Hawaii Archives - Page 53 of 64

WPRFMC to Amend Pacific Fishing Regs to Accommodate Hawaii’s Expanded MPA; No Changes Made to Bigeye

October 18th, 2016 — Seafood News — Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (WestPac) will propose changes to fishery regulations to accommodate an expanded marine monument designation and also made no changes to the 2017 Pacific longline bigeye tuna catch.

WestPac agreed to produce a draft of amendments and regulations to the Hawai’i and Pelagic Fishery Ecosystem Plans (FEPs) to accommodate provisions of the August 26th Presidential Proclamation that expanded the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

The Obama Administrations designation expanded the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument to encompass the entire 200-mile US EZZ around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

An MPA designation means commercial fishing is banned in protected waters, though regulations can allow for non-commercial fishing, like subsistence practices.

“The impacts to the Hawaii fishing and seafood industries and indigenous communities as a result of monument expansion are considerable,” said Council Chair Edwin Ebisui Jr. “The Council will write to the President about these and request the Department of Commerce to mitigate them.”

The Council will solicit public input on the draft FEP amendment and draft regulation options through statewide meetings to be held prior to the Council’s next meeting in March 2017.

The Council will also ask the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to analyze various impacts of the monument expansion, which closed commercial fishing in approximately 61 percent of the US EEZ around the Hawai’i Archipelago. Among these is the change in longline effort around the main Hawaiian Islands in relation to changes in troll caught yellowfin tuna.

Meanwhile, WestPact recommended no changes for the 2017 longline commercial bigeye tuna catch.

This means the longline limits for the bigeye tuna catch will remain at 2,000 metric tons for the US Participating Territory.

Additionally, the Council also authorized the Territories of American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marina Islands (CNMI) to allocate up to 1,000 mt of their limit to US fishermen through specified fishing agreements as authorized under Amendment 7 of the Pelagic Fishery Ecosystem Plan for the Western Pacific Region.

WestPac says the transfer amendment provides the Territories with funding for fisheries development projects in their respective Marine Conservation Plans.
“The transfers also help to stabilize Hawai’i’s local fresh tuna market,”said Council Executive Director Kitty M. Simonds.

The amendment was actually invoked this month to extend the bigeye tuna season for the US sector in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

“It was a lot of work for the agency, but leaving 250 metric tons of bigeye in the water with 30 boats unable to fish was a significant hardship on 20 percent of the Hawaii fleet,” said Hawaii Longline Association President Sean Martin in our story about the quota transfer.

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

Hawaii’s Longline Fishermen Pushing To Catch More Tuna

October 18th, 2016 — Hawaii’s longline fishermen will be able to go after similar amounts of bigeye tuna next year under a policy passed last week by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council.

But some have their sights set on doubling or even tripling their annual catch limits through new quota-sharing agreements with Pacific Island territories that don’t currently fish commercially for ahi.

Before that can happen though, the fishermen will need to demonstrate that the species is no longer subject to overfishing and convince federal officials that the pending arrangements with Guam, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands do not violate international agreements to conserve fish stocks.

“We are right at the level of overfishing,” said Jarad Makaiau, a scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “We are right on the razor thin line.”

Wespac manages 1.5 million square miles of ocean in the Central and Western Pacific Ocean and advises the National Marine Fisheries Service on catch limits, endangered species mitigation and stock assessments.

Fallout from Revelations of Slavery in Hawaii Fishing Industry

October 14th, 2016 — AP recently reported on suspected labor exploitation in Hawaii’s multi-million-dollar fishing industry, prompting a robust response from advocacy organizations, businesses, and legislators. Documenting the hardships of 770 foreign workers confined to Hawaiian fishing boats almost year-round, AP brought attention to a troubling legal loophole in Hawaii’s labor statutes: Hawaiian fishing boats are precluded by state legislation from federal regulations guaranteeing federal labor protections.

As a consequence of this legal loophole, examples of labor exploitation abound—including seizure of identity documents, severe underpayment, deplorable safety and hygiene conditions, and insurmountable debt from recruitment fees and contract-breach.

Whole Foods responded to the revelations by dropping goods from the Hawaii fish auction from their three Hawaii stores until there is suitable proof that no labor exploitation exists in the supply chain. Other smaller businesses followed suit, expressing similar sentiments about rooting out all instances of labor exploitation and trafficking in delivery of goods.

On the day the report was published, members of the Hawaiian Longline Association, fishing vessel owners, and the Hawaii Seafood Council formed a task force to oversee rectifying the allegations of labor exploitation. The task force drafted a contract in response to the critical report, requiring signature from all owners by October 1st in order to continue selling fish at the Hawaii fish auction. The contract purportedly protects workers from further exploitation by guaranteeing certain hiring and workplace practices will be adopted.

The contract however still lets owners set the minimum salary, allows workers to spend the entire year at sea (15 trips, 10 to 40 days each), and still requires workers to stay on board while the boat owner holds their identity and immigration documents. The contract under scrutiny is shown to be little more than a good will gesture, rather than a consequential path to ensuring proper treatment of foreign workers in this industry.

Read the full story at Human Rights First

Hawaii agency opposes rule change for foreign fishermen

October 14th, 2016 — A group of Hawaii residents want to change local rules for issuing commercial fishing licenses and make the process more transparent after an Associated Press investigation found that hundreds of undocumented fishermen work in the fleet.

A federal loophole allows the foreign men to work but exempts them from most basic labor protections, and some residents are concerned that state rules offer little transparency and leave workers in the dark.

State and federal lawmakers promised to improve conditions for the foreign crews, and at least one company stopped buying fish from the boats immediately following the AP investigation.

The petition asks for rule changes that include certifying that license applicants understand and have read the paperwork they are signing, but a state agency recommends the changes not be implemented.

The foreign fishermen who work in the fleet often do not read, write or understand English and therefore cannot legitimately agree to terms of the license, petitioners said Wednesday.

In a document signed by Bruce Anderson, the administrator for the Division of Aquatic Resources, the department recommends denying the rule changes because the petition focuses on labor issues that are outside the department’s jurisdiction.

“We believe that a requirement that the applicant certify the he or she understands the application, or alternatively, certification from a person assisting the applicant the he or she has read the application and translated its terms to the applicant, is unnecessary,” the document said. “The applicant would be required to comply with all terms and condition of a commercial marine license.”

In a statement issued Thursday by the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, Anderson reiterated his comments and discussed the issue further.

“While we are clearly concerned about recent media reports regarding working conditions on fishing vessels, our responsibilities currently involve enforcing DAR (Division of Aquatics) CML (commercial marine licensing) rules and any violations associated with the Joint Enforcement Agreement with NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,” Anderson said.

“It is absurd that DLNR will grant a fishing license in the expectation that the applicant will observe its terms and conditions when the applicant may never have seen or read the original application,” said Oahu resident Larry Geller in a statement emailed Wednesday. Geller was among a group to sign the petition.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The New Jersey Herald

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