.
Meghan Lapp, Fisheries Liaison
RI

Southeastern Fisheries Association
Bob Jones, Executive Director
FL

Viking Village
Jim Gutowski, Owner
NJ

West Coast Seafood Processors Association
Lori Steele, Executive Director
CA, WA, OR

Western Fishboat Owners Association
Wayne Heikkila, Executive Director
AK, CA, OR, WA

PRESS CONTACT

Bob Vanasse
bob@savingseafood.org 
202-333-2628

View the letter here

 

WPRFMC Managers Recommend Changes to Swordfish Longline Fishery in Light of Turtle Interactions

June 14, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Federal fishery managers recommended measures to manage sea turtle interactions in the Hawaii shallow-set longline fishery targeting swordfish this week in Hawaii.

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council recommended amending the Pelagic Fishery Ecosystem Plan (FEP) for the Western Pacific Region to establish a framework that consists of:

a) annual fleet-wide limits on the number of North Pacific loggerhead and leatherback interactions. Once either of these interaction limits is reached, the fishery closes for the remainder of the year; and

b) individual trip interaction limits for loggerhead and leatherback turtles. When a vessel has reached the limit on a trip, the vessel would be required to return to port and may resume shallow-setting upon providing the required 72-hour notice to National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for observer placement.

The North Pacific loggerhead population in Japan has been increasing at about 9 percent annually. Mike Seki, director of NMFS Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, characterized the population as “robust.”

NMFS has reinitiated formal consultation under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for the continued operation of the Hawaii shallow-set fishery. The Council anticipates NMFS will complete consultation and issue a new biological opinion for the fishery by Oct. 31, 2018.

Based upon the current NMFS biological evaluation to support this consultation, the Council anticipates the new opinion will authorize the take of no more than 37 North Pacific loggerheads and 21 leatherbacks. Accordingly, the Council recommended an annual fleet-wide limit of 37 North Pacific loggerheads and 21 leatherbacks, effective Jan. 1, 2019, and an individual trip limit of five North Pacific loggerhead turtles. The Council did not recommend specifying a leatherback turtle trip limit at this time. The effectiveness of the loggerhead turtle trip limit and potential need for leatherback turtle limit would be monitored annually, the Council said in a press release.

At the same time, the Council recommended a sea turtle interaction avoidance pilot program be established utilizing an industry-led fleet communication system. It also requested NMFS conduct further research on the sea turtle issue for this fishery, including research to minimize trailing gear on released loggerhead and leatherback turtles to further reduce post-hooking mortality rates.

Last week, the WPRFMC’s Scientific and Statistical Committee noted the Hawaii shallow-set fleet likely poses less biological risk to turtle populations than other fleets operating in the region, the SSC said in a statement. The industry and managers have recognized this in the past, when lawsuits forced the swordfish fishery to close completely or for part of the year.

The Hawaii Longline Association, NMFS and Turtle Island Restoration Network and other plaintiffs agreed to a settlement agreement in May to close the Hawaii shallow-set longline fishery for the rest of this year.

Hawaii vessels must adhere to numerous regulatory measures, such as the interaction caps, mandatory observers on all trips to monitor protected species interactions, mandatory use of circle hooks and mackerel-type bait to reduce the risk of hooking sea turtles and mandatory equipment for and training in the safe release of live turtles — some other countries do not adhere to such strict regulatory measures.

The SSC also noted that North Pacific loggerhead nesting beach trends in Japan were much higher in the last decade than in previous years.

This story originally appeared on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Hawaii Longline Swordfish Fishery Closed for Rest of Year; Industry Helped Negotiate Closure

May 15, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — In the ups and downs of the Hawaiian swordfish fishery, the recent May 8 closure for the rest of the year was no surprise to the industry. Longliners worked with the National Marine Fisheries Service and plaintiffs of a recent lawsuit to comply with a court order.

The Turtle Island Restoration Network, Center for Biological Diversity and Earthjustice originally sued the Department of Commerce over a 2012 biological opinion that allowed the shallow set longline fishery to take a certain number of loggerhead and leatherback sea turtles every year. The U.S. District Court of Hawaii ruled in NMFS’ favor, so the ENGOs appealed. The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a split decision on Dec. 27, 2017, affirming the BiOp regarding leatherback sea turtles, but not for loggerhead turtles. The Hawaii Longline Association, which filed as interveners, were party to the settlement negotiations with the plaintiffs and NMFS, which were outlined in a May 4, 2018 agreement and court order. The result for 2018 was closure for the rest of the year.

While ENGOs are cheering the outcome as a victory for sea turtles, it’s somewhat of a pyrrhic victory and does more to promote an agenda for the plaintiffs rather than have any actual effect this year.

“The National Marine Fisheries Service, which is supposed to be protecting our wildlife, has instead been illegally helping the longliners push sea turtles to the brink of extinction,” Earthjustice attorney Paul Achitoff said in a press release. “We won’t allow it.”

