Saving Seafood

Endangered Hawaiian monk seal population rises to 1,400

January 25, 2017 — HONOLULU — The population of Hawaiian monk seals — one of the world’s most critically endangered marine mammals — has been increasing 3 percent a year for the past three years, federal wildlife officials said Tuesday.

There are now about 1,400 of the seals in the wild, said Charles Littnan, lead scientist of the Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“This is phenomenal, hopeful news for the population,” Littnan told reporters. “Yet we have a long way to go to recovery.”

The population has experienced increases in the past, including the mid-2000s, but Littnan characterized those as minor blips.

Hawaiian monk seals declined in numbers for years, most recently as juveniles struggled to compete for food with large fish and sharks in the remote Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, a mostly uninhabited stretch of tiny atolls that includes Midway.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Virginian-Pilot

NOAA plans to open federal waters in Pacific to fish farming

January 6, 2017 — HONOLULU — As traditional commercial fishing is threatening fish populations worldwide, U.S. officials are working on a plan to expand fish farming into federal waters around the Pacific Ocean.

The government sees the move toward aquaculture as a promising solution to overfishing and feeding a hungry planet. But some environmentalists say the industrial-scale farms could do more harm than good to overall fish stocks and ocean health.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is creating a plan to manage commercial fish farms in federal waters, the area of ocean from three to 200 miles offshore, around Hawaii and other Pacific islands.

The program is similar to one recently implemented by NOAA in the Gulf of Mexico. The farms in the Gulf and the Pacific would be the only aquaculture operations in U.S. federal waters, though there are smaller operations in state waters close to shore.

Fish farming has been practiced for centuries in Hawaii and around the world. But modern aquaculture, some environmentalists say, carries pollution risks and the potential for non-native farmed fish to escape and enter the natural ecosystem.

Most shellfish consumed in America comes from farms, and their methods are widely considered sustainable. However, some farms that grow carnivorous fish such as salmon have raised concerns about sustainability because they use wild-caught fish to feed the captive species.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Seattle Times

Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council Sends Letters to Obama on Impacts of Marine National Monuments

December 19, 2016 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

HONOLULU — The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council is hopeful that when President Obama arrives in Honolulu tomorrow, he will acknowledge the $100 million commercial fishing industry in Hawai‘i and the impacts on that fishery by his expansions of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument (MNM) in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) and the Pacific Remote Islands MNM, which includes nearby Johnston Atoll. The value of the Hawaii longline fishery is excess of $300 million when factoring in retail markets and support industries and their employees.

The National Marine Fisheries Service’s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center has reported that the expanded Papahanuamokueakea MNM may account for a potential loss of about 2.5 million pounds per year of tuna and other pelagic species worth on average $8 million, more than $9 million in fishery support businesses (e.g., fuel, gear, ice, etc.), $4.2 million in household income and $0.5 million in tax revenue and affect more than 100 jobs. The impact will be much greater on fishermen who historically utilized the US waters around the NWHI as their primary fishing grounds as well as smaller boats that are restricted in their range. Given these economic impacts, the Council believes that prohibiting commercial fishing in this area should be phased in.

On Dec. 1, 2016, the Council sent its fifth letter to Obama about its concerns with the NWHI MNM expansion and a sixth letter about the impacts of the three other marine national monuments that have been proclaimed in the US Pacific Islands. The Rose Atoll, Pacific Remote Islands and Marianas Trench MNMs impact the fisheries of not only Hawai‘i but also American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) as well as local and US mainland seafood consumers. The Obama administration has not responded to any of the Council’s previous four letters, which were sent over the past nine months.

Presidential proclamations through the Antiquities Act have banned commercial fishing in 61 percent of US waters around the Hawaiian Islands and have placed 51 percent of US waters around the US Pacific Islands under MNM designation. The Antiquities Act requires that monuments be proclaimed for the smallest size needed for conservation of resources of scientific and cultural interest. Obama has invoked future climate change impacts on biodiversity as one of the primary reasons for the presidential action in his proclamations expanding the NWHI and Pacific Remote Islands MNMs.

Climate change impacts occur over much larger areas than contained in any marine monument. The Council believes climate change impacts will not be mitigated by prohibiting the commercial catch of a well-managed and enforced US fishery in discrete areas of US waters. Furthermore, the Council has repeatedly questioned the use of the Antiquities Act for marine conservation of tuna, billfish and other highly migratory species, which move well beyond the monument boundaries.

“The Antiquities Act process circumvents the National Environmental Policy Act and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, both of which require environmental, social and economic analysis and public input,” notes Council Executive Director Kitty M. Simonds.

