Saving Seafood

Fishermen Identify Projects to Improve Fisheries Development in the U.S. Pacific Islands

March 20, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Projects to develop fisheries topped the list of needs identified by fishermen from Hawai’i, American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands during their March 15 and 16 meeting in Honolulu. The group, which constitutes the Advisory Panel of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, also highlighted the importance of fishing to the communities of each of the island areas.

Advisory panel members said the social and economic value of the local and regional fisheries also needs to better communicated.

“The Council welcomes the ideas and contributions of the Advisory Panel,” Council Chair Archie Soliai said in a press release. “This is a challenging time for fisheries, and the AP has a lot of work to do.”

The Council will consider the AP recommendations when it meets this weaek at the YWCA Fuller Hall in Honolulu.

Some of the suggested projects and activities from the AP include:

  • fishery demonstration projects;
  • expanded use of technology to collect fishery data;
  • characterization of existing fisheries in Hawai’i; and
  • improved fishing opportunities in Guam and the CNMI through improved fish aggregation devices, fishery access and reduction of shark depredation.

AP members include representatives from diverse fisheries, such as spearfish, longline, bottomfish, charter boat, subsistence and the fishery media. The AP is mandated by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the Council said in the release.

This story originally appeared on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Change Is in the Air: Western Pacific SSC Suggests New Approaches for Suite of Issues

March 19, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The Scientific and Statistical Committee of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council concluded a three-day meeting last week in Honolulu with a suite of recommendations to more effectively address issues facing fisheries in the U.S. Pacific Islands. The Council will consider those recommendations this week.

Regarding false killer whales, the SSC recommended inclusion of a population variability analysis to supplement the use of and reduce the variability of potential biological removal estimates.

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 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 for the species, the WPRFMC said in a press release.

The Honolulu-based longliners land 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 the Council request NMFS develop approaches to incorporate population viability analysis 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 the Council ask NMFS to provide the data needed for the SSC to develop the PVA in parallel to the NMFS process. Furthermore, 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.

Members also 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. The group 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; and
  • Planned and tenable compliance monitoring and enforcement. The SSC said permanent closed areas are likely less effective than modifying fishing gear or methods to minimize protected species bycatch. It recommended regulations that would allow industry to find voluntary means to reduce bycatch and have input in the development of mitigation measures.

Hawai’i Kona Crab: The SSC evaluated the benchmark assessment of the Hawai’i Kona crab fishery and determined it is the best scientific information available for status determination and setting harvest limits.

The scientists said the assessment possibly accounted for a limited portion of the stock due to the small geographic extent of the commercial fishery relative to the larger distribution of the stock in Hawai’i as well as a lack of information on noncommercial fishing activities.

It suggested that female crabs discards be recorded on fishermen trip reports and that a stock assessment model be used that can account for sex-specific dynamics, since State of Hawai’i management measures allow the take of males but requires females to be discarded. The SSC recommended that the sex ratio of Kona crab at Penguin Bank be studied to evaluate the potential effects on the stock from the sex-selective fishery and reiterated its strong recommendation that extension of the closed season, changes in mesh size, retention of females and other alternative management options be evaluated to stimulate fishermen participation in this healthy fishery. Fishery participation had declined significantly after the non-retention of female Kona crabs went into effect.

U.S. Territory Longline Bigeye Tuna Quota: Regarding the federal quotas of longline-caught bigeye tuna for the U.S. Pacific Territories that participate in the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, the SSC noted that the projected impacts of allowing each U.S. Territory to transfer 1,000 or up to 2,000 metric tons of their 2,000 mt quotas to permitted U.S. longline fishing vessels would not lead to bigeye overfishing and are consistent with the Commission’s management objectives.

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site, it has been reprinted with permission.

Trump’s National Monument Changes Return to Spotlight

March 13, 2019 — As Democrats in Congress prepare to scrutinize President Donald Trump’s review of 27 national monuments, most of the recommendations made by ex-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke remain unfinished as other matters consume the White House.

Trump acted quickly in December 2017 on Zinke’s recommendations to shrink two sprawling Utah monuments that had been criticized as federal government overreach by the state’s Republican leaders since their creation by Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.

But in the 15 months since Trump downsized the Utah monuments, the president has done nothing with Zinke’s proposal to shrink two more monuments, in Oregon and Nevada, and change rules at six others, including allowing commercial fishing inside three marine monuments in waters off New England, Hawaii and American Samoa.

Zinke resigned in December amid multiple ethics investigations — and has joined a Washington, D.C. lobbying firm. Trump has nominated as his replacement Acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, a former lobbyist for the oil and gas industry and other corporate interests.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S News and World Report

A proposal to ban killing sharks in Hawaii waters is gaining steam

February 12, 2019 — Capturing, taking, abusing or killing a shark in Hawaii waters would be illegal, under a Senate bill quickly gaining support.

The measure also expands a ban on killing manta rays to all rays in state waters.

Senate Bill 489 has the support of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the Humane Society, and a number of environmental groups.

Violators of the proposal would face fines of $500 for a first offense and $10,000 for a third offense.

The islands are already at the forefront of enacting protections for sharks, but some say more work is needed to safeguard the animals at a time when the health of the world’s oceans is in decline.

Sharks and rays “are long-living and slow-growing, start reproducing at an advanced age, and produce relatively few offspring per year,” the measure before lawmakers says.

“Protection for sharks and rays ultimately means healthier, more resilient oceans and reefs that are better able to withstand other pressures on the ocean ecosystem from climate change and pollution.”

Read the full story at Hawaii News Now

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