Saving Seafood

Western Pacific Council Makes Recommendations to Keep US Pacific Island Fisheries Viable

October 26, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council concluded its two-day meeting in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) this week with recommendations regarding pelagic, international and American Samoa fisheries.

Council discussion centered around keeping healthy, sustainable U.S. Pacific Island fisheries viable amid an accumulation of U.S. regulations and international negotiations.

Billfish Conservation Act and Bigeye Tuna

The Council expressed dismay over the recent amendment to the Billfish Conservation Act of 2012, which bans the interstate commerce of billfish (excluding swordfish) landed by U.S. fishermen in Hawaii and the US Pacific Islands. The billfish stocks caught by Hawaii and U.S. Pacific Island fisheries are healthy, unlike the billfish in the Atlantic, the Western Pacific Council said in a press release.

The bill to amend the Act was introduced and promoted by Congressional delegates and sports fishing organizations from Florida. Recent guidelines from the National Marine Fisheries Service say the billfish landed in the US Territories and Hawaii are also prohibited from being sold in foreign markets. The Council directed staff to develop a list of questions and issues associated with amendment compliance and send them to NMFS for a response.

The Hawaii deep-set longline fishery catches billfish incidentally when targeting bigeye tuna. The amount of bigeye in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) the fishery may retain annually is developed by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), an international regional fishery management organization to which the U.S. is a party.

The Council endorsed recent WCPFC’s Permanent Advisory Committee to advise the U.S. commissioners (PAC) majority recommendation to obtain a longline bigeye quota of 6,000 metric tons (mt) at the upcoming WCPFC meeting in December in Honolulu. This amount is slightly less than the amount of bigeye caught in the WCPO in 2016 by Hawaii longline vessels, including those vessels operating under agreements with U.S. Participating Territories. The Council said it will communicate this recommendation to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. The Hawaii longline fleet is the sole fishery that utilizes the U.S. quota, which is currently set at 3,554 mt.

South Pacific Albacore

The Council also endorsed the PAC recommendation that the U.S. position generally be in support of adopting a South Pacific albacore target reference point. The reference point is a catch target that supports economically viable operations and healthy stock biomass. The American Samoa longline fishery, which harvests this stock, has been in decline since 2011. The Council asked NMFS to provide economic evaluations of the fleet’s performance at various target reference points in advance of WCPFC15.

Hawaii Longline Fishery

Among other pelagic and international fishery matters, the Council recommended initial action be taken that would require electronic reporting in the Hawaii longline fishery. The Council will ask NMFS to continue to develop electronic reporting in the Hawaii longline fishery and to work with Hawaii longline participants and Council staff to address several implementation issues and report back to the Council at its March 2019 meeting.

The Council intended to take action regarding the management of loggerhead and leatherback sea turtles in the Hawaii shallow-set longline fishery, which targets swordfish. However, action was postponed as a draft biological opinion due from NMFS on Oct. 1 has not been completed. The Council will reconvene its Scientific and Statistical Committee Working Group when the draft opinion is available. The Council may convene an interim Council meeting, if needed, to review the draft opinion and consider revisions to its June 2018 recommendations, including a possible specification of individual trip limits for leatherback sea turtle interactions.

American Samoa Fisheries

Regarding American Samoa fisheries, the Council recommended an annual catch limit (ACL) of 106,000 pounds for the American Samoa bottomfish species complex for fishing year 2019. The Council noted the next benchmark assessment, which is scheduled for review in February 2019, will provide new information to set the ACLs for fishing years 2020 to 2022. The Council also directed its staff to work with the Council’s American Samoa Advisory Panel to develop a plan for outreach and education, preferably in cooperation with Territory’s Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources, to educate communities on various fisheries and fisheries-related issues.

The Council will reconvene at 11 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 26, at the Hilton at Tumon, Guam.

This story originally appeared on Seafood News, it is republished here with permission.

