Saving Seafood

Clues From the Catch: How Small Samples Lead to Big Fish Insights

June 27, 2025 — When fish biologist Eva Schemmel gets an early morning phone call from the Honolulu Fish Auction, it means something exciting has landed at Pier 38, the center of Hawai‘i’s commercial fishing village.

Recently, it was a record-sized gindai.

Weighing in at 4.95 pounds, the deepwater snapper may not look like a trophy fish to some (especially next to 100–200 pound tunas!). But it’s worth much more than its weight thanks to a collaboration between fishermen and NOAA life history scientists.

Understanding Fish Populations

Schemmel is part of a NOAA Fisheries team that studies the life history of fish species across the Pacific Islands—how they grow, reproduce, and die. These “fish detectives” collect clues from some of the region’s most valuable (and tasty!) commercial fish species to reveal the mystery of fish population structures. This information helps scientists maximize harvest opportunities for fishermen.

“It’s the key piece to understanding if your fishery is healthy,” Schemmel said. “With the best scientific information possible, you can maximize how much fishing you can do, while keeping fish populations reproducing at the same level.”

Healthy fish populations depend on reproductive adults, and it’s often the oldest, largest fish that play the biggest role in keeping their numbers going. By collecting enough samples from larger fish—like the recent gindai—scientists can determine the average and maximum lifespan of fish in a population. This data helps scientists create more accurate stock assessment models—the foundation for management measures.

Tick Tock: Fish With Hidden Clocks

The science of aging fish relies on a key piece of evidence: otoliths. Most fish have these tiny, jewel-like bones in their inner ears. They help fish hear and balance in their surroundings underwater. They also carry information about the fish’s growth, similar to growth rings in a tree. These lines provide a reliable estimate of the fish’s age.

Collecting otoliths is quick and doesn’t harm the catch. In return for this effort, NOAA Fisheries scientists gain a literal lifetime of data.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries 

Council supporting a review of monument fishing restrictions

June 25, 2025 — The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council is backing federal efforts to examine commercial fishing prohibitions in marine national monuments, including the Marianas Trench, as part of a broader push to expand fishing opportunities across the Pacific island region.

The council directed staff to analyze the monuments and potential burdens placed on commercial fishing operations following Executive Order 14276, which asks the Secretary of Commerce to review marine national monuments to remove commercial fishing restrictions that may conflict with national seafood priorities. The council met June 9-11 in Honolulu.

“I think the council’s always been on record saying that the commercial fishing prohibitions are not needed,” said Joshua DeMello, fishery analyst at the council, during a recent interview with The Guam Daily Post. “Management of the area should be done rather than a complete closure.”

The executive order specifically targets monuments including Papahānaumokuākea, Rose Atoll and the Marianas Trench for review to ensure alignment with national seafood priorities. DeMello noted that all four marine national monuments in the council’s jurisdiction were already managed under the Magnuson Act since 1976.

“All of the monuments in our area, we have four Marine National Monuments. We’re pristine, and that’s why they keep saying that they want to keep it because it’s pristine, but the fact is that all four of those areas have been managed since the 1976 Magnuson Act went into place,” DeMello said.

The council will work with its advisors to examine what has been impacted by commercial fishing prohibitions and provide analysis to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Staff recommendations are expected when NOAA issues a Federal Register notice seeking public comments, potentially as early as late July.

DeMello emphasized that the council’s role differs from environmental protection agencies, focusing instead on sustainable fishing practices that ensure long-term access to marine resources.

“The councils are there to ensure that fishing can occur forever and ever. Our job is to protect the fishing interests, whether it be non-commercial, recreational, commercial, subsistence and ensure that we’ll be able to fish forever,” he said.

Read the full article at The Guam Daily Post

HAWAII: ‘Marine Debris Hackathon’ challenges participants to invent ocean-saving tools

June 24, 2025 — The University of Hawaii announced a new competition to develop innovative tools that can be used to cut and remove derelict fishing nets from the ocean.

The University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program and Papahanaumokuakea Marine Debris Project launched a new “Marine Debris Hackathon” challenge, for participants to design and develop next-generation tools.

Derelict fishing gear, also called “ghost gear,” poses a severe risk to marine life and coral reefs.

Methods for ghost gear removal are often labor-intensive and limited by existing tool capabilities.

Read the the full article at Hawaii News Now

Fishing council to ask Trump to lift fishing ban in Papahanaumokuakea

June 20, 2025 — The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council which sets fishing policies will ask President Trump to allow commercial fishing in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in the northwestern Hawaiian islands. It’s the largest marine protected area in the world.

