Saving Seafood

Expedition Discovers Rich Coral Life at Marine Monument

December 14, 2021 — Incredibly rich and diverse deep coral and sponge communities are thriving in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, researchers concluded after a 20-day deep-sea research expedition.

The team of NOAA, Ocean Exploration Trust, researchers and partners returned from the voyage on Dec. 6. What they encountered during the course of their work blew them away.

“The sheer size and density of some of these ancient sponges boggles my mind. This expedition shows me what a treasure we have in the monument,” said Dr. Christopher Kelley, retired University of Hawai’i researcher and one of the leaders of the expedition. “In my 21 years exploring the deep-sea environment of Hawai’i, and well over 100 submersible and ROV dives in the archipelago, the communities on these seamounts have to rank as some of the best I have seen.”

The research team reported their findings in a press release issued Monday, Dec. 13.

Read the full story at Big Island Now

How This Hawaiian Fish Went From “Trash” To Sustainable Food Source

December 13, 2021 — On a Sunday afternoon in Honolulu, a school of shoppers swirl around an island of metal and ice covered in freshly caught local fish of all colors and sizes. Between rows of akule, tai snapper, and opelu there are piles of five to six inch long snapper gleaming bright yellow with baby blue stripes, caught off the west coast of O’ahu, called taʻape. The army of workers behind the counter at Brian’s Seafood Market unload more as each stack depletes, topping them with white laminated signs that say, “New Catch” or “Sale.” Some simply say, “Fresh Ta’ape” with different prices attached to denote different sizes. On the backside of the counter workers pass over full bags, freshly scaled and gutted, for customers to bring home to their family or mom-and-pop restaurant to fry whole and serve with chili sauce and shoyu.

Brian’s is only one of a handful of markets, so far, that sell this fish. Taʻape (in Tahitian), also known as blue-striped snapper, was once thought to be a “trash fish” in Hawaiʻi. Some locals would catch or spear these one to two pound reef fish to bring home for dinner, while most fishermen would throw them back. In recent years that stigma has started to shift as conservationists and local chefs began touting taʻape as a sustainable food source.

“Residents and visitors of Hawaii eat a lot of seafood, approximately 12.6 more pounds per capita than the U.S. as a whole,” the University of Hawaiʻi reported. Since taʻape is an invasive species, catching them for consumption provides an opportunity for fishers to help protect reefs, earn income and improve food security. It also offers chefs a delicious, more affordable option for their menus.

The issue with popularizing an unpopular fish however, is that most people do not know enough about it yet to feel comfortable selling or eating it. This is slowly changing as local chefs increase demand and word gets out.

Read the full story at Forbes

Fishery Management Council Recommends a New US Strategy in the Pacific Islands with the WCPFC

December 10, 2021 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council discussed outcomes from the December Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) meeting, including proposed protections on sharks, and conservation and management of South Pacific albacore and bigeye tuna. Despite scientific advice, the 18th WCPFC meeting ended without an agreement on increasing Hawai‘i longline fishery bigeye tuna catch limits, or reducing total catch on South Pacific albacore with a goal of increasing catch rates for fisheries such as American Samoa. The tone of the negotiations was unfavorable for U.S. interests.

The U.S. objectives included a 3,000 metric ton increase in the bigeye tuna catch limits for the Hawai‘i longline fishery, and that purse seine vessels based out of American Samoa, a small island developing state, have recognized privileges. The U.S. proposed prohibiting wire leaders on fishing gear to promote shark conservation and increasing observer coverage from 5% to 10%. None of these measures were adopted.

During Council deliberations, it was decided that a completely new strategy is needed for the U.S. government to tie in the geopolitical interests of U.S. fisheries in the Pacific through a high-level campaign with increased multi-federal agency engagement. Council Executive Director Kitty Simonds noted, “This can only be done by all federal agencies–Departments of State, Interior, Homeland Security and even Defense–working together well in advance of meetings to make the landscape workable for us at the WCPFC.”