 

US Western Pacific council recommends catch limits for CNMI, presents $250K check

October 25, 2018 — The US Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, at its 174th meeting in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) on Monday, recommended an annual catch limit (ACL) of 228,000 pounds for all CNMI bottomfish during the 2019 fishing year. That includes such species as amberjack and red snapper.

The amount is well above the average annual catch from 2015 until 2017 of 35,696 lbs, the council noted in a press release.

The next stock assessment is scheduled for review in February 2019 and will provide new information to set the ACLs for fishing year 2020 to 2022.

The council opened its meeting by presenting a $250,000 check to CNMI governor Ralph Torres and Department of Lands and Natural Resources secretary Anthony Benavente, according to the press release. The funds, which stem from a 2017 bigeye fishing agreement between the CNMI and Hawaii longline vessels, will be used to implement a bottomfish training and fishing demonstration project, which could then lead to the purchase of a vessel to help with fishery development, council executive director Kitty Simons said.

The council also discussed, among other issues, community concerns about the pre-positioning of ships anchored off Saipan’s shores. It said it would help an advisory panel in the CNMI facilitate a meeting between the Saipan military liaison and the CNMI government.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Mandatory reporting in Hawaiian longline fishery on table at science meeting

October 16, 2018 — Mandatory electronic reporting for the Hawaii longline fishery is on the agenda when the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) starts its two-day meeting Monday in Hilo, Hawaii.

The SSC is also expected to discuss acceptable biological catch limits for Hawaiian gray snapper, deep-water shrimp and Kona crab as well as the management of loggerhead and leatherback sea turtle interactions in the shallow-set longline fishery.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

WPRFMC: Billfish Amendment Targeted Pacific Island Commercial Fisheries with no Conservation Gained

October 9, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — HR 4528, signed into law by President Trump on Aug. 2, 2018, will have a big impact on Hawai‘i fishermen and wholesale businesses as well as potential markets for American Samoa, Guam and Northern Mariana Islands fisheries.

Introduced by U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, R-Fla., the bill had the seemingly benign title, “To make technical amendments to certain marine fish conservation statutes, and for other purposes.” In reality, the amendment to the Billfish Act of 2012 prohibits U.S.-caught billfish landed in the U.S. Pacific islands by U.S. fishermen from being sold to continental U.S. markets (including Alaska and the Territory of Puerto Rico). Swordfish is not included in the Act’s definition of billfish.

“It is disappointing that special interest groups were successful in lobbying Congress to eliminate sustainable U.S. Pacific Island-caught billfish sales on the mainland,” notes Kitty M. Simonds, executive director of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council. “The change will not have a conservation benefit and is inconsistent with the principles and standards of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.”

The National Marine Fisheries Service is currently deciding whether implementing regulations are necessary to enforce the law. The Council staff believes regulations are needed to clarify what is prohibited and what remains legal. Shortly after the law was signed, Council staff received numerous calls from the public about purchasing fresh billfish and value-added products in Hawai‘i to bring to the mainland for sharing or for personal consumption. Questions are also being asked about the exportation of billfish and value added products to foreign destinations.

In addition, seafood businesses on the mainland will need time to adjust and source new products to support their programs that have been built on using sustainably caught fish from Hawai‘i fisheries. Hawai‘i vendors have made commitments to mainland restaurants and retail groups to provide a variety of selections to support their “Fresh Hawaiian Catch of the Week” programs. They specifically choose Hawai‘i sourced fish because it is sustainable and traceable and has been regulated to have low environmental impacts.

It is clear that NMFS, industry and the public will need time to work through the complexities of this new rule. Given these issues, the Council wrote to Chris Oliver, NOAA Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, suggesting that NMFS develop a national education and outreach effort that corresponds to the rule-making process and that NMFS initiate enforcement after publication of the final rule. It was suggested that NMFS convene a meeting with the appropriate wholesale/dealer representatives in Hawai‘i and the Council to sort through the issues to be addressed in development of implementing regulations.