The main swordfish season usually takes place in the winter, with most landings occurring by the end of March. This year was an anomaly, Hawaii Longline Association President Sean Martin said, in that the fishery reached its annual limit of turtle interactions in January, so the fleet was already done with swordfish for the year.

“We’re on the tail end of what would be the prime season anyway,” Martin said.

The fishery will open again on Jan. 1, 2019, no matter what, Martin said. Since the court vacated the 2012 biological opinion, NMFS is working on a new one. The agency could come back with a new incidental take statement for next year’s fishing season. Or, if the BiOp and corresponding take statement are not finished by Jan. 1, the fishery will open under an incidental take allowance approved by an earlier BiOp that allowed roughly half the number of turtle interactions as the 2012 BiOp.

Federal officials note the loggerhead turtles already show signs of recovery due to a history of better management measures, such as circle hooks and using mackerel for bait — squid bait is prohibited –has proven immensely effective worldwide. Most turtles caught in the fishery are released alive.

Those measures and more, implemented in the early 2000s, reduced sea turtle interactions in the fishery by 93 percent, the Council said. Observer coverage is 100 percent; all vessel owners and operators annually attend mandatory protected species workshops; all longline vessels are required to carry specified tools to safely remove hooks and lines from the turtles and to follow safe handling, resuscitation and release procedures; vessels are monitored through a mandatory satellite-based vessel monitoring system; and longline closed areas from 0 to 50 nautical miles of the main and Northwestern Hawaiian Islands have existed since the early 1990s.

“The record of 99 percent live releases, only two mortalities in 24 years and increasing loggerhead abundance over the past two decades underscore the management success of the Hawaii shallow-set longline fishery,” Council Executive Director Kitty M. Simonds said in a press release.

Martin said most of the 30 or so longline vessels will instead turn to the deep-set longline fishery for the remainder of the year, targeting tunas.

This story originally appeared in Seafood News, it is republished here with permission.

 

Hawaii: Longliners codify ethics in push-back against human rights allegations

April 9, 2018 — Stung by lingering allegations of human trafficking and forced labor, the Hawaii fishing industry has developed a formal code of conduct, crew handbook and model employee contract aimed at protecting the workers aboard its fleet of more than 140 vessels.

“It makes the most amount of sense that we give the public a certain degree of confidence that none of this is happening in our industry,” said Khang Dang, owner of 22 fishing boats and a member of the Hawaii Longline Association board of directors.

The documents — available in five languages and distributed to fishermen in the harbor last week — are designed to let the largely foreign ranks of contract fishing crew members clearly understand their rights, benefits and grievance procedures while they are working in Hawaii.

The Hawaii Longline Association initiated the effort following a September 2016 Associated Press investigation that brought national attention to allegations of forced labor, human trafficking, mistreatment and unsafe conditions.

The owners of the boats that make up the Pacific fishing fleet based in Honolulu were portrayed as taking advantage of a loophole in federal law to abuse foreign workers via inhumane working conditions, broken contracts and lousy pay.

The report prompted wholesale buyers and retailers to question whether the fish being sold was ethically sourced and led to an effort by state lawmakers to propose leveraging state fishing licenses to improve conditions in the industry.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Star Advertiser

 

NCFC Members Reaffirm Support for Interior Department’s Marine Monument Recommendations

December 5, 2017 — The following was released by Saving Seafood’s National Coalition for Fishing Communities:

Following today’s official release of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s recommendations to alter three marine national monuments, members of Saving Seafood’s National Coalition for Fishing Communities are reiterating their support for these recommendations, which will lessen the economic burden on America’s fishing communities while still providing environmental protections for our ocean resources.

In September, NCFC members expressed initial support for the changes when a draft of the recommendations were reported in the press. Because the final recommendations are identical to those initially reported, NCFC members stand by their initial statement, which is reproduced below:

Secretary Zinke’s recommendations to President Donald Trump would allow commercial fishing managed under the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) in the recently designated Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. He also  recommended revising the boundaries or allowing commercial fishing under the MSA in the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument and the Rose Atoll Marine National Monument. NCFC members in the Pacific hope that the White House will extend these recommendations to the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, and appreciate the open and transparent process by which Secretary Zinke reviewed these designations.

Marine monument expansions and designations have been widely criticized by commercial fishing interests as well as by the nation’s eight regional fishery management councils, which in a May 16 letter told Secretary Zinke and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross that marine monument designations “have disrupted the ability of the Councils to manage fisheries throughout their range.” Fishing industry members believe these monuments were created with insufficient local input from stakeholders affected by the designations, and fishing communities felt largely ignored by previous administrations.

“The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument was designated after behind-closed-door campaigns led by large, multinational, environmental lobbying firms, despite vocal opposition from local and federal officials, fisheries managers, and the fishing industry,” said Eric Reid, general manager of Seafreeze Shoreside in Narragansett, R.I., who has been critical of the Obama Administration’s process in designating the monument. “But the reported recommendations from the Interior Department make us hopeful that we can recover the areas we have fished sustainably for decades. We are grateful that the voices of fishermen and shore side businesses have finally been heard,” Mr. Reid concluded.

