Saving Seafood

Hawaii’s Fishermen Are Worried About China’s Fleet. So Is The Military

May 17, 2021 — Hawaii’s commercial fishermen and the U.S. military have a potential threat in common — China’s fleet of government-subsidized ships that has been straying into more distant waters in search of seafood and more influence.

Local longliners have reported seeing increasing numbers of Chinese vessels near the islands, accusing them of overfishing and intimidating tactics.

Sometimes the ships are fishing, sometimes they’re making their way into the eastern Pacific and sometimes they’re seemingly just sitting at sea, says Eric Kingma, executive director of the Hawaii Longline Association.

He noted that a group of Chinese vessels seemed to be loitering north of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge last week. “What are they fishing for? I don’t know,” said Kingma. “But it’s an example of them being close to Hawaii and, we believe, getting closer.”

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

Key U.S. Pacific Fishery Council Takes Vital Step to Protect Oceanic Whitetip Sharks

April 27, 2021 — The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (Wespac) took a major step forward at its March meeting by recommending the prohibition of wire leaders on the Hawaii deep-set longline tuna fishery in the western Pacific Ocean. Wire leaders, also known as steel trace, are used by vessels fishing for bigeye tuna, but when sharks are accidentally caught on the line, they are unable to free themselves and frequently die as bycatch. This is a problem for the oceanic whitetip shark, which is classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.  A switch to nylon, or monofilament, leaders, which are easier for sharks to bite through, would reduce mortality and help give this shark population a chance to recover.

In addition, the council recommended the development of a requirement to remove as much fishing line, or trailing gear, from an accidentally caught shark as possible—that is, to cut the line as close to the shark as possible before release. That would further protect sharks once freed from a longline. Council staff estimated that these two requirements would reduce mortality by 17% to 36%.

It’s now critical that the council finalize these much-needed decisions at its June meeting and that federal fishery managers implement them. The recommendations have wide support—including from the Hawaii Longline Association, which announced that its member fishing vessels would voluntarily ban wire leaders months before the council recommendation.

Read the full story at Pew Charitable Trusts

WPRFMC Scientists to Evaluate Prohibiting Wire Leaders in Hawaiʻi Longline Fishery

March 16, 2021 — The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee will meet this week to take action on several items, including consideration of longline gear changes that could help give incidentally caught sharks greater opportunity to survive.

Most vessels in the Hawai‘i deep-set longline fishery use wire leaders in the terminal portion of the branchline between the hook and the weighted swivel to reduce the risk of crew injuries resulting from flyback on the vessel. Wire leaders make it difficult to remove the terminal portion of the branch line from sharks or other protected species that cannot be brought onboard. Switching to monofilament nylon leaders would allow crew to remove gear closer to the hook and may facilitate a shark’s ability to break free by biting through the line. Tagging studies show that shorter trailing gear gives sharks a better chance of survival.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Yearbook: Fishing fleets flex

March 8, 2021 — With revenues up 3 percent in January and February of 2020, the industry was looking ahead to another strong year in the global marketplace.

In March, when restaurants across the country shuttered quickly under covid-19 outbreak restrictions, seafood supply chains ground to a halt in the early days of the pandemic. Fishermen who had been out harvesting to supply the once-solid market were stuck with their catch left unsold and their boats tied up.

In early March, New Jersey fisherman Gus Lovgren was headed to port after a Virginia summer flounder trip when his wife called him, “saying they’re shutting the country down, basically,” he recalled.

“We had been getting $1.75 to $2 (per pound). In the end we got, I think, 60 cents,” said Lovgren. “The market was flooded, and there was nothing we could do.”

Right out of the gates in April 2020, the Hawaii Longline Association worked with others in Hawaii’s fishing industry to donate 2,000 pounds of fresh seafood to Hawaii Foodbank, and planning larger deliveries.

The initial donation, coordinated with the with United Fishing Agency’s Honolulu auction, the Hawaii Seafood Council, Nico’s Pier 38, and Pacific Ocean Producers, “is the beginning of a new pilot program with the Hawaii Foodbank,” the association said.

“Through the partnership, Hawaii Foodbank plans to purchase $50,000 worth of seafood landed by Hawaii longline vessels,” according to a statement from the association. “The purchase will ensure that Hawaii Foodbank will be able to meet the needs of Hawaii residents facing hardship as a result of covid-19. It will also support Hawaii’s longline fishermen.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Hawaii longliners seek temporary visas for foreign crew

February 12, 2021 — After two decades it’s far past time to make it easier for foreign fishermen who work in the Hawaii longline fleet, industry advocates say.

The lockdown after the September 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., still reverberates in the U.S. Pacific pelagic fishery, with complicated entry rules and procedures for crew from Indonesia and the Philippines who make up the bulk of the fleet’s workforce.

“Prior to 9/11 our crewmen were allowed to fly into” Honolulu to board the fleet of some 140 longline vessels, said Eric Kingma, executive director of the Hawaii Longline Association.

“So it has been about 20 years now for our fleet not being able to fly our crew in,” he said. “This issue has been around for a while and we need to resolve it.”