Prior to the bill’s passage, the Council received letters from both Oliver and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross stating that HR 4528 was unnecessary and would not lead to improved billfish conservation. Proponents of the bill said the 2012 Billfish Conservation Act had created a loophole in the prohibiting of all foreign imports of billfish into the United States by providing an exemption for U.S. fisheries landing billfish in Hawai‘i, American Samoa, Guam and Northern Mariana Islands. However, the exemption provided to U.S. Pacific Island fisheries in the 2012 legislation was clearly a preference by Congress to not negatively impact jobs in U.S. seafood markets, as the Congressional record indicates.

Sales of foreign-caught billfish in the U.S. and commercial harvest and sales of U.S. caught billfish in the Atlantic, where several species are overfished or experiencing overfishing, have been prohibited since 1988. For decades, a NMFS-administered Billfish Certificate of Eligibility (COE) has been required to accompany any billfish caught in the Pacific that is offered for commercial sale in the United States. The COE is meant to ensure billfish in the US market is not from the Atlantic or foreign fisheries by documenting the vessel, homeport, port of offloading and date of offloading. There was no loophole as alleged, and no evidence that foreign billfish were being laundered through Hawai‘i. Rather, the bill removed an exemption for domestic, sustainably caught billfish, as billfish populations in the Pacific are healthy. Proponents, on the other hand, believe marlins and other billfish should be caught only by recreational fishermen.

Sport fishing for billfish involves catch-and-release and retention for home consumption. Dozens of recreational billfish tournaments provide prize money for the largest marlin landed. Anecdotal information suggests a substantial amount of recreationally harvested billfish on the East Coast is sold through black-market channels.

Congresswomen Colleen Hanabusa, D-Hawai‘i; Madeleine Z. Bordallo, D-Guam; and Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen, R-American Samoa, said the legislation “will negatively impact the livelihoods of fishermen in Hawai‘i, Guam and the Pacific Insular Areas by closing off the only off-island market for U.S.- caught billfish.”

They added: “We support needed-conservation efforts in the Atlantic, but do not believe that Pacific fisheries need to be targeted in order to achieve these goals.”

Unfortunately, their Congressional voices and the voice of reason based on best scientific information fell on deaf ears.

The enacted legislation, unlike its title, was not a simple technical amendment, but rather an arrow pointed at sustainable U.S. Pacific Island commercial billfish fisheries at the behest of largely U.S. mainland recreational fishing groups.

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

HAWAII: NOAA ship evacuates biologists from Papahanaumokuakea ahead of Hurricane Walaka

October 5, 2018 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s research ship Hi‘ialakai has taken seven NOAA field biologists away from French Frigate Shoals ahead of Hurricane Walaka, which is approaching Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument today.

The field crew of three green sea turtle biologists and four monk seal biologists was not scheduled to leave French Frigate Shoals until mid-October, said Megan Nagel, spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — Pacific Region.

Instead, Nagel said in an email, they were “recovered ahead of their scheduled mid-October departure date by the NOAA ship Hi‘ialakai.”

On Monday, a U.S. Coast Guard crew flew a HC-130 Hercules from Air Station Barbers Point to Johnston Atoll and evacuated four U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biology field workers from the wildlife refuge.

Hurricane Walaka was a Category 4 storm with sustained winds of 130 mph when it passed the tiny four-island atoll Tuesday.

Read the full story at The Star Advertiser

HAWAII: Kauai counters seeing fewer whales, too

October 4, 2018 — Annual February humpback whale counts from Kauai have dipped to less than half the number they were in 2014, keeping in rhythm with recent statewide research.

Every year the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary holds three counts during the time the whales are in Hawaii — once in January, once in February and the last in March.

Humpback whales are generally in Hawaiian waters from November to May, with peak season being January through March, to breed and have their young.

The 2017 season on Kauai kicked off early, with the one of the first sightings reported Oct. 18, from a Blue Dolphin Adventures tour.

The counts occur simultaneously throughout the islands, with volunteers recording whale sightings during 15-minute periods and on Kauai, data is accumulated from 15 sites.