For more information, visit https://meetings.wcpfc.int/meetings/wcpfc18.

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Regarding the proposed Northwestern Hawaiian Islands sanctuary designation, the Council discussed several considerations for potential noncommercial fishery regulations, including customary exchange. The initial discussion looked at Council-developed regulations in the Pacific marine national monuments and previous Council scoping in Hawai‘i.

NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries initiated the public process in November 2021, and the Council is formally consulted to provide fishery regulations. The Council will provide NOAA with a response in advance of its March 31, 2022, deadline.

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The Council discussed the feasibility of a limited cultural take for honu (green sea turtle, Chelonia mydas) in the main Hawaiian Islands. Dave Hogan, U.S. State Department, told the Council that the Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles (IAC) and protection under the Endangered Species Act are both barriers to proceeding with consideration of a cultural take for any area under the U.S. jurisdiction. The U.S. is party to the IAC that prohibits the intentional capture, retention or killing of, and domestic trade in, sea turtles, their eggs, parts or products. The IAC does allow for an economic subsistence exception, but not cultural take for indigenous use.

Manny Dueñas, Council vice chair for Guam, expressed his dismay, saying he believed in perpetuating culture, rather than “pickling it and putting it in a jar.” Council members from across the jurisdictions pressed the Council to pursue recognition of the indigenous cultural harvest of honu within the IAC.

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The Council continues to prioritize efforts to support equity and environmental justice (EEJ) for underserved communities in the Western Pacific Region, and recommended that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) use data to help characterize EEJ impacts region-wide.

At the Council Coordination Committee (CCC) meeting in October 2021, the Council presented regional EEJ approaches and needs alongside the North Pacific Council and NOAA. The CCC decided to convene a workshop ahead of the committee’s next meeting in May 2022. The Western Pacific Council is taking a lead role in the development of the workshop expected to be held in Hawai‘i in February 2022.

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A CCC subgroup on area-based management created a working definition for conservation to address the goals under the president’s America the Beautiful 30×30 initiative. The working definition of a conservation area is an 1) established, geographically defined area, with 2) planned management or regulation of environmentally adverse fishing activities, that 3) provides for the maintenance of biological productivity and diversity, ecosystem function and services (including seafood production).

The Council will send a letter to NMFS that conservation areas should: 1) be informed by empirical evidence and scientific veracity, 2) be adequately monitored and enforced, 3) be adaptive to address climate change—especially in the Pacific Islands, and 4) recognize existing subsistence and native rights.

The Council manages federal fisheries operating in waters offshore of the State of Hawai‘i, the Territories of American Samoa and Guam, the CNMI and the U.S. Pacific Remote Islands Areas. The next meeting of the Council will be March 22-24, 2022.

 

US Pacific Federal Fishery Managers Recommend Tori Lines, New American Samoa Bottomfish Stock Assessment Approach

December 9, 2021 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council recommended today to replace blue-dyed fish bait and strategic offal discharge with tori lines in the Hawai‘i deep-set longline fishery’s suite of seabird conservation measures. This amendment will improve the overall operational practicality and efficacy of required mitigation regulations. At their meeting last week, the Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) supported the regulatory changes, noting that they are informed by the best scientific information available.

The change was based on a fishing-industry-led collaborative project with Hawai‘i longline vessels to conduct field experiments over the past three years to compare seabird interaction rates with baited hooks. “The Hawaii Longline Association fully supports this change to tori lines,” said HLA Executive Director Eric Kingma. Council Executive Director Kitty Simonds added, “This action is an example representing the Council’s long history of proactive and adaptive conservation measures to address fishery impacts to protected species.”

The Hawai‘i deep-set longline fishery, which targets bigeye tuna, has been using a suite of seabird mitigation measures since 2001 under the Council’s Pelagic Fishery Ecosystem Plan. This effort was accomplished through the Magnuson-Stevens Act’s bottom-up approach for making or changing fishery regulations that starts with an issue presented from Council advisory groups and the public.

