Hawaii Archives - Saving Seafood

HAWAII: Whale count goes on despite government shutdown

January 11, 2019 — The annual humpback whale ocean count will take place despite the federal government shutdown thanks to volunteers and the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation.

Ocean Count is a community citizen science project that occurs during the peak of whale season in the months of January to March to promote public awareness about humpback whales. Although removed from the endangered species list in 2016, most humpback whales remain a federally protected species.

It’s normally conducted by the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, which strives to protect humpback whales and their habitat in Hawaii. However, this year, the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, which is the nonprofit partner of the National Marine Sanctuary System, will coordinate the count because of the shutdown.

“Through the support of dedicated volunteers, Ocean Count has provided more than 20 years of data that supplements scientific research and helps monitor humpback whales during their annual migration to the Hawaiian Islands,” said Kris Sarri, the foundation’s president and CEO.

“Fewer humpback whales are being observed in the main Hawaiian Islands in recent years, and we don’t know why,” she added. “Unfortunately, critical sanctuary research that could help us understand these changes is on hold indefinitely due to the government shutdown.”

Read the full story at West Hawaii Today

Massachusetts Joins Several States to Support Offshore Drilling Bans

January 9, 2019 — Legislators from several states, including Massachusetts, announced a collaborative effort to protect their regions from offshore drilling.

More than 225 lawmakers from coastal states have voiced their opposition to the Trump Administration’s proposed OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program.

Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket State Representative Dylan Fernandes joined legislators from Georgia, Hawaii, Maine, New York, Oregon, New Hampshire and Rhode Island to announce legislative initiatives in each state to block offshore drilling in state waters now and in the future.

Connecticut legislators could not participate on the conference call but will also introduce a ban bill.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

By Land And Sea, The Shutdown Takes Its Toll On Hawaii

January 8, 2019 — On New Year’s Eve, a deadly fire broke out aboard the cargo ship Sincerity Ace in remote waters about halfway between Japan and Hawaii, killing at least four of the vessel’s crew members.

The Hawaii-based U.S. Coast Guard personnel who helped rescue the survivors by dropping life rafts, rations and other supplies from two HC-130 Hercules planes did so having no idea when they’d receive their next paycheck.

They still don’t know.

“If there’s a threat to the safety of life and the environment, we’ll be there,” Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Sara Muir said Friday. “But the government shutdown does cause limitations to the service, and the longer it goes on the more impacts we’ll begin to see.”

As that partial government shutdown stretches into its third week, an analysis by the website Wallet Hub found Hawaii — and its large per-capita share of federal employees — among the states most heavily hit.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

NOAA reminds people to watch out for humpback whales as they migrate to Hawaii

December 20, 2018 — As humpback whale season gets underway, the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary reminds the public that the marine mammals are protected by state and federal laws.

The numbers may vary from year to year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, but an estimated 12,000 humpback whales migrate from their feeding grounds off Alaska to breed, calve, and nurse their young in the warm waters of Hawaii.

While some whales have already arrived, the majority are expected to visit Hawaii between January and March.

NOAA reminds the public that federal regulations prohibit approaching humpback whales within 100 yards when on or in the water, and within 1,000 feet when operating an aircraft. NOAA also recommends that vessels travel at a slow, safe speed in areas where a whale strike may occur, with research showing that collisions occurring at speeds above 10 knots cause more whale deaths and serious injuries.

Additional guides and safety tips are available at this link.

Read the full story at The Honolulu Star Advertiser

NOAA: Hawai‘i Humpback Whale Season Underway

December 19, 2018 — NOAA’s Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary reminds the public that humpback whale season in Hawai‘i is underway.

Although the number may vary from year to year, scientists estimate that as many as 12,000 humpback whales migrate from their feeding grounds off Alaska to breed, calve, and nurse their young in the warm waters of Hawai‘i. While some whales have already arrived, the majority will be in Hawai‘i between January and March.

Iconic humpback whales in Hawai‘i are protected by state and federal agencies. Approaching humpback whales when on or in the water within 100 yards or within 1,000 feet by air is illegal.

“Collisions between whales and vessels occur annually, presenting serious risks to boaters as well as the whales,” said Edward Lyman, large whale entanglement response coordinator for the sanctuary. “Whale calves are particularly vulnerable because they are difficult to see and surface more often.”

Humpback whales can also get entangled in fishing gear, which can result in starvation, physical trauma and infections, and may contribute to vessel strikes since the animals are less mobile.

The Hawaiian Islands Large Whale Entanglement Response Network, a community-based effort led by the sanctuary, supports large whale response efforts statewide under the authorization of NOAA Fisheries. The network involves many state and federal agencies, including the State of Hawai‘i Department of Land and Natural Resources, NOAA Fisheries Pacific Islands Regional Office, and the U.S. Coast Guard, as well as private non-governmental organizations, fishermen, researchers and other individuals.

Read the full story at MauiWatch

Japanese boat owners charged with helping smuggle shark fins

December 17, 2018 — U.S. prosecutors in Hawaii are accusing the owners and officers of a Japanese fishing boat of helping Indonesian fishermen smuggle nearly 1,000 shark fins, worth about $58,000 on the black market.

It’s against U.S. law to remove the fins of sharks at sea. Prosecutors say the fishermen harvested fins from sharks that were still alive, then discarded their carcasses into the ocean. Fins are a pricey delicacy often used in soups

The boat’s owner, Japanese business Hamada Suisan Co. Ltd., and JF Zengyoren, a Japanese fishing cooperative that the vessel belongs to, were charged with aiding and abetting the trafficking and smuggling of 962 shark fins, the U.S. attorney’s office in Hawaii said. The boat’s captain, fishing master and first engineer were also charged.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

Fishing crew charged with shark fin trafficking

December 12, 2018 — The owner and officers of a Japanese-flagged fishing vessel were charged in federal court Tuesday with aiding and abetting the trafficking and smuggling of nearly 1,000 shark fins into and out of Hawaii last month.

During a year-long tuna-fishing expedition, the crew of a Japanese fishing boat —the M.V. Kyoshin Maru No. 20 — allegedly harvested fins from about 300 sharks, at least some species of which are protected under the Endangered Species Act and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

One of those species, the oceanic white tip shark, has declined in population by about 80-95 percent across the Pacific Ocean since the mid-1990s, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

According to a U.S. Department of Justice press release, the crew cut the shark fins off, “in some instances while the sharks were stunned but still alive, and discarded the finless carcasses into the ocean,” all under the supervision of the captain and at the direction of the ship’s officers.

The illegally-harvested fins were discovered in the luggage of 10 Indonesian nationals, who had been employed as fishermen on the boat. The Indonesian fishermen had been dropped off from the fishing boat at a port in Honolulu and were intending to catch a flight to Jakarta.

Read the full story at The Garden Island

Hawaii Tuna Fishermen Want Higher Quotas

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.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

ISSF: WCPFC December meeting is chance to review tuna measures

November 30, 2018 — All of the tuna stocks under the oversight of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), except for Pacific bluefin, are at “green” or healthy levels, the International Sustainable Seafood Foundation (ISSF) reports.

However, the WCPFC meeting scheduled for Dec. 9-14, in Honolulu, Hawaii, is a chance to review supporting measures proposed by ISSF and also the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to better preserve tropical tuna species, suggest Claire van der Geest, an ISSF strategy policy advisor, and Bubba Cook, the WWF’s western and central Pacific Ocean tuna program manager, in a blog posted this week by ISSF.

Those include strengthening the management of fish aggregating devices (FADs) by using non-entangling designs and also improving the management of at-sea transshipment practices to reduce Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing activities as well as bad labor practices.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Food chain disruption eyed in Hawaii whale sighting decline

November 29, 2018 — Research into the decline of humpback whale sightings in Hawaii points to a food chain disruption likely caused by warmer ocean temperatures in the whales’ feeding grounds in Alaska, federal officials have said.

U.S. and international researchers, wildlife managers and federal officials were meeting in Honolulu on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the decline in sightings of humpbacks that traditionally migrate each autumn from Alaska, where they feed during the summer months, to Hawaii, where they mate and give birth during the winter.

Data presented at the meetings shows a strong correlation between warming oceans and the missing whales, said Christine Gabriele, a federal wildlife biologist who monitors humpbacks at Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska.

Three factors have warmed the ocean in Alaska since 2014, the same year scientists noticed a decline in sightings in Hawaii.

There was a change in an ocean current known as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, a warm El Nino period in 2016, and a massive “blob” of warm water in the region.

The Pacific Decadal Oscillation, a current that switches between cool and warm periods over the course of many years, switched to warm in 2014.

Data shows that “it was more favorable for the whales when we were in a cold period, and then less favorable when the (Pacific Decadal Oscillation) switches to warm,” Gabriele said.

Read the full story at The Hawaii Tribune Herald