In March 2015, Kauai and the Big Island averaged two whales every 15 minutes, and Oahu averaged three every 15 minutes.

March 2014 yielded an average of three whales every 15 minutes on Kauai and Oahu, and two per every 15-minute time period on the Big Island.

Kauai reported four whale sightings every 15 minutes in March 2013, and Hawaii and Oahu calculated an average of three. That year, Kauai averaged two whale sightings from all sites.

Researchers have recorded a decline in the number of whale sightings, but also the number of songs and sightings of mother and calf pairs.

Read the full story at The Garden Island

Humpback whale sightings around Hawaii declining

October 1, 2018 — Whale researchers are spotting a trend in the Hawaiian Islands — a decline in humpback whale sightings.

Not only are there fewer sightings, fewer male Hawaiian humpback whales have been recorded singing, and the number of mother-calf pairs has been diminishing for the past three seasons, according to the researchers. While the trend has been consistent over the past three years, the scientists refrained from sounding an alarm about the whales disappearing as a new season is around the corner.

“They’re not all gone,” said Ed Lyman, who is with the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. “We are seeing indications of fewer whales near the islands where our effort is … There are still plenty of whales out there.”

The peak of the season is usually between January and March, when thousands of humpback whales migrate from Alaska to Hawaii to mate, calve and nurse their young, although they can be spotted in November or earlier, and stay as late as May.

Lyman, a researcher and the sanctuary’s whale entanglement response coordinator, said for him, the first signs of the decline were in late December 2015.

That’s when he got calls from whale-watching tour operators on Hawaii island, inquiring about their late arrival. Lyman reached out to tour operators on other islands, as well, and found them saying the same thing — the whales were late, and there were fewer sightings. He got the same reports from contacts in Mexico.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser

 

Cauliflower Coral Could Be Listed as Endangered

September 25, 2018 — Officials say endangered or threatened species protection may be warranted for cauliflower coral across its entire range — not just Hawaii.

The Hawaii Tribune-Herald reports the National Marine Fisheries Service issued last week its 90-day finding on a March petition seeking Endangered Species Act protection for the coral.

The coral, Pocillpora meandrina, is found in Hawaii and on most shallow reefs in the Indo-Pacific and Eastern Pacific. It has been devastated by habitat changes, disease and predation, lack of protection and other natural man-made factors.

The Center for Biological Diversity, which raised the petition, says in Hawaii alone, there was a 36.1 percent drop in coverage from 1999-2012.

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

Hawaiian Coral is considered for federal protection

September 20, 2018 — Hawaiian cauliflower coral is one step closer to federal protection under the Endangered Species Act, according to the first review released on Wednesday by the National Marine Fisheries Service of a manufacturing sponsor of the Center for Biodiversity.

Nickname cauliflower, Pocillopora meandrina is often pink, green or cream-colored and is characterized by its branching colonies. Called Ko? A on Hawaiian, the coral is rich in rocky reefs throughout the Indo-Pacific and East Pacific.

“Information presented in the production and other readily available information in our files shows that the most important threat to P. meandrina throughout its assortment at present and in the future, and to the coral columns in the Indo-Pacific region, such as P. meandrina is a part off, marine warming and subsequent warming-induced coral bleeding and mortality, says the report.

Between 2014 and 2015, cauliflower coral was one of many species affected by severe bleeding events, in which single-cell organisms called zooxanthellae that live inside the coral structure and give that pigment expelled. Zooxanthellae can resettle in the coral, other times the organism dies.

Subsequent investigations of Hanauma Bay on Oahu in 2016 recorded evidence of bleeding in 64 percent of P. meandrina colonies, while 1.3 percent were “affected by total post bleaching mortality”. On the western coast of Big Island, 49.6 percent of all living corals were leaks lost.

“Corrosion protection ultimately needs to reduce global temperature increases by drastically reducing fossil fuels. Cauliflower coral is also threatened locally through land-based contamination, sedimentation and physical disturbance caused by human activities, “says the Center for Biological Diversity in a Press Release.

Read the full story at Vaaju