Saving Seafood

Pacific Nations Are Bracing To Lose Tons Of Tuna From Their Waters

December 14, 2022 — Pacific leaders are developing a new warning system, not against hurricanes, tsunamis or even erupting volcanoes but rather the looming departure of vital tuna from their territorial waters in the years to come.

That so-called “advanced warning system” is part of a larger, $70 million proposal currently moving through the United Nations to help Pacific Island countries better react to the changing global climate. Their communities are already bearing much of the brunt of that crisis even though they’re among those least responsible for it.

Now, 14 of those Pacific nations aim to better understand the full extent of the upheaval that they’ll face as climate change pushes significant masses of tuna out of their waters and farther east. Most depend heavily on fishing access fees, paid by foreign purse seine fleets, in order to sustain their economies.

Read the full article at Civil Beat

HAWAII: The Honolulu Fish Auction Celebrates Its 70th Anniversary

November 29, 2022 — Commercial fishing in Hawai’i was banned during World War II and slowly resurfaced by the early 1950s. The United Fishing Agency launched the Honolulu Fish Auction on Aug. 5, 1952, and it celebrated its 70th anniversary this year at Honolulu’s Pier 38.

The agency says it’s the only fish auction in Hawai‘i and the only large-scale tuna auction in the Pacific this side of Tokyo. Michael Goto, who has been running the auction for a decade, says seafood is a much bigger industry in Hawai‘i than many people might realize.

“The whole business has been over-looked over the years,” Goto says. “It is the number one food-producing industry in the entire state of Hawai‘i. No one else comes close to this industry as far as food production.”

Sales from Hawai‘i’s longline fishing boats are worth between $100 million and $120 million a year at the ports before the fish hit the wholesale and retail sectors and gets marked up, he says.

He says more than 90% of people in the state consume seafood regularly and seafood is a big draw for tourists too. “Tourists come to Hawai‘i not to eat chicken or beef, but what we’re known for: fish,” he says.

Read the full article at Hawaii Business

Feds accused of dragging feet on threatened whitetip shark review

May 18, 2022 — The National Marine Fisheries Service has for years failed to complete its legally required consultation regarding the effects authorized fisheries in Hawaii and Samoa have on the threatened whitetip shark population, according to a new lawsuit.

The oceanic whitetip shark has suffered a precipitous population decline of up to 88% in recent decades, the Conservation Council for Hawaii says in a complaintfiled Tuesday in Honolulu. The decline is due primarily to the sharks ending up as “bycatch” of longline fishing fleets in the Pacific Ocean that target tuna and swordfish.

The fisheries service has recognized the whitetip shark as a threatened species but so far has failed to complete the so-called consultation it is required to conduct under the Environmental Species Act to determine the impact the fisheries the agency authorizes have on the sharks.

Read the full story at Courthouse News Service

Ban On Longliners Using Wire Leaders Takes Effect Next Month To Protect Sharks

May 2, 2022 — A new regulation prohibiting the use of wire leaders in longline fisheries is expected to increase the survival of hooked oceanic whitetip sharks by up to 30%.

The regulation takes effect on May 31 this year and will replace wire leaders — short lengths of wire that stop fish from biting themselves free from hooks — with nylon alternatives. Plastic leaders give sharks a better chance of survival because they can bite themselves free, or fishermen can cut them loose with greater ease.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration regulation comes after the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council and Hawaii Longline Association started addressing the issue in 2020.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

 

NOAA ship leaves Hawaii for historic deployment

March 30, 2022 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) ship Rainier has finally departed on the farthest journey of its 52-year history.

Originally planned for 2020, the ship is on a 3,307-nautical mile expedition to the Western Pacific to map the waters and survey the reefs. The ship set sail from Honolulu, Hawaii, on March 26.

This is Rainier’s first multidisciplinary expedition to Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. A team of scientists on board will map the waters from shore to almost 2,000 meters deep. The data collected from this trip will support safe navigation as well as coral habitat and fisheries conservation; it will also support storm surge and tsunami modeling.

Read the full story at KHON2

 

How This Hawaiian Fish Went From “Trash” To Sustainable Food Source

December 13, 2021 — On a Sunday afternoon in Honolulu, a school of shoppers swirl around an island of metal and ice covered in freshly caught local fish of all colors and sizes. Between rows of akule, tai snapper, and opelu there are piles of five to six inch long snapper gleaming bright yellow with baby blue stripes, caught off the west coast of O’ahu, called taʻape. The army of workers behind the counter at Brian’s Seafood Market unload more as each stack depletes, topping them with white laminated signs that say, “New Catch” or “Sale.” Some simply say, “Fresh Ta’ape” with different prices attached to denote different sizes. On the backside of the counter workers pass over full bags, freshly scaled and gutted, for customers to bring home to their family or mom-and-pop restaurant to fry whole and serve with chili sauce and shoyu.

Brian’s is only one of a handful of markets, so far, that sell this fish. Taʻape (in Tahitian), also known as blue-striped snapper, was once thought to be a “trash fish” in Hawaiʻi. Some locals would catch or spear these one to two pound reef fish to bring home for dinner, while most fishermen would throw them back. In recent years that stigma has started to shift as conservationists and local chefs began touting taʻape as a sustainable food source.