Prior to the expansion of the NWHI monument, which spans an area four times the size of Texas, about 10 percent of the fishing effort of the Hawai‘i longline fleet were in these monument waters. Another 10 percent were in the US waters around nearby Johnston Atoll, which Obama closed to fishing when he expanded the Pacific Remote Islands MNM in 2014.

“The push for the monuments was driven not by popular demand but by a Washington, DC-based environmental organization, the Pew Environment Group, which has had the ear of successive presidents,” explains Council Chair Edwin Ebisui Jr. “A Pew funded study estimated that the Marianas Trench MNM would result in $10 million per year in direct spending, $5million per year in tax and the creation of 400 jobs. Needless to say, neither Guam nor the CNMI has seen any economic benefits from the monument. After seven years a monument management plan has not been completed by NOAA and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Now there is talk about overlaying the monument status with a National Marine Sanctuary designation.”

While the local governments have received no economic benefit from the monuments, NOAA and the US Fish and Wildlife Service have been receiving $3 million per year for “monument management,” notes the Council’s letter about the Marianas Trench, Pacific Remote Islands and Rose Atoll MNMs. At the same time, the US Coast Guard and NOAA Office of Law Enforcement have not received additional funds or assets to increase patrols of the monument waters..

The Council was established by Congress in 1976 and has authority over fisheries seaward of state/territory waters in the US Pacific Islands pursuant to the Magnuson-Stevens Act. For more information and to download the letters, go to www.wpcouncil.org, email info@wpcouncil.org or phone (808) 522-8220.

Letter to Obama on Papahanaumokuakea

Letter to Obama on Rose Atoll, Marianas Trench and Pacific Remote Islands MNM

See the full release at WESPAC

MATTHEW DALY: Congress must help Hawaii fishermen confined to boats

December 7th, 2016 — Congress should act immediately to improve slave-like conditions for hundreds of foreign fishermen working in Hawaii’s commercial fleet, speakers at a congressional forum said Tuesday.

“These fishermen are treated like disposable people,” said Mark Lagon, a scholar at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, who told the forum the fishermen live like modern-day slaves. Crew members earn less than $1 per hour, and total costs for crews of nine or 10 men are less than the cost of ice to keep the fish fresh, Lagon said.

“Slavery is not just some abstract concept,” said Lagon, the former director of a State Department office to monitor and combat human trafficking.

Slavery “is something that touches our lives. It goes into our stores, and it goes into our mouths,” Lagon said.

Lagon was one of several speakers at a forum Tuesday on slavery and human rights abuses at sea. The forum, sponsored by Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee, followed an Associated Press investigation that found fishermen have been confined to vessels for years without basic labor protections.

The AP report found that commercial fishing boats in Honolulu employ hundreds of men from impoverished Southeast Asia and Pacific Island nations who catch swordfish, ahi tuna and other seafood sold at markets and restaurants nationwide. A legal loophole allows the men to work on American-owned, U.S-flagged boats without visas as long as they don’t set foot on shore.

Fishing “is used as a tool for slavery,” said Kathryn Xian, executive director of the Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery, a Honolulu-based advocacy group.

Read the op-ed at The Seattle Times 

HAWAII: Suisan evaluates its sourcing policies

November 1, 2016 — A September Associated Press report regarding labor conditions of foreign workers on Honolulu fishing boats has prompted many in the industry to review or reasses their own sourcing practices.

On the Big Island, Suisan undertook an evaluation of its policies.

The retailer purchases all of its seafood from local fishermen and does not buy from longline boats, but wanted to “reassure the public that these are our fishermen here, and you don’t have to worry about that issue,” said vice president and general manager Kyle Kawano.

The Associated Press report last month found abuses of basic labor practices by some longline boats in Hawaii’s commercial fishing fleet. A federal loophole allows foreign crews to work on the vessels but they are not legally allowed to enter the country and cannot leave the boats.

Since then a new crew contract was developed by the Hawaii Longline Association that will be required of all boats who want to sell at the Honolulu fish auction. That contract is not federally enforceable by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, however, the industry will still be self-regulating.

Suisan president Glenn Hashimoto said that one of the boats Suisan works with employs two foreign workers who are relatives of the captain’s wife. He said they each have contracts like their American counterparts.

“They’ve been verified,” Kawano said.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, more than 80 percent of Hawaii’s commercial fish landings are from longline boats. Troll fishing comprises just over 10 percent.

Handline and seamount boat fishing account for 3.9 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively.

An undated fisheries overview by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, which manages fish stocks, notes that handline-caught tuna plays a “significant role in the local tuna supply, particularly on the Big Island.”

