Saving Seafood

Hawaii fishermen, scientists cooperate on sustainability research

October 13, 2016 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced Tuesday that it will be collaborating with fisherman in Hawaii to research the health and size of several native fish species’s populations.

The research will focus on seven species of Hawaii’s deep-water bottom-dwelling fish, which include six species of snapper and one species of grouper. These big red fish, particularly the Onaga and the Opakapaka, are commonly eaten across Hawaii, and the data from this study will inform sustainable fishing practices that, hopefully, will allow these fish to remain in the cultural diet for years to come.

“Our current stock assessment shows that [the Hawaii deep seven] are not over fished and they are not experiencing over fishing,” Benjamin Richard, a NOAA marine biologist who is leading the research, tells The Christian Science Monitor. “Part of our role is to collect the best scientific information so that we can help to ensure that that continues.”

All commercial fisheries are required to record how many fish they catch and sell. The data is used by the state, and agencies such as NOAA’s Pacific Islands Regional Office and the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, to inform the annual catch limit. But this study aims to improve upon those methods.

Read the full story at The Christian Science Monitor

H. STERLING BURNETT: Obama’s Dangerous Use Of The National Monument Law

October 13th, 2016 — Despite objections made by many prominent Hawaiians and a federally designated regional fishing council, President Barack Obama, relying on the authority granted to the presidency in the 1906 Antiquities Act, quadrupled the size of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument (PMNM) with one stroke of a pen.

With its August 25 expansion, PMNM became the largest protected reserve on Earth, comprising 582,578 square miles, nearly double the size of Texas. President George W. Bush created PMNM in 2006.

The Antiquities Act is one of the most ill-considered laws ever written. It gives to presidents dictatorial power to declare large swaths of the public’s land off-limits to a variety of uses normally allowed on federal lands. Many presidents have used this power, but none have done so more often or with such recklessness as Obama has. Since 2009, Obama has created or expanded 25 national monuments, more than any other president in history.

The process of creating a national monument under the Antiquities Act does not require approval from the democratically elected Congress, which is especially problematic because the creation of national monuments has often been opposed by many people in the states where the monuments have been established. It’s these people who suffer most directly from the new limits placed on economic and recreational activities.

Read the full op-ed at Forbes 

Hawaii May Finally Get An Accurate Count Of Its Bottomfish

October 12th, 2016 — State and federal fishery officials have struggled for decades to determine how many deep-sea bottomfish like onaga and opakapaka are in Hawaiian waters, basing stock assessments on the amount of groupers and snappers caught by commercial fishermen.

The method has made it difficult to assess the health of the fishery and what limits to set on the amount of bottomfish that can be reeled in each year, which affects whether these popular fish appear on the menu and how much they cost if they do.

But scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say a five-year joint effort with state officials, fishermen and others to improve their stock-assessment methods is about to pay off thanks in large part to a newly developed underwater camera system.

Twelve researchers are set to embark on a 15-day mission to take photos of bottomfish using the 70-pound rigs at 66 locations around the main Hawaiian Islands. Scientists will then spend weeks or possibly months counting the fish in the photos, determining their length and identifying the species, which are found at depths ranging from 300 to 900 feet.

That information will be combined with data that six commercial fishermen are currently collecting through a standardized survey method that involves them fishing at certain areas for a set period of time using the same bait.

The initial data analysis is expected in January, said Benjamin Richards, NOAA fishery biologist and the survey’s lead scientist. A final analysis is expected a few months after that. It will ultimately end up being used in the 2018 stock assessment, he said, the first major update in four years and most comprehensive to date.

Read the full story at The Honolulu Civil Beat 

HAWAII: There’s A Big Mess At The Papahanaumokuakea Monument

October 7, 2016 — Kure Atoll, a speck of land in a federally protected marine area nearly 1,400 miles northwest of Honolulu, provides a safe haven for seabirds, rare fish, endangered seals and coral reefs.