“That ask is to open waters of Papahānaumokuākea to commercial fishing. We may also include recreational fishing and subsistence fishing,” said Kitty Simonds, Western Pacific Fishery Management Council, executive director.

Simonds was in the Oval Office when President Trump signed the executive order in April to allow commercial fishing in a different preserve, the Pacific Island Heritage Marine National Monument around Johnston Atoll in the Central Pacific.

“It was very exciting for us,” said Simonds.

Read the full article at Hawaii News Now

WPRFC approves mandatory electronic monitoring of longline vessels

June 13, 2025 — The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Council (WPRFC) has authorized mandatory electronic monitoring of all commercial longline vessels operating in the Hawai‘i and American Samoa fisheries.

With the number of human observers dwindling due to limited funding, the council determined that it was necessary to adopt electronic monitoring in order to adequately track the fisheries’ operations and ensure compliance with the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Hawai‘i Fishermen Reel in Data With Local Tagging Project

June 2, 2025 — In Hawai‘i, fishing isn’t the only thing passed down through generations. Kaua‘i fisherman Cory Olores grew up watching his father carefully tag and release his catch. Today, he’s continuing that legacy through the Pacific Islands Fisheries Group’s Tag It project. The program has harnessed the capacity of anglers across Hawai‘i and led to more than 20,000 tagged fish. The tagged fish provide critical data for scientists to understand and ensure abundant fish populations.

For Fish, Fishermen, and the Future

NOAA Fisheries works to expand access to U.S. recreational fishing through science-based conservation and management. And no one wants to preserve their way of living and pastime more than fishermen.

The Tag It program empowers local anglers to be part of improving their fisheries. “Everyone’s so passionate about our resource, about access to it, and about perpetuating that for future generations,” said Alex Min, Tag It project coordinator, “That’s why we’re involved with tagging.”

Tags Tell a Story

Scientists use data to understand how fish populations are doing. That’s where partnerships between fishermen and scientists are vital. Tag It participants collect and share key data from tagged fish like length, date and time of catch, and location. (Don’t worry—the program uses general location to compare capture locations, so it doesn’t reveal secret fishing spots.)

“Whatever type of information I can give them, I’ll give them,” Olores said of the ulua he tags and releases. “I’m trying to save the fish—to get information to preserve the fish for future generations.” Olores first witnessed his father tag fish as a kid on Kauaʻi and has always been curious about how he can help maintain fishing opportunities in Hawai‘i.

Each time someone tags a fish, it adds a detail to the storyline. This helps scientists piece together how fish live, move, and change over time. The more data we have, the clearer the story becomes. And this helps anglers, too.

“It’s actually making me open my eyes more to figuring out the way they live,” Olores said. “I’ll take a picture; I’ll jot down what time I caught it; and I look at the tide … [and see] they actually bite better at this tide. I’m actually recording my catches and seeing what’s working better.”

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

Greens sue to block Pacific marine monument fishing

May 23, 2025 — Environmentalists are seeking to block the implementation of President Donald Trump’s executive order opening most of the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument to commercial fishing, arguing the order violates the Antiquities Act of 1906.

The law allows presidents to designate federal land or waters as national monuments, but “does not grant them the authority to strip vital protections from established monuments,” Earthjustice said in a news release accompanying its complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii.

Trump issued the executive order April 17. It argued that fishing prohibitions have kept commercial fleets from too much of the United States’ waters in the Pacific Islands. “This has driven American fishermen to fish further offshore in international waters to compete against poorly regulated and highly subsidized foreign fleets,” the order stated.

Read the full article at E&E News

HAWAII: Ahi labeling bill waiting on governor’s signature

May 12, 2025 — In the first year it was introduced, a bill looking to require retailers to label where raw ahi products come from, has moved all the way to Gov. Josh Green’s desk.

The local fish industry said it wanted to have an even playing field when it came to fresh vs. frozen fish and people buying poke.

Poke is one of the most popular food items in Hawaii, and many are unaware that most of it, nearly 90%, is actually imported from other countries.

A woman visiting from Canada said she had no idea poke came from other countries and thought it was all from Hawaii.

Fishing industry leaders say most frozen fish sold in Hawaii comes from Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Read the full article at KHON

Clarifying Impact of President Trump’s Action on Pacific Fishing

April 24, 2025 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

Recent media responses to President Trump’s April 17 Proclamation to restore access for American fishermen to the waters between 50 to 200 nautical miles (nm) offshore within the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument (PIHMNM) have raised questions and some confusion about its impact.

The change focuses on three islands—Wake, Johnston and Jarvis—where the President’s Proclamation will allow commercial fishing in the 50-200-nm zone around each of those islands. PIHMNM also includes four other island areas – Howland & Baker Islands; and Palmyra Atoll & Kingman Reef.

The Proclamation does not directly affect existing fishing restrictions protecting the waters surrounding the main Hawaiian Islands or the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

Commercial fishing remains prohibited within 0-50 nm of all seven islands and atolls within the PIHMNM. These nearshore areas include coral reef ecosystems and provide essential habitat for a variety of protected marine species. Green and hawksbill sea turtles, which primarily inhabit lagoons and reefs within these zones, remain protected. Similarly, seabirds, including the dense nesting colonies of red-footed boobies on Palmyra, continue to thrive in areas unaffected by the Proclamation.

The offshore (50-200 nm) waters reopened by the Proclamation are deep, open-ocean environments, ranging from 900 to more than 6,000 meters deep (0.5 – 3.7 miles).

Council Executive Director Kitty Simonds pointed out that “These areas are well beyond the reach of fishing gear or shallow reef-dependent species. U.S. fishing activities targeting migratory tunas occur near the surface (maximum 400 meters) using gear such as deep-set longlines, which do not contact the seafloor or sensitive habitats.”

Since the Monument’s establishment by President Bush on January 12, 2009, all waters within 0–50 nm of each island area have been closed to commercial fishing. This closure was later expanded under President Obama to include the current monument boundaries out to 200 nm. President Trump’s action does not change the Bush monument boundaries.

The Council’s fisheries management framework under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act is among the most comprehensive and conservation-based in the world. It includes:

  • A ban on destructive fishing methods like bottom trawls and drift gillnets since the 1980s
  • Prohibitions on fishing in numerous protected areas established since the 1980s
  • Vessel monitoring and observer coverage for longline fleets since the 1990s
  • Bycatch mitigation regulations reducing sea turtle and seabird interactions by 70–90% in the 2000s

Scientific research supports adaptive, science-based fisheries management as a more effective way to sustain tuna stocks than static marine protected areas (MPAs).

  • Research published by Gilman et al. in 2020 and Hilborn et al. in 2024 found no evidence of a “spillover effect” from static MPAs in PIHMNM and Papahanaumokuakea MNM, respectively.
  • Studies on areas worldwide closed to fishing led by Hilborn et al., and Pons et al. in 2022 confirmed that static open-ocean closures do not effectively conserve highly mobile species such as tunas or reduce bycatch.
  • A 2023 study by Hampton et al. found no conservation benefit for tropical tunas targeted by commercial fisheries from an MPA in a heavily fished area in nearby Kiribati—so closing a lightly fished area like the Pacific Remote Island Areas is unlikely to provide added benefit.

At its core, the Proclamation ensures that American fishermen—not foreign fleets—can responsibly access U.S. waters, while upholding the rigorous conservation standards that have defined U.S. fisheries for decades.

Since 2006, Presidents have used the Antiquities Act to establish five marine national monuments. Four of these monuments are in the Western Pacific Region, encompassing more than half of the U.S. exclusive economic zone surrounding Hawai‘i and the U.S. Pacific Territories and remote islands. Prior to this Proclamation, all monuments prohibited U.S. commercial fishermen from operating in these waters.

For more information, visit the Marine Spatial Management page on the Council website.

Links

United States Exclusive Economic Zones of the US Western Pacific Region map

History of Protected Species Conservation in US Western Pacific Fisheries

Protected Species Conservation Monograph

Milestones of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council

 

Fishing industry says Trump’s Pacific monument order is about fairness, economy

April 23, 2025 — When President Donald Trump signed an executive order allowing commercial fishing in the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument last week, a familiar face stood to his left in the Oval Office.

The executive director of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council was there. Kitty Simonds has served on the council for decades. She’s the first Native Hawaiian woman to lead the agency.

Simonds said she attended at the invitation of American Samoa U.S. House Delegate Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen, who had been writing to the administration about the plight of the territory’s fishing industry.

Speaking to The Conversation on Tuesday morning, Simonds shared the viewpoint of the commercial fishers who will now be allowed to operate in waters at least 50 miles offshore.

Opponents fear the order will hurt conservation efforts. Simonds said it’s about fairness for U.S. longliners in Hawaiʻi, Guam and American Samoa.

Read the full story at Hawaii Public Radio