“Residents and visitors of Hawaii eat a lot of seafood, approximately 12.6 more pounds per capita than the U.S. as a whole,” the University of Hawaiʻi reported. Since taʻape is an invasive species, catching them for consumption provides an opportunity for fishers to help protect reefs, earn income and improve food security. It also offers chefs a delicious, more affordable option for their menus.

The issue with popularizing an unpopular fish however, is that most people do not know enough about it yet to feel comfortable selling or eating it. This is slowly changing as local chefs increase demand and word gets out.

Read the full story at Forbes

Success of the 2021 Mission to Clean up Marine Debris

September 27, 2021 — Scientists and divers from NOAA’s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center and local nonprofit Papahānaumokuākea Marine Debris Project (PMDP) returned to Honolulu on September 22, 2021, from a 30-day mission. The team removed marine debris from the shallow reefs and shorelines of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. These remote islands and atolls are centered among Pacific currents that carry lost and abandoned fishing nets and gear from all over the Pacific Ocean. The debris entangles wildlife and damages corals. Even during this mission, the team disentangled a 5-year-old female Hawaiian monk seal from derelict fishing rope.

The project staff collect valuable data during these missions:

  • Assessing the abundance and distribution of marine debris across Papahānaumokuākea
  • Evaluating rates of marine debris accumulation
  • Measuring habitat damage and the negative impacts of marine debris on coral reefs
  • Gauging recovery of coral reefs after marine debris removal
  • Increasing public awareness of marine debris issues through communication and outreach

The team of 16 divers expected to remove more than 110,000 pounds of derelict fishing nets, plastics, and other marine debris. Over only 18 days, they collected even more—nearly 124,000 pounds of debris—from these islands, atolls, and reefs of the monument:

  • Kamokuokamohoaliʻi (Maro Reef)—nearly 43,000 pounds
  • Kuaihelani (Midway Atoll)—approximately 24,500 pounds
  • Manawai (Pearl and Hermes Atoll)—23,650 pounds
  • Hōlanikū (Kure Atoll)—nearly 16,000 pounds
  • Kapou (Lisianski Island)—nearly 11,500 pounds
  • Kamole (Laysan Island)—more than 5,000 pounds

Read the full story at NOAA Fisheries

 

An Accountant Is The Latest To Be Charged In The Miske Case

June 8, 2021 — An accountant has been accused of conspiring with alleged racketeering kingpin Michael J. Miske Jr. to defraud the government by preparing and filing false tax returns, and aiding in bank fraud by advising the Honolulu business owner on false documents to prepare in order to deceive lenders in obtaining bank loans.

Miske and 10 co-defendants were named in a 22-count indictment in July 2020 that included a variety of offenses, ranging from drug trafficking and weapons offenses, to armed robbery, kidnapping and murder for hire.

The charges filed last week against Tricia Ann Castro, a certified public accountant, were the first to target a licensed professional alleged to have aided Miske in concealing his alleged criminal activities, which have become known as the “Miske Enterprise.”

Among the companies shifted into Delia-Ann’s name were Kamaaina Termite and Pest Control, which allegedly provided a home base for Miske’s criminal enterprise; Kamaaina Plumbing; Hawaii Partners LLC, which held title to the Boston Whaler, “Painkiller,” allegedly used in the 2016 kidnapping and murder of Jonathan Fraser, who had survived the accident that eventually took Caleb Miske’s life; and Kamaaina Holdings LLC, which owned and operated a longline fishing vessel for a decade before it was seized by the government, then sold earlier this year by court order.

Read thee full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

Noncommercial fishing is booming in Hawaii during pandemic

January 19, 2021 — Noncommercial fishing in Hawaii has been booming since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and many have turned to it out of necessity, according to fishing supply store personnel.

Since the novel corona­virus made its way to Hawaii in March, Brent Young, owner of Brian’s Fishing Supply in Honolulu, has observed more interest in fishing. Some of his customers are new fishers who want to learn, and others are seniors who haven’t fished in decades, but have had more time to do so.

“There’s no sports, there’s nothing to watch, there’s nothing to do. So they come back and they just want to fish,” Young said.

At times he’s had trouble keeping up with demand for fishing supplies. He had to install racks to a previously empty part of a wall in his store to make sure he had enough supplies, such as hooks, tackle and reel, available for customers.

And while many of them are looking to fish just as a hobby, Young has also noticed more customers who are out of work and need to fish.

Read the full story at The Honolulu Star Advertiser

Summary of Action Items for the 181st Meeting of the WPRFMC

February 7, 2020 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

The 181st meeting of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council will convene March 10-12, 2020, at the Laniakea YWCA, Fuller Hall, Honolulu, Hawai’i. The Council will consider and may take action on the issues summarized below, including any public comments on them. Click here for a complete PDF version of the 181st Action Item Summary Memo.

  1. Specifying Annual Catch Limits for the Mariana Archipelago Bottomfish Fishery
  2. Options Paper to Amend the Bottomfish Management Unit Species in American Samoa and the Mariana Archipelago
  3. US Territory Longline Bigeye Catch/Allocation Limits
  4. Marine Conservation Plans for Guam, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the Pacific Remote Island Areas/Hawai’i

Written public comments should be received by the Council’s executive director by 5 p.m. (Hawai’i time), Thursday, March 5, 2020, by postal mail, fax or email as indicated below. After March 5, it is the submitter’s responsibility to provide at least 40 copies of the written comment to Council staff at the Council meeting.

Read the full release here