And now, at least until a salvage operation can occur, it’s also home to an 8,000-pound excavator, which is leaking fuel, a roll of chain-link fencing, hunks of metal and broken glass that fell into the water when the boat carrying it capsized a quarter-mile offshore.

Two of the nine people aboard the 33-foot landing craft were injured in the Sept. 2 incident, which remains under investigation. They were treated and released by a doctor at nearby Midway Atoll.

The accident offers a rare look at some of the work being done inside Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument — a nearly 600,000-square-mile area around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands that’s off-limits to anyone without a special permit for conservation, education, research or cultural purposes.

President Barack Obama quadrupled the monument’s size in late August, making it the world’s largest protected marine area. The day before the vessel capsized he flew to nearby Midway Atoll to highlight the monument’s importance in protecting natural resources, fighting climate change and preserving heritage sites, which include sunken ships at Kure.

Employees of Element Environmental, a Hawaii environmental and engineering firm contracted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, were working on a nearly $1.5 million project at Kure Atoll that involved digging up 400 to 600 cubic yards of PCB-contaminated soil from an old U.S. Coast Guard dump site near the shoreline and reburying it in a more secure spot near the center of Green Island, the atoll’s largest land mass at six miles wide.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

Now that the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Hawaii has taken place, what happens next?

October 6th, 2016 — “If all we do is host people from around the world and have a really great conference, then we have missed the opportunity.” So said Charles “Chipper” Wichman, addressing attendees of the Hawaii Conservation Conference at UH-Hilo in August of 2015.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), founded in 1948, has a mission to, “Influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable.” Every four years they convene members, delegates and guests to the World Conservation Congress (WCC), most recently held in Jeju, Korea (2012) and Barcelona, Spain (2008). Never before had the United States been a venue for the Congress.

Wichman, National Tropical Botanical Garden President and CEO, curator of the 989-acre Limahuli Preserve on Kauai, not only served on the Host and Program Committees of the WCC, but was largely responsible for the idea of holding the event in Hawaii, where threats to unique eco-systems and biodiversity are on center stage.  Back in 2008, after attending the Barcelona WCC, Maui kalo farmer and educator Penny Levin suggested that the only way to get suitable attention and funding for local conservation needs would be to bring an event of this stature to Hawaii. Dr. Christopher Dunn, then-director of Lyon Arboretum, and Wichman agreed, and began an eight-year odyssey of making the dream a reality.

By all accounts, the 2016 IUCN-WCC, held Sept. 1-10 at Honolulu’s Hawaii Convention Center, was an unprecedented success. More that 10,000 people attended, from more than 190 nations. The extravaganza showcased Hawaii, Pacific and global eco-issues and challenges with dozens of displays, presentations, forums and discussions over the first five days. Then the Congress shifted gears, with five days of deliberations and voting on 85 proposals, from closing domestic markets for elephant ivory trade to securing our future by developing a post-2020 strategy.

A Who’s Who list of conservation luminaries and leaders highlighted the event–Jane Goodall, Sylvia Earle, Jean Michel Cousteau, E.O. Wilson and more—with President Barack Obama a late no-show after a brief welcome to the Pacific Island Conference of Leaders in a small, private event at the UH East-West Center on Manoa on the eve of the WCC. Expected to address the general assembly at an opening reception at Neal Blaisdell Center the next morning, Obama instead flew to Midway, in the center of the Paphanaumokuakea Marine National Monument (PMNM) that he expanded just a week earlier by presidential order, making it the world’s largest marine protected area.

Read the full story at Mauitime

Researchers find abundant life in Hawaii’s twilight zone

October 5, 2016 — HONOLULU — Coral reefs in Hawaii’s oceanic twilight zone, where light still penetrates and photosynthesis occurs, are abundant and host a wide variety of life, a new study shows.

A paper published Tuesday in the journal PeerJ revealed that some of these ecosystems off the Hawaiian archipelago, particularly an area off Maui, are the most extensive deep-water reefs ever recorded.

