Saving Seafood

Partnering to Protect and Study Monk Seals and Sea Turtles: Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Field Camps 2019

May 15, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette will deploy researchers to set up camps in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands for 5 months. Field researchers from NOAA and six partner organizations will conduct research and conservation activities at French Frigate Shoals, Laysan Island, Lisianski Island, Pearl and Hermes Reef, and Kure Atoll. They will also take day trips to survey Niʻihau Island, Nihoa Island, Mokumanamana Island, and Midway Atoll.

Over the next 5 months, these field teams will measure and tag all weaned seal pups, identify all individuals, conduct beach counts of seals, remove marine debris, and conduct additional scientific and recovery efforts to protect the Hawaiian monk seal population. Additionally, a team of sea turtle biologists will be deployed at French Frigate Shoals to monitor nesting activities, assess nesting and hatching success, and measure and tag basking and nesting turtles.

To protect these fragile ecosystems from invasive species, the crew must quarantine anything brought ashore. That includes clothes, tents, stoves, boats, solar power arrays, computers, and provisions sufficient to sustain teams of 2–7 scientists for the length of their stay. They transport the gear by hand from the ship to small boats, which shuttle it to the islands.

One of the field teams will have a special focus this year at French Frigate Shoals. In October 2018, Hurricane Walaka passed through the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and caused major damage to the islands of this atoll. East Island, where a majority of Hawaiʻi’s green sea turtles nest and dozens of monk seals pup, was completely washed away. Over the summer, field staff will research how animals respond to the loss of this important island.

Read the full release here

Researchers push back against Hawaii shark protection bill

May 13, 2019 — Legislation meant to protect Hawaii’s shark population was altered at the 11th hour to remove the apex predators from the bill amid concerns from the scientific community.

The bill was intended to extend protections already in place for manta rays to include all rays and sharks, West Hawaii Today reported Tuesday.

It would have made it illegal to “capture, take, possess, abuse, or entangle any shark, whether alive or dead, or kill any shark, within state marine waters,” the measure said. There were exceptions for academic research, but the scientific community found them inadequate.

University of Hawaii shark researcher Kim Holland said researchers would be forced to apply for permits from Department of Land and Natural Resources personnel without scientific expertise.

“It will be virtually impossible to prove that someone is ‘knowingly’ fishing for sharks,” wrote Holland, adding state enforcement resources are already insufficient for current polices.

Holland also said the bill was too ambiguous in defining terms such as “take” and “harassment.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Star Advertiser

Place-Based Management Can Protect Coral Reefs in a Changing Climate

April 30, 2019 — Researchers from the state Department of Health and the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa have developed and applied a new technology in Hawai‘i that identifies where coral reef ecosystems and associated fisheries are vulnerable to human activities and where to focus management actions to minimize anthropogenic impacts.

The authors of the newly published study in the journal Ecological Applications identified specific locations on land where improved wastewater management and landscape practices would yield the greatest benefits for downstream reefs in terms of mitigating harm to coral communities and associated reef fish populations.

Expansion of coastal development, along with wastewater discharge and fertilizers, can harm coral reefs and their fisheries through increases in sediment and nutrient runoff. Consequent reef degradation directly affects ecological resilience, food security, human well-being, and cultural practices in tropical island communities around the world.

The researchers focused on the ahupua‘a (land divisions) of Hāʻena on Kaua‘i and Ka‘ūpūlehu on Hawai‘i Island, at opposite ends of the main Hawaiian Islands, where native Hawaiian communities are taking action to manage their resources through a place-based management approach.

Read the full story at Big Island Now

NOAA: Scientists Monitor Coral Reef Ecosystems Throughout the Hawaiian Archipelago

April 22, 2019 — The following was published by NOAA Fisheries:

Our scientists and managers depend on research surveys to monitor the status and trends of the coral reef ecosystems across the Hawaiian Archipelago over time. Coral reefs around the globe, including Hawaiʻi, are threatened by climate change, disease, land-based sources of pollution, and unsustainable fishing practices.

During expeditions this spring and summer, teams of scientific divers from NOAA’s Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program will assess reef fish and corals in the context of changing environmental conditions. They will collect images of the ocean floor to create 3D models of the reefs. The abundance and distribution of reef fish and coral reef organisms are used to characterize the conditions and integrity of our coral reef ecosystems. Over time, we can see how they have changed—an important part of managing and conserving reef-associated life in the region.