The Council also endorsed the SSC’s recommendation to use a single-species, age-structured management approach for the next American Samoa bottomfish stock assessment scheduled for 2023. The American Samoa bottomfish fishery is managed in an 11-species complex, which is overfished and experiencing overfishing, according to a 2019 Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) assessment. Data are available to support age-structured assessments.

An SSC working group and PIFSC, American Samoa Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources (DMWR) and Council staffs held two data evaluation workshops to improve information used in the stock assessment. “This data discussion and evaluation is a step in the right direction,” said DMWR Director and Council Chair Archie Soliai. “Consultation between PIFSC and DMWR is absolutely necessary to ensure that the next stock assessment is accurate.”

On another issue, Council members raised concerns with the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) “negative determination” that the proposed critical habitat designation for Endangered Species Act (ESA)-listed coral species is not expected to affect the territories’ Coastal Zone Management Programs. Territory governments have been receiving conflicting information from NMFS on whether the “negative determination” is automatic for critical habitat designations. The Council requested that NMFS follow up with the Guam and Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) governments to provide specific reasons for not accepting the territorial objection of the NMFS negative determination on the Coastal Zone Management Act federal consistency provisions.

Council members from the CNMI, Guam and American Samoa continued to press NMFS regarding the pending critical habitat designation. In November 2020, NMFS proposed the designation of critical habitat in nearshore territorial waters. Critical habitat is habitat containing physical features essential to supporting recovery of ESA-listed species.

Territory resource agencies and governors have since voiced their dismay that such designations may impact the territory governments’ ability to manage coastal areas, which are often funded by or authorized by the federal government. Critical habitat designations add a layer of federal agency consultation to the federal project approval process.

Tomorrow the Council will discuss outcomes of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission annual meeting on tropical tuna management measures and proposed Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Marine Sanctuary updates, among other topics. Instructions on connecting to Webex, agendas and briefing documents are posted at www.wpcouncil.org/meetings-calendars.

The Council manages federal fisheries operating in waters offshore of the State of Hawai‘i, the Territories of American Samoa and Guam, the CNMI and the U.S. Pacific Remote Islands Areas.

 

Fishing council votes to replace seabird mitigation strategy for Hawaii deep-set longline fishery

December 9, 2021 — The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council has voted to recommend a replacement strategy to mitigate seabird interactions by Hawaii deep-set longline fishing vessels.

In a 12-0 vote, with one abstention, the 13-member council voted today to recommend fishing vessels use fishing pole-like setups called tori lines, which are meant to keep seabirds from interacting with the vessels’ gear and bait.

Interactions between fishing vessels in the Hawaii deep-set longline fishery and black-footed and Laysan albatrosses have been on the rise since 2015. Recent studies by researchers have shown that the current mitigation measures — primarily the use of blue-dyed bait and the strategic disposal of fish parts, or offal — have shown mixed effectiveness at deterring the albatrosses.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser

US Request For More Bigeye Tuna Denied By Pacific Commission

December 9, 2021 — A drive to increase Hawaii longliners’ bigeye tuna quota has again fallen short at the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.

The U.S. delegation to the WCPFC requested that its longline bigeye quota be increased by 3,000 metric tons, noting stocks appeared to not be overfished and were not unhealthy, so could withstand an increase in fishing levels.

The proposed increase to the bigeye quota was made during the WCPFC’s 18th annual session, which ended on Tuesday, but the agreement failed to get across the line. Instead, the commission opted to keep the status quo for the next two years.

WCPFC’s negotiations dictate fishing throughout the Pacific, which is home to some of the most valuable global fishing stocks. The commission’s members represent 26 economies, ranging from Japan and China to Fiji and Indonesia.

The Hawaii-based Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council has supported raising U.S. catch limits for at least six years and was disappointed by the result, according to its executive director Kitty Simonds.

Read the full story at Honolulu Civil Beat

Scientists Support New Measures, Changes to Hawaii Longline Tuna Fishery

December 3, 2021 — Blue bait or tori lines: Which is better for saving seabirds?

To the Scientific and Statistical Committee of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, tori lines.

The SSC continued to support replacing blue-dyed fish bait and strategic offal discard requirements in the Hawai‘i deep-set longline fishery with tori lines for seabird bycatch mitigation when it met recently.

Read the full story at SeafoodNews.com

 

Western Pacific Scientists Endorse US Proposal to Increase Bigeye Tuna Quota

December 3, 2021 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

The Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council this week discussed issues related to bigeye tuna management at the ongoing Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) meeting. The SSC endorsed the U.S. proposal to increase its bigeye tuna catch from 3,554 metric tons to 6,554 metric tons for the U.S. longline fishery, and to increase the observer coverage minimum for WCPFC longline fisheries from 5% to 10%. WCPFC analyses demonstrate the Pacific bigeye tuna stock may sustainably withstand a modest increase in longline catch for the Hawai‘i-based fishery, noting it operates in a region of low levels of biomass depletion.

The SSC also endorsed the continuation of fishing agreements between Hawai‘i-based U.S. vessels and participating U.S. Pacific Island Territories, and the agreements’ formal recognition within the WCPFC. Under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the U.S. bigeye tuna quota can be exchanged between the Territories and Hawai‘i according to procedures established under the Council’s Pelagic Fishery Ecosystem Plan.

The SSC heard the Hawai‘i and American Samoa longline catch rates were low during the 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic period. In Hawai‘i, bigeye tuna catch rates were well below historical levels, likely due to atypical La Nina oceanographic conditions. The SSC noted an ongoing study that found preliminary 2021 revenue was 84% higher than 2020 (March to August timeframe) largely due to significant price increases from supply limitations, and 35% higher than a 2015-2019 baseline.

Although the South Pacific albacore tuna stock is not overfished and not experiencing overfishing, the SSC was concerned that the American Samoa catch rates were the lowest on record—well below the rate needed to make the fishery viable. The SSC noted that a continuous downward trend of the stock coincides with declines of numerous Pacific Island fisheries and uncertainty in reported fishing capacity and catches of South Pacific albacore.

The WCPFC is responsible for the waters around Hawai‘i and the U.S. Pacific Islands. The member countries, including the United States, aim to reach consensus annually on conservation and management measures such as catch limits for tropical tunas and billfish, and spatial fishing effort limits.

Regarding area-based management, the SSC endorsed a work plan from a committee subgroup and expects to have an outline for a policy-focused paper in March 2022 about domestic and international issues impacting Western Pacific Region fisheries. The SSC working group aims to provide advice on using area-based management to achieve goals under President Biden’s 30×30 land and ocean conservation initiative and similar negotiations on the high seas, and address the changing international fisheries landscape.

The SSC also commended development of the Hawai‘i Community Tagging Program, a collaborative research project on sharks between the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center and small-boat fishermen. The program aims to quantify shark-fisher interactions, depredation and mortality rates for silky sharks and Endangered Species Act-listed oceanic whitetip sharks, among others. Scientists educate fishers on shark population status and species identification, while identifying and testing bycatch and depredation mitigation strategies.

The program plans to integrate tag, fishing interaction and environmental data to create species distribution models that can be created under various future climate change scenarios. SSC suggested the Science Center extend its efforts to reduce depredation in Hawai‘i bottomfish fisheries as well as the U.S. Pacific Island territories, which have both noted high depredation rates.

Recommendations made by the SSC will be considered by the Council when it meets virtually next week, Dec. 7-9, 2021, with host sites at Tedi of Samoa Building, Suite 208B, Fagatogo Village, American Samoa; BRI Building, Suite 205, Kopa Di Oru St., Garapan, Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI); and Cliff Pointe, 304 W. O’Brien Dr., Hagatña, Guam.

For more information on the agenda, meeting documents and web conference connection, go to www.wpcouncil.org/event/189th-council-virtual-meeting. Host sites are subject to local and federal safety and health guidelines regarding COVID-19; check the Council website for updates.

 

Heat, no food, deadly weather: Climate change kills seabirds

December 2, 2021 — The warming of the planet is taking a deadly toll on seabirds that are suffering population declines from starvation, inability to reproduce, heat waves and extreme weather.

Climate-related losses have hit albatrosses off the Hawaiian islands, northern gannets near the British Isles and puffins off the Maine coast. Some birds are less able to build nests and raise young as sea levels rise, while others are unable to find fish to eat as the ocean heats up, researchers have found.

Common murres and Cassin’s auklets that live off the West Coast have also died in large numbers from conditions scientists directly tied to global warming.

With less food, rising seas that encroach on islands where birds roost and increasingly frequent hurricanes that wipe away nests, many seabirds have been producing fewer chicks, researchers say.

And tern species that live off New England have died during increasing rain and hailstorms scientists link to climate change. Some species, including endangered roseate terns, also can’t fledge chicks because more frequent severe weather kills their young, said Linda Welch, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Read the full story from the Associated Press

WPRFMC: Western Pacific Scientists Support Tori Lines Over Blue-Dyed Bait in Tuna Fishery and Exploring New Bottomfish Management Approach

December 1, 2021 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

The Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council continued to support replacing blue-dyed fish bait and strategic offal discard requirements in the Hawai‘i deep-set longline fishery with tori lines for seabird bycatch mitigation. Results from field experiments conducted in the past three years under an experimental fishing permit showed that Laysan and black-footed albatross were 4 times less likely to come in contact with baited hooks when participating vessels used tori lines, or bird scaring lines, versus blue-dyed bait. Tori lines have proved effective in other longline fisheries around the world.

SSC members discussed various impacts the management alternatives could have on the U.S. longline commercial fishery, including additional crew time required to create and clean up the blue-dyed bait. The SSC supports removal of strategic offal discharge as a requirement since there is inconclusive scientific evidence that it provides a conservation benefit, especially in light of the tori line effect on seabird interaction rates. In lieu of this requirement, the management measure would include best practice training for longline vessel owners and operators on offal management at the required annual National Marine Fisheries Service protected species workshop.

The SSC provides scientific advice to the Council, which is considering modifications to a regulatory amendment to improve seabird conservation. The Hawai‘i deep-set longline fishery, which targets bigeye tuna, has been using a suite of seabird mitigation measures since 2001 under the Council’s Pelagic Fishery Ecosystem Plan.

After reviewing a workshop report on American Samoa bottomfish data evaluation, the SSC supported a single-species management approach for the next stock assessment scheduled for 2023. The American Samoa bottomfish fishery is managed in an 11-species complex, which is overfished and experiencing overfishing, according to a 2019 Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) assessment. The PIFSC Stock Assessment Program reported there are sufficient data to explore the use of single-species assessments for most managed bottomfish species except for pink snapper (palu-‘ena‘ena, Pristipomoides filamentosus).

The report summarized information collected from six systems and highlighted the data quantity, quality and changes over time. The catch per unit effort data from the creel surveys and the resulting estimated catch are highly uncertain, particularly for species that are not well represented in the surveys. However, there is sufficient information for a single species, age-based assessment using length information from the PIFSC diver surveys and biosampling program, and territory boat-based creel surveys.

Creel surveys collect general fisheries data provided voluntarily by commercial and noncommercial boat and shore fishermen. Moving forward with a single-species approach may require changes in conservation and management measures.

The SSC meeting continues tomorrow with discussions on pelagic and international fisheries. Instructions on connecting to the web conference, agenda and briefing documents are posted at www.wpcouncil.org/event/142nd-scientific-and-statistical-committee-virtual-meeting.