The ecosystems, found in waters from 100 to 500 feet deep, host more than twice the amount of unique Hawaiian fish species as their shallow-water counterparts, and they are much more extensive than previously known.

“What is unique about this study is how vast and dense the coral cover is,” Richard Pyle, a Bishop Museum researcher and lead author of the publication, told The Associated Press.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at KSL

NOAA expedition off Kona unearths mysterious deep sea creatures

September 29, 2016 — Nearly three quarters of the Earth is taken up by the ocean but NOAA scientists say less than five percent of its have ever been explored.

NOAA fisheries is on a mission to expand our understanding. Researchers just wrapped up an expedition off the Kona Coast. 20 scientists spent 20 days in waters off West Hawai’i known for it’s thriving ocean environment.

“We’re trying to really pinpoint some of the primary mechanism’s…primary reasons why this ecosystem is so productive,” said Jamison Gove, a NOAA Oceanographer.

Scientists discovered an abundant community of creatures 2,000 feet down that possessed out of the ordinary features.

“Huge teeth… they’re all very strange looking. They have adapted to life where there’s virtually no light, food is incredibly scarce and if you come across a meal you have to be able to grab it,” said Jonathan Whitney, a NOAA Biologist.

The mysterious species are believed to be an important food source to larger marine mammals like dolphins.

Large trawl nets scooped up organisms from the deep depths and near the surface in an area known as the surface slicks. The visibly smooth ribbon like section pulls together floating material and serves as somewhat of a nursery for young marine life.

Read the full story at KITV

Commercial Fishermen Question Obama’s Ocean ‘Monument’ Preserve

September 29, 2016 — Commercial fishing boat owners and groups are reacting to the executive action taken by President Obama that created a marine national preserve in the North Atlantic on Sept. 15. They say that banning commercial fishing there is unnecessary, since the fishing industry has already been working with government agencies on conservation measures. Plus, they fear the preserve will be expanded in the future, like the recent quadrupling of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument off the Hawaiian islands.

The new 4,193-square-mile Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument is located about 130 miles southeast of Cape Cod.

Environmentalists praise the fact that the preserve will also protect marine life from all drilling. However, the fishing angle is another matter, according to industry organizations such as the Garden State Seafood Association.

“All commercial fishing is excluded from the area, but fisheries in the top 10 to 20 feet, no way in the world they’re going to impact the bottom,” pointed out Nils Stolpe, communications director of the association.

Such is the case for a lot of the Barnegat Light-based boats, he said, for example, longliners and some hook-and-line tuna boats. “They’re fishing 3 miles up above all of this on the ocean floor.”

“Longliners are probably affected more than any of our other fisheries up there” by the declaration, said Ernie Panacek, general manager at Viking Village Commercial Seafood Producers in Barnegat Light. “Our bottom longlining boats and surface longlining for sword and tuna boats are going to be affected up there.”

Read the full story at The Sand Paper

International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s marine zone closure proposal outrages fisheries sector

September 28, 2016 — The decision taken by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to close off 30 per cent of all marine areas from extractive activities by 2030 has caused outrage to Europêche and the European body representing producer organisations(EAPO).

The IUCN adopted the measure in its latest Congress held in Hawaii, on September 1-10, during which the entity adopted a series of non-binding commitments to recommend governments and other relevant international bodies such as FAO or the European Union.

According to Europêche, the IUCN takes decisions on fisheries issues whilst disregarding the huge socio-economic impacts that this 30 per cent area closure would have on coastal communities and food security.

“No-take zones (marine reserves) have become, in the eyes of many scientists, NGOs and lay-people, a solution for the overexploitation of fish populations. However, before we close off any area to extractive activities such as fishing we must first ask ourselves what are we protecting and why. MPAs are a tool, not an objective so in order for these closures to be successful, their existence has to be justified,” Javier Garat, President of Europêche, pointed out.

For its part, the fishing sector argues that fisheries is actually one of the most affected sectors by these recommendations, which do not take into account other impacts such as pollution and marine mining industries.

Moreover, those opposing the the decision consider the IUCN’s measure is not based on any broad consensus of the scientific community and disregards the unpleasant fact that a large proportion of MPAs already established are ‘paper parks’ with zero efficiency in meeting their objectives.

On the contrary, some scientists present at the Congress highlighted that there is little proof that the 30 per cent closure would bring about any major benefit to biodiversity and have objected very strongly to the proposal since it goes against efforts made by MPA proponents during the last decade to involve coastal communities in decision-making.

The fishing bodies also believe that any proposal which greatly impacts any economic sector should be accompanied by a thorough impact assessment from an environmental, social, economic and food security perspective, which was not the case in this decision. This would be the only tool which would highlight the consequences of the problems and allows states to decide whether to take action based on accurate, objective, comprehensive and non-discriminatory information.

The fishing sector also highlights that closing off parts of the ocean from extractive use would actually conflict with other the UN Sustainable Development Goals, such as increasing food security and reducing poverty; both of which require the use of the ocean. Closing 30 per cent of all coastal areas would be disastrous in the developing world, where coastal communities have no social safety nets and no unemployment schemes.

Read the full story at Fis.com

Western Pacific Council, NOAA to Establish Aquaculture Management Regs for Pacific Islands Region

September 27, 2016 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Right now, anyone can throw a cage into the open ocean within the Economic Enterprise Zone and begin an aquaculture operation, said Joshua DeMello, of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council.

But with “gray area rules” on things like permits, species and reporting requirements, large-scale companies are hesitant to take advantage of the open ocean just yet.

“No one is doing that,” DeMello said. “We’ve gotten calls in the past about folks that are interested, but a lot of them are waiting to see what type of management plan comes out.”

The beginning of that aquaculture management program for the Pacific Islands Region is in the works, under the eye of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service and in conjunction with
Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council.

The entities are preparing a programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) analyzing the possible environmental impacts of the proposed management program and alternatives.

“The purpose of it is to develop a management program to support sustainable, economically sound aquaculture in the Pacific Island Region,” DeMello said.

The PEIS process looks at options for permit duration, whether cages should be metal or net pens, and allowable species.

“The push is to have something in place so if someone does come in and do (large-scale aquaculture), there would be rules set up to ensure the wild stocks and environment are protected, and the rights of other fishermen and ocean users are preserved,” DeMello said.

But ushering industrial aquaculture into the EEZ is anything but sustainable, poses a threat to the environment and could impact commercial fishing, according to a biologist.

“For example, that would pose a navigational hazard to commercial fishermen, and they are important,” said aquatic biologist Don Heacock. “Not everyone fishes for themselves today.”

In addition to interrupting commercial fishing, Heacock said the idea of large-scale aquaculture isn’t sustainable.

“We found that out with large-scale pineapple and sugar,” he said. “The EEZ was established to protect our resources and our fisheries and they’d be using up public trust resources to export products to other countries.”

The counterbalance to the industrial scale aquaculture operations is the ahupua’a land management system and its hundreds of fishponds, Heacock said, established by the Hawaiians more than 500 years ago.

“The ahupua’a system was (created) by a chief on Oahu because he had to — they were running out of food because the population had grown so big,” Heacock said. “They had to decide how to produce more food and do it sustainably, and that’s when the fishponds were built.”

Those fishponds were integrated with taro fields and other types of agriculture, Heacock explained, to work with the watersheds and produce food sustainably.

“Right now, they’re looking at large-scale corporate aquaculture facilities where they will be bringing in all the (starter) fish,” Heacock said. “Large-scale aquaculture is not sustainable and doesn’t contribute to food security.”
NOAA says aquaculture is a way to increase marine food production.

“It’s increased a lot in the past, I would say 20 years or so, to the point now where they say aquaculture production is above that of wild capture fisheries,” DeMello said. “That includes all types — land based and open ocean.”

The comment period for the public scoping process to help identify alternatives ends Oct. 31, but DeMello said it won’t be the last time the public has opportunity to comment on the PEIS.

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