This expedition marks the 20th anniversary of the Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program’s inception in 2000, and will be conducted using the NOAA Ships Oscar Elton Sette and Rainier. We will add our research this season to collections from baseline monitoring surveys across the Pacific and in Hawaiʻi in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2013, and 2016.

Study Locations

The Sette will survey the main Hawaiian Islands: Kauaʻi, Niʻihau, Maui, Lānaʻi, Molokaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, Oʻahu, and the island of Hawaiʻi. The Rainier will survey portions of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in the remote Northwestern Hawaiian Islands: French Frigate Shoals, Lisianski/Neva Shoals, Pearl, and Hermes Atoll, and Kure Atoll. At each site, the ships will deploy small boats to reach study areas, including locations along the leeward and windward exposures, near the channels between islands, and in forereefs, backreefs, and lagoons.

Of particular note, our researchers are fortunate to return to the protected island of Kahoʻolawe, where few people have access. Kahoʻolawe was once a bombing range for the U.S. Navy, and it is now an island reserve under the state of Hawaiʻi.

Following our initial visit in 2016, this expedition is the second time that our program will survey the reef systems of Kahoʻolawe. Those surveys found that the reefs in certain areas were in good condition, and roving predators such as jacks were abundant when compared with other sites around the main Hawaiian Islands.

Research Methods

As the threats to coral reefs and marine ecosystems grow, our researchers lean more heavily on digital imaging to increase our monitoring capabilities.

We create a mosaic (2D) and 3D model of an area using structure from motion, a photogrammetry technique (mapping using the distance between objects). It estimates 3D structures by aligning 100s to 1000s of overlapping images.

Combining seafloor images to create 3D models of large areas of reef tract is a process called “structure-from-motion” photogrammetry, which is a new effort for our program. During this mission, we will conduct structure-from-motion surveys across the archipelago to measure the density, surface area, partial mortality, and health of corals. Our team will conduct structure-from-motion surveys at fixed stations to assess the growth, mortality, and recruitment of individual coral colonies, which will provide valuable information on the resilience of coral reefs to local and global threats.

Scientists aboard the Sette and Rainier will measure water temperature, salinity, carbonate chemistry, and other physical characteristics of the coral reef environment with an assortment of oceanographic monitoring instruments. Researchers will assess the potential early effects of ocean acidification on coral reef growth with calcification accretion units and bioerosion monitoring units.

This story was originally posted by NOAA Fisheries

New Turtle Limits Recommend to Re-Open Swordfish Fishery

April 16, 2019 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

Federal fishery managers on Friday concluded its nearly year-long effort to provide relief to the Hawai’i-based shallow-set longline fishery for swordfish. The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council at its 177th Meeting held on April 12, 2019, recommended revised fleet-wide sea turtle interaction limits along with new individual trip-based interaction limits. A recent draft Biological Opinion (BiOp) developed by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) provided managers with a basis for a new limit for loggerhead and leatherback turtle interactions, potentially allowing the fishery to be re-opened this year. The fishery closed this year on March 19 due to interactions with 17 loggerhead turtles, all of which were released alive.

Every vessel for every trip of the Hawai’i-based shallow-set longline fishery has a federal observer that ensures accurate monitoring of interactions with protected species. The North Pacific loggerhead population is growing annually at 2.4 percent, but a court settlement in May 2018 reduced the fishery’s allowable interaction with the species from 34 to 17. The cap of 17 may be modified when NMFS finalizes the new BiOp for the fishery and issues new regulations based on the Council’s recommendations.

In June 2018, the Council recommended annual limits of North Pacific loggerhead and leatherback turtle interactions consistent with what was set forth in the upcoming BiOp. The draft BiOp released on March 28, 2019, requires NMFS to set an annual limit of 36 loggerhead turtles and 16 leatherback turtles for this fishery. The Council recommended these limits to be implemented under regulations for the Council’s Pacific Pelagic Fishery Ecosystem Plan (FEP) and further recommended that the existing turtle interactions occurring from January 1 to March 19, 2019, apply toward the new limits, essentially allowing the fishery to re-open.

The Council maintained its June 2018 recommendation to implement an individual trip limit of five loggerhead turtles, and additionally recommended a trip limit of two leatherback turtles. If a vessel reaches either of the limits during a fishing trip, the vessel must return to port but would be allowed to target swordfish again on the next trip. The Council’s recommendation was in contrast to annual vessel-based limits of six loggerhead turtles and two leatherback turtles that NMFS is proposing in the draft BiOp, which would prohibit vessels from targeting swordfish for the remainder of the year if they reached their individual limit. The Council found that this measure would create undue economic hardship to the fishery while providing little additional turtle conservation benefit.

Roger Dang, whose family has fished with longline vessels out of Hawai’i for more than 30 years, criticized the vessel limit proposed in draft BiOp. “This is not the solution,” he said. A vessel limit of two leatherback interactions would deter vessels from entering the shallow-set fishery to target swordfish and thus diminish the fleet’s ability to provide swordfish for the US domestic market, he explained. “Ecuador in the last year, from 2017 to 2018, increased its production by almost 100 percent, Costa Rica 80 percent, and they’re both bigger fisheries than the Hawai’i product,” Dang added. “The majority of the swordfish product in the US right now is the South American product.”

“The Council’s recommendation today, although highly restrictive on the fleet, will allow Hawai’i vessels to continue supplying fresh, highly monitored swordfish while supporting industry-led solutions to addressing rare sea turtle interactions in the fishery,” said Eric Kingma, executive director of the Hawai’i Longline Association.

Dean Sensui, the Council’s Hawai’i vice chair, added “The actions taken by the Council today ensures that Hawai’i’s fishermen continue to provide fresh sustainable seafood to the community and at the same time adds additional protection for sea turtles in the Western Pacific.”

The Hawai’i shallow-set longline fishery operates in waters North of Hawai’i and catches swordfish that is sold both in Hawai’i and the US Mainland. It produces approximately half of the US domestic swordfish.

For the agenda and background materials on the meeting, go to www.wpcouncil.org or contact the Council at info.wpcouncil@noaa.gov or (808) 522-8220.

The Council was established by Congress in 1976 and has authority over fisheries seaward of state waters of Hawai’i, Guam, American Samoa, the CNMI and the Pacific remote islands. Recommendations that are regulatory in nature are transmitted to the Secretary of Commerce for approval and then implemented by NMFS and enforced by NMFS and the US Coast Guard.

Baby fish have started eating plastic. We haven’t yet seen the consequences

April 15, 2019 — Not long agoI went snorkeling in the Pacific Ocean, a half mile off the southwest coast of Oahu. The flanks of the Hawaiian island are steep there, and the bottom quickly disappeared beneath us as we motored out to the site. Looking back, I could see the green slopes of the Waianae Range rising to 4,000 feet behind the beach. Normally the mountains shield the water here from the trade winds. But on that day a breeze created a light chop that nearly obscured what I had come to see: a thin, oily slick of surface water, rich in organic particles, in which newborn fish were feeding and struggling to survive their first precarious weeks.

Plunging my face into the sheen, I found myself looking inside a fish nursery: The water was dotted with life you would ordinarily never notice. Fish eggs drifted like tiny lanterns, their yolk sacs glowing in the sunlight. Fish larvae small as ladybugs darted about. A sergeant major damselfish the size of a dime appeared huge by comparison as it fluttered past. Below us, a school of 12-inch, bigeye scad—like mackerel but with enormous eyes—fed on everything that had the misfortune of being small.

My guides that day, oceanographer Jamison Gove and fish biologist Jonathan Whitney of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Honolulu, are nearly three years into a research project that aims to make sense of this chaotic scene. The larval stage is the “black box” of fisheries science: Fertilized eggs go in, and young fish come out—but what happens inside remains sketchy. The larval fish are so small and fragile they’re exceedingly difficult to study. The overwhelming majority will never become adults. Yet fish populations around the world, and the animals that eat them, depend on just how many larval fish make it, and in what condition.

Read the full story at National Geographic

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

 

Managers, Fishermen Grapple with Federal Pace, Definitions Leading to Fishery Closures

April 5, 2019 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

At 9:40 a.m. yesterday, minutes after Kitty M. Simonds completed the executive director’s report to the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, the Hawai’i-based fishery was closed due to the fishery’s interaction with a 17th loggerhead turtle this year. The Hawai’i-based shallow-set longline fishery for swordfish has a federal observer on every vessel for every trip. The North Pacific loggerhead population is growing annually at 2.4 percent, but a court settlement in May 2018 reduced the fishery’s allowable interaction with the species from 34 to 17. The interaction cap of 17 cannot be modified until the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) completes a new biological opinion (BiOp) for the fishery.

The Council, which is mandated by Congress to develop management measures for offshore US fisheries in the Pacific islands region, has been waiting for NMFS Pacific Islands Regional Office (PIRO) to deliver the new BiOp so the Council can move forward with proposed new loggerhead limits and other turtle interaction mitigation measures for the fishery. The shutdown reinforced Simonds’ core message, that the “pace with which NMFS PIRO responds to federal and legal procedures has left all of the region’s major fisheries at risk.”

Upon hearing the news of the shutdown, Roger Dang, whose family has fished with longline vessels out of Hawai’i for more than 30 years, immediately sent a message to the Council. Council member Michael Goto read the statement to the Council.

Read the full release here

Change Is in the Air: Scientists Suggest New Approaches for Marine Mammal Interaction Mitigation, Spatial Management, Non-traditional Data Use, Hawai‘i Kona Crab Measures

April 5, 2019 — 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 concluded a three-day meeting yesterday in Honolulu with a suite of recommendations to more effectively address issues facing fisheries in the US Pacific Islands. The SSC recommendations will be considered March 18-21 in Honolulu by the Council, a federal instrumentality created by Congress to develop fishery management measures for offshore fisheries in the US Pacific Islands. Recommendations of the Council that are approved by the US Secretary of Commerce are implemented by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).

False Killer Whales: The Southern Exclusion Zone (SEZ), a 132,000 square mile area in the offshore waters around the main Hawaiian Islands, was closed to the Hawai‘i longline fishery on Feb. 22, 2019, after its interactions resulted in a mortality and serious injury (M&SI) determination for two false killer whales. With the SEZ closed, less than 18 percent of US exclusive economic zone around Hawai‘i remains open to the fishery. The SEZ may reopen in 2020 if the average estimated false killer whale M&SI in the deep-set longline fishery within the remaining open areas of the EEZ around Hawai‘i for up to the five most recent years is below the potential biological removal (PBR) for the species. This Honolulu-based fishery lands about $100 million of sashimi-quality tuna, which stays principally in the state. The PBR is defined by the Marine Mammal Protection Act as the maximum number of animals that can be removed, not including natural mortalities, from a marine mammal stock while allowing that stock to reach and maintain its optimum sustainable population, i.e., its maximum productivity keeping in mind the carrying capacity of the habitat and health of the ecosystem. The SSC recommended that the Council request NMFS develop approaches to incorporate population viability analysis (PVA) to supplement the use of PBR and to reduce uncertainty in PBR estimates. PVA is a species-specific risk assessment method frequently used in conservation biology. The SSC also requested that the Council ask NMFS to provide the data needed for the SSC to develop the PVA in parallel to the NMFS process. It also asked that NMFS develop serious-injury determination criteria for false killer whales that are probability-based. Currently, NMFS considers the impact of a false killer whale determined to be seriously injured to be equivalent to the impact of a dead false killer whale, even though animals determined to be seriously injured are released alive.

Spatial Management: A subgroup of the SSC worked to define benefits and limitations to spatial management actions relative to regional fishery issues and management objectives. The working group explored time-area closures; adaptive/real-time closures and restrictions; permanent no-take closures; and alternative non-spatial management actions, such as gear restrictions. It discussed objectives of management actions, such as increasing targeted bigeye and albacore tuna abundance and reducing Hawai‘i longline interactions with sea turtles and false killer whales. It also identified criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of spatially managed areas. The SSC reviewed the outcomes of the working group and recommended that effective spatial management should have the following:

  • Objectives and performance metrics explicitly specified prior to developing a spatial management area in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the spatial management. The performance metrics should concurrently address conservation, economic and social objectives.
  • Regular monitoring of the performance of the spatial management area.
  • Planned and tenable compliance monitoring and enforcement.

Read the full release here