“There seems to be a huge misconception that there are limitless areas where displaced fishermen can go,” said Grant Moore, president of the Atlantic Offshore Lobstermen’s Association. “Basically with the stroke of a pen, President Obama put fishermen and their crews out of work and harmed all the shore-side businesses that support the fishing industry.”

“The fisheries management process under the existing Magnuson Act is far from perfect, but its great strength is that it has afforded ample opportunities for all stakeholders to study and comment on policy decisions, and for peer review of the scientific basis for those decisions,” stated Mayor Jon Mitchell of New Bedford, Massachusetts, the nation’s top-grossing commercial fishing port. In March, Mayor Mitchell submitted testimony to Congress expressing concern over marine monuments. “The marine monument designation process may have been well intended, but it has simply lacked a comparable level of industry input, scientific rigor, and deliberation. That is why I think hitting the reset button ought to be welcomed no matter where one stands in the current fisheries debates, because the end result will be better policy and better outcomes,” Mayor Mitchell concluded.

Fishermen in the Pacific are also supportive of the Interior Department’s review, but remain concerned about the effects of the Papahānaumokuākea Monument, which was omitted from the version of the recommendations being reported. “We are appreciative of Secretary Zinke’s review, and his reported recommendations to support commercial fishing in the Pacific Remote Islands Monument,” said Sean Martin, president of the Hawaii Longline Association. Hawaii’s longline fishing fleet supplies a large portion of the fresh tuna and other fish consumed in Hawaii. “However, we hope that the White House will extend these recommendations to the Papahānaumokuākea Monument, where President Obama closed an area nearly the size of Alaska without a substantive public process. The longline fleet caught about 2 million pounds of fish annually from the expanded area before it was closed to our American fishermen. That was a high price to pay for a presidential legacy,” Mr. Martin continued.

The recommended changes come after an extensive and open public comment period in which the Interior Department solicited opinions from scientists, environmentalists, industry stakeholders, and members of the public. As part of the Interior Department’s review process, Secretary Zinke engaged with communities around the country affected by monument designations. This included a meeting with local fishermen in Boston who explained how the designation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Monument has negatively impacted their livelihoods.

Critics of the monument designation include the regional fishery management councils; numerous fishing groups on the East Coast; and mayors from fishing communities on both coasts.

Additionally, fishery managers in Hawaii have been critical of expansions of both the Papahānaumokuākea Monument and the Pacific Remote Islands Monument. In an April 26 letter to Secretary Zinke, the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council stated that marine monuments around Hawaii “impose a disproportionate burden on our fishermen and indigenous communities,” and noted that they have closed regulated domestic commercial fishing in 51 percent of the U.S. exclusive economic zone in the region.

Florida charter fishermen applauded the review, and a return to the process of established law that guides fishery management. “Destin, Florida was founded by commercial fishermen before the turn of the 20th century, and continues to be a major port for commercial and charter fishing fleets,” said Captain Gary Jarvis, president of the Destin Charter Boat Association. “To our fishing community, it’s extremely important to address closures of historical fishing grounds through the Magnuson-Stevens mandated regional council process.”

Curiously, although President Obama’s September 2016 monument designation prohibited sustainable low-impact commercial fishing, it allowed other extractive activities including recreational fishing, and even far more destructive activities such as the digging of trenches for international communications cables.

NCFC members supporting the Interior Department’s reported recommendations include:

  • Atlantic Offshore Lobstermen’s Association
  • Destin Charter Boat Association
  • Fisheries Survival Fund
  • Garden State Seafood Association
  • Hawaii Longline Association
  • Long Island Commercial Fishing Association
  • North Carolina Fisheries Association
  • Seafreeze Shoreside
  • Southeastern Fisheries Association
  • Western Fishboat Owners Association
  • West Coast Seafood Processors Association

Learn more about the National Coalition for Fishing Communities here.

 

Bill introduced allowing Hawaii’s foreign fishermen onshore

November 2, 2017 — HONOLULU — Hundreds of foreign fishermen currently confined to vessels in Honolulu for years at a time would be allowed to come ashore when they dock under legislation introduced Thursday in Congress.

The Sustainable Fishing Workforce Protection Act offers workplace protections a year after an Associated Press investigation found that Hawaii’s commercial fishing fleet is crewed by about 700 men who are never allowed off their boats, even when they come into the Honolulu Harbor to unload their catch.

Just a few miles from the sands of Waikiki, they work without visas, some making less than $1 an hour. Conditions vary — while some of the 140 boats are clean and safe, AP found some fishing crews living in squalor, forced to use buckets instead of toilets and suffering running sores from bed bugs. There have been instances of human trafficking, active tuberculosis and low food supplies.

They lack most basic labor protections during their one or two year stints onboard, catching premium tuna and swordfish sold at some of America’s most upscale grocery stores, hotels and restaurants.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution