Saving Seafood

Papahanaumokuakea: Hawaii Fishermen get no response from Obama, Schatz

July 22, 2016 — HONOLULU — U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, has yet to respond to a June 20th request to meet with the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council on his proposal to expand the size of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument fourfold.

Also unanswered are letters sent by the council to President Obama on April 8 and July 14, 2016, with concerns about the impact to Hawaii’s fisheries of the proposals by Schatz and by seven Native Hawaiians in January 2016 that the president expand the monument using his authority under the Antiquities Act.

Council Chair Edwin Ebisui Jr., Executive Director Kitty M. Simonds and Vice Chairs McGrew Rice, William Sword, John Gourley and Michael Duenas reminded the Senator that the Council has federal jurisdiction over the waters within the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands beyond the current monument boundaries under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976.

“We are dismayed that you did not consult with the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council prior to distribution of your letters, which have proliferated unsubstantiated statements through the media,” the council wrote to Schaltz.

“As you yourself note, the Hawaii longline fishery uses ‘responsible and sustainable practices and has resulted in Honolulu’s recognition as one of the nation’s ten most productive fishing ports,’” the letter continued.

“This fishery is not simply about economics, it is also about the sustainability of the State of Hawaii through local food security (see the State of Hawaii 2050 Sustainability Plan, the Governor’s Aloha + Challenge, and the Hōkule’a Worldwide Voyage Promise to Paeaina)…. It is essential that you meet with us so that the discussion on your proposal is grounded in truth and science.”

According to his website, Schatz was in Hawaii on July 17, before heading to Asia. While in Hawaii, he met with PACOM commander Adm. Harry Harris, toured the USS America, observed the Rim of the Pacific Exercise, and met with sailors.

Read the full story from Western Pacific Regional Fishery Managment Council at the Hawai’i Free Press

Hawaii’s Longline Fishermen Hit Bigeye Tuna Limit Early

July 21, 2016 — For the second year in a row, Hawai‘i longline fishermen are on course to hit their annual limit for bigeye tuna. And again, it’s much earlier than expected. The island’s longline fleet will close in Western and Central pacific waters this Friday, and larger vessels in the Eastern region will also be halted a few days later. HPR’s Molly Solomon has more.

Starting Friday, the productive fishing grounds west of the Hawaiian Islands will be off limits for Hawai‘i’s longline fishing fleet. That’s more than three weeks earlier than fishery officials had predicted.

Sean Martin is president of the Hawai‘i Longline Association. They represent the 140 vessels that will be affected by the closure.

“Having less area to explore and trying to find an area of productive fishing becomes more complicated because a large swath of the ocean is no longer available,” said Martin.

Read and listen to the full story at Hawaii Public Radio

HAWAII: Papahānaumokuākea Expansion Public Meetings

July 20, 2016 — The following was released by NOAA:

Please join the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) for a public meeting to discuss the proposed expansion of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

On June 16, 2016, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz submitted a proposal to President Obama, requesting consideration of expanding the current boundaries of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument – drawing attention again to the rich cultural and scientific resources of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI).

As the Administration evaluates the proposal, we are seeking input from all interested parties to ensure that any expansion of the Monument protects the unique features of the NWHI for future generations while recognizing the importance of sustainable ocean-based economies. Please join us at our listening session to share your comments, concerns, and visions regarding the proposed expansion.

Oahu:
Monday, August 1, 2016
5:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Filipino Community Center
94-428 Mokuola Street, Suite 302
Waipahu, HI 96797		 Kauai:
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
4:00 pm to 7:00 pm
Kauai Community College
Performing Arts Center
3-1901 Kaumualii Hwy
Lihue, HI 96766

Written comments will be accepted in person during the public meetings and may also be submitted, in person, August 1 and 2 at the following locations during normal business hours:

Oʻahu
Honolulu Services Center
Pier 38, Honolulu Harbor
1139 N. Nimitz Hwy, Suite 220
Honolulu, HI 96817		 Maui
Sanctuary Visitor Center
726 South Kihei Road
Kihei, HI 96753		 Hawaiʻi
Mokupāpapa Discovery Center
76 Kamehameha Ave
Hilo, HI 96720

We hope you are able to join us and ask that you RSVP at your earliest convenience by clicking HERE. This meeting is open to the public, so please feel free to share this invitation with anyone you think would be interested.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Read the release at the Papahanaumokuakea website

Navy sonar that harms whales and dolphins was improperly approved, US court finds

July 19, 2016 — The US Navy is now using a particular type of sonar in more than half of the world’s oceans under an illegal permit. That sonar harms marine mammals like whales, dolphins, seals, and walruses. On Friday, the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals in California found that a 2012 regulation that allowed the Navy to use a low-frequency active sonar for training and testing violates the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

“The court found that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), which gave the authorization, isn’t doing enough to avoid harming or killing marine mammals under the law. The Marine Mammal Protection Act calls for the “least practicable adverse impact” on marine mammals and their habitats. The court also found that the federal agency failed to protect areas of the world that its own government experts had flagged as “biologically important” to protect marine life. Such areas include the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador, the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument off of Hawaii, and Challenger Bank off of Bermuda.

The Navy had been authorized to use the high-intensity long-range sonar — called low-frequency active sonar, or LFA — for five years across more than 70 percent of the world’s oceans, in areas of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans and the Mediterranean Sea. The NMFS has to set certain limits to activities, like military training, that could harm marine mammals. The goal is to reduce the impact on marine life to its lowest possible level.

Read the full story at The Verge

Former Hawaii Governor, Chefs Protest Marine Monument Expansion

July 18, 2016 — Set against a backdrop of commercial fishing boats at Pier 38 in Honolulu, former Hawaii Gov. George Ariyoshi told a crowd of roughly 200 people Friday that they need to work together to stop the proposed expansion of Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.

“We should not let the federal government come in and tell us what to do with our ocean,” the 90-year-old Ariyoshi said, receiving a round of applause.

It was the biggest rally to date against expanding the monument around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Some waved signs saying “Fishing Means Food” and “MVP Most Valuable Poke.”

Top chefs like Nico Chaize and George Mavrothalassitis were on hand, along with longline fishermen who object to a further encroachment on their fishing grounds.

Chaize told the crowd that the expansion would lead to higher poke prices and greater reliance on imported frozen fish.

The longliners primarily go after bigeye tuna, a highly valued species targeted for sashimi markets. They catch on average 8 percent of their annual haul of tuna from the area within the boundaries of the proposed expansion.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

Group protests expanded protection of Papahanaumokuakea

July 18, 2016 — Congress wants to protect Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument even more.

But not everyone’s happy about it.

A group of fishermen, chefs and community leaders held a rally Friday against the proposed expansion, which would make the 200 miles around the Northwestern Hawaiian Island chain off-limits to fishermen.

The group says this would be detrimental to their way of life.

“Our purpose of this today is to send a message to our congregation in Washington and to our island-born president: hands off. Keep hands off. Keep us on the water and let us do what we do best,” said Jim Cook, Pop Fishing and Marine vice president.

Read the full story at KHON 2

PETER APO: Marine Monument Proposal Isn’t ‘Hawaiian’

July 15, 2016 — It has surprised me that several notable Hawaiian leaders joined conservation advocates to help trigger the request to President Obama to expand the boundaries of the Papahanaumokuakea National Marine Monument in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands. I assume it means that they endorse the conservation model that underpins the global initiative to place 30 percent of the world’s oceans into marine reserves.

That conservation model is inconsistent with the traditional Hawaiian concepts of managing natural resources.

If the proposed monument expansion being advocated becomes law, the area that would be off-limits to fishing would dramatically balloon to 580,000 square miles, an area more twice the size of Texas.

The Western concept of conservation as a natural resource management strategy, if observed as actually practiced, seems based on two fundamental principles. The first is to “preserve” the area in perpetuity, protecting it from being used at all if possible. The second is to severely restrict humans from accessing the area, except perhaps for those who wish to study it.

The Hawaiian concept of conservation, or preservation or managing a natural resource – however you wish to characterize it – was never about closing out the resource forever. The traditional Hawaiian model would prefer planting a hillside in kalo (taro) as a productive, quality-of-life activity rather than adopting a model that would restrict access to the land simply to have it lie fallow. Indeed, by the time Captain Cook came to Hawaii in 1778, almost every bit of arable land was under cultivation, including such agriculturally marginal areas as the Kohala field system on the Big Island and Kahikinui on Maui.

Kapu Were Temporary

In practice, Hawaiians did invoke temporary kapu (restrictions) or closures in order to sustain or reinvigorate an environmental condition but always with the intention of returning it to a productive use and human access.

“Traditional Hawaiian fisheries management was carried out at a local level in sophisticated management schemes because biological processes that were the basis for management decisions often occurred on small geographical scales,” according to a 1923 Hawaiian-language article by Native Hawaiian fishing practitioner Z.P.K. Kawaikaumaiikamakaokaopua from Napoopoo.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

Feds Want Public Input On Marine Monument Expansion

July 15, 2016 — Federal officials plan to hold two public meetings next month — one on Oahu and the other on Kauai — to discuss the proposed expansion of Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, according to a draft notice that’s expected to go out Friday.

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii submitted a proposal June 16 that asks President Obama to consider using his executive authority to expand the monument fourfold around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

The current 50-mile boundary around the islands, which President George W. Bush established in 2006, encompasses 139,800 square miles. Schatz’s proposed expansion out to 200 miles for most of the reserve would protect 582,578 square miles.

Commercial fishermen and restaurant owners have come out against the proposal, saying it restricts access to an area where fishermen catch on average 8 percent of their annual haul of bigeye tuna. 

Conservationists and scientists have said it’s critical to preserve this pristine area for the sake of the species that live there — known and yet to be discovered — as well as combating the effects of climate change.

Both sides have said they want a public input process to let the administration know what’s at stake. The process isn’t required by law, but it appears the feds have heard their call.

The first meeting is slated for 5 p.m., Aug. 1, at the Filipino Community Center in Waipahu. The second is set for 4 p.m., Aug. 2, at the Kauai Community College Performing Arts Center. Both are anticipated to be three hours long.

Read the full story in the Honolulu Civil Beat

Eileen Sobeck Comments on Essential Fish Habitat

July 15, 2016 — Fish habitat earned legal respect 20 years ago when Congress added it to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the nation’s main fisheries law. We chatted about the role of Essential Fish Habitat with Eileen Sobeck, who has led NOAA Fisheries since 2014.

Why is habitat important to the fish we catch?

Fish aren’t just sitting there in the ocean waiting to be extracted. They are living in an environment, in a habitat, just like terrestrial species. To pretend that there will always be fish out there if their habitat is destroyed or polluted or otherwise compromised would be naïve.

What does habitat mean to you?

I’ve been snorkeling on coral reefs since childhood. I’ve been lucky enough to go diving and snorkeling all across the United States and the world. Just last month in Hawaii, I managed most mornings to go snorkeling outside my hotel. You can’t help but understand the concept of habitat supporting an entire ecosystem when you see a coral reef.

Read the full story at The Fishing Wire

GALEN MIZUGUCHI: Support fishermen

July 14, 2016 — I love fresh fish. Being born and raised in Hilo, it is only natural that I do. Ahi is a staple in our town. There is nothing like fresh poke at parties or sashimi on New Year’s Day.

It came as a surprise to me when I heard about the proposed expansion of Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.

We need to realize that this might have a huge effect on not just our state’s island culture, but it most likely will affect our economy as well.

As a state that relies heavily on tourism, why further cripple our economic stability by weakening the fishing industry, one of Hawaii’s only sustainable industries?

Read the full letter to the editor at the Hawaii Tribune-Herald