During the covid-19 pandemic, the Hawaii fleet has been a vital lifeline for protein to the state’s population even while taking a huge hit in lost revenue. The state’s tourism economy is a scant 25 percent of its usual volume, and between March and July 2020 the longline fleet’s revenue was down 45 percent with the pandemic collapse in restaurant business, said Kingma.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

US seafood associations respond to human trafficking task force recommendations

February 9, 2021 — Commercial seafood organizations have begun responding to a U.S. Justice Department task force report on human trafficking in international waters.

The report, nearly three years in the making, included 27 recommendations for the federal government to eliminate loopholes or strengthen policies. Some of those recommendations include the need for congressional legislation. Among this is a recommendation to create a temporary worker visa program that would ban “recruitment fees” paid by workers on American vessels that fish in international waters but deliver products in U.S. ports.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Hawaii Longliners Take Action To Fight Poor Conditions And Human Trafficking

February 8, 2021 — The Hawaii Longline Association says it welcomes the recommendations contained in two recent reports to Congress that outline ways the seafood industry can prevent labor abuse.

The longliners, which primarily target tuna and swordfish, faced intense scrutiny after a 2016 investigation by The Associated Press found a number of foreign crewmen working the vessels were living in squalid conditions and earning as little as 70 cents an hour.

Since then, Congress has called for more oversight of the national and international seafood industry, particularly when it comes to issues of illegal fishing and human trafficking.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

Hawaii Longline Association Supports Federal Agency Recommendations Regarding Human Trafficking in the Seafood Supply Chain

February 4, 2021 — The following was released by the Hawaii Longline Association:

Human trafficking, including forced labor in fisheries and the seafood supply chain, has rightfully garnered attention in recent years. This unconscionable activity is not condoned by the Hawaii Longline Association (HLA) and other responsible fishing organizations, and has led to seafood industry-developed standards and social responsibility auditing mechanisms. Recent reports to U.S. Congress present government actions to further prevent and respond to such labor abuses including: 1) Department of Commerce and Department of State Report to Congress on Human Trafficking in the Seafood Supply Chain, Section 3563 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (P.L. 116-92) and 2) Federal Agency Task Force on Human Trafficking in Fishing in International Waters.

“The Hawaii Longline Association commends the work of federal agencies to address this important topic and supports many of the recommendations made in these reports,” said HLA Executive Director Eric Kingma.

Paramount among the recommendations covering domestic fisheries is the development of a temporary visa program for foreign fishing crews. “Providing foreign crews temporary work visas, as recommended in the Task Force report, is an important measure that would benefit foreign workers in our fishery, allowing them to go home and visit family and friends and then return to Hawaii via air travel in an efficient, humane manner,” Kingma said.

Currently, foreign fishermen employed in the fishery are ineligible to obtain a visa and thus are prohibited from flying into Honolulu. Rather, these fishermen must board their employer’s Hawaii-based longline vessel in a foreign port (e.g., Mexico or Canada) or U.S. Territory (e.g., American Samoa) and transit nearly two weeks to Honolulu to begin their legal employment, which is authorized under U.S. law (46 USC 8103(2)(b). However, despite being legally employed to fish on U.S. vessels fishing for highly migratory species in the U.S. EEZ and high seas, without visas they are required to stay within the Honolulu Harbor port area. The only exception to leave the port area is for medical visits or to depart from Honolulu International Airport with permission from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

The majority of the 140 active longline vessels operating out of Honolulu Harbor have legally employed foreign crew for over 30 years. Like migrant farm and food processing workers employed across the nation, these skilled fishermen temporarily leave their countries to seek higher paying jobs in the United States, to support their families back home. Other U.S. tuna fleets that fish on the high seas also employ foreign crew, including U.S. distant water purse seine vessels, West Coast-based albacore vessels, and East Coast-based longline vessels. Hawaii longline crew are mainly from Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, and Pacific Island countries.

Read the full release here

HAWAII: City details food assistance efforts amid coronavirus pandemic

December 17, 2020 — The City launched a slew of programs this year with aims to help Oahu families and individuals struggling to access food during the pandemic.

Programs included “Farm to Food,” which offered free meals from farmers to residents in need. A similar program called “Fish to Dish” extended support to Hawaii’s fishing industry while also distributing fresh fish to communities across Oahu.

Other programs included 20 free food distribution events and 127 smaller food pop-up events. The City has also partnered with the Hawaii Longline Association, the Honolulu Fish Auction, the Hawaii Seafood Council and the Hawaii FoodBank to help feed people in need.

Read the full story at KHON

Western Pacific Council Supports Longliners’ Request to Test Bird Scaring Lines

December 8, 2020 — The Hawaii Longline Association is continuing its efforts to be proactive at mitigating or avoiding effects to threatened or endangered species. In this case, seabirds.

The Association requested an experimental fishing permit for the deep-set longline fishery to test tori line efficacy without the use of blue-dyed bait when fishing north of 23° N. latitude when the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council met last week. The Council endorsed the application and recommended the National Marine Fisheries Service issue the permit as soon as possible. If approved, the permit would be the first of its kind issued in the Western Pacific Region and field trials could start in early 2021, the Council said in a press release.

Read the full story at Seafood News