Suisan sources 72 percent of its fish from day boats, which typically spend one to two days at sea, while 28 percent comes from seamount boats, which spend about a week at sea.

Read the full story at West Hawaii Today

HAWAII: Fishermen Catch 11% More Bigeye Tuna Despite Overfishing Status

October 27, 2016 — U.S. commercial fishermen hauled in 2.5 million pounds more bigeye tuna last year than they did in 2014, landing almost all of it out of Honolulu, according to a federal report released Wednesday.

Bigeye landings in 2015 totaled 25.8 million pounds, an increase of nearly 11 percent compared to last year. 

And that tuna was worth a bit more too, averaging $3.17 per pound in 2015, up from $3.08 in 2014, according to the most recent Fisheries of the United States report by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Overall, U.S. commercial fishermen landed 32 million pounds of seafood last year operating out of Honolulu, the 27th highest nationally by weight. 

But that seafood — mostly bigeye tuna, which fetches top dollar in local sashimi markets and high-end restaurants — was worth $97 million, making it the sixth-highest catch in the country by value. 

Bigeye tuna continues to be subject to overfishing, however. It’s one of 28 stocks on the federal overfishing list. Only 9 percent of fishing stocks monitored by the feds are subject to overfishing, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

Officials say they cannot enforce Hawaii fishing contracts

October 21st, 2016 — Federal officials cannot enforce a contract being proposed by the commercial fishing industry as a solution to concerns about foreign fishing crews in Hawaii, leaving the industry responsible for enforcing its own rules.

Federal and state officials met with vessel owners, captains and representatives from the fleet Thursday at a pier in Honolulu.

The normally private quarterly meeting was opened to media and lawmakers to discuss conditions uncovered in an Associated Press investigation that found some foreign fishermen had been confined to vessels for years.

U.S. Custom and Border Protection “does not review contracts, we just make sure that these fishermen … are employed on the vessel,” said Ferdinand Jose, Custom and Border Protection supervisory officer. “Whatever you negotiate … is between you folks, not us.”

The Hawaii Longline Association, which represents fishing boat owners, created a universal contract that will be required on any boat wanting to sell fish in the state’s seafood auction.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at WGEM NBC

Hawaii lawmakers hold public meeting on foreign fishermen

October 20, 2016 — HONOLULU — Hawaii lawmakers held a meeting to discuss conditions in the Hawaii longline fishing fleet and heard from an observer who described what it’s like to live on the boats.

“The worst conditions would be no toilet, no shower, no hot water,” said Ashley Watts, a former observer for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who spent weeks at sea with various boats over seven years at the federal agency. “You have a cold water deck hose as a shower…the water tastes like iron.”

The meeting on Wednesday followed an Associated Press investigation that found some fishermen have been confined to vessels for years.

A federal loophole allows the foreign men to work but exempts them from most basic labor protections. Many foreign fishermen have to stay on the boats because they are not legally allowed to enter the United States.

“It’s hard to sleep, because every day we don’t do something is another night that some folks are suffering,” state Rep. Kaniela Ing said. “It’s very frustrating to just hear people just kind of punt or say maybe over time we can find a solution.”

Ing and other lawmakers pressed representatives from the fishing industry and government agencies about what can be done to increase oversight and improve conditions in the industry. Ing asked Jim Cook, board member of the Hawaii Longline Association, whether fishing boat captains could provide copies of contracts between fishermen and boat captains to the state, and Cook said he believed that would be possible.

The Hawaii Longline Association, which represents fishing boat owners, created a universal crew contract that will be required on any boat wanting to sell fish in the state’s seafood auction.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at ABC News

Fight Over Papahanaumokuakea Expansion Isn’t Over

October 20, 2016 — Hawaii’s commercial fishing industry leaders are not finished fighting the fourfold expansion of a U.S. marine monument in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

President Barack Obama signed a proclamation in August to make Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument the world’s largest protected natural area after several months of intense lobbying for and against the proposal.

Now the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, which actively opposed the expansion, wants the government to study the potential effects and find ways to alleviate them.

Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council Chair Edwin Ebisui, left, and Executive Director Kitty Simonds, at Wespac’s meeting last week.

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

Wespac sets fisheries management policies for a 1.5-million-square-mile area and advises the National Marine Fisheries Service on how to minimize bycatch, protect habitat and prevent overfishing.

The latest wave of opposition to the monument rolled in earlier this month at the council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee meeting in Honolulu. 

New committee member Ray Hilborn, a prominent marine biologist from the University of Washington, railed against large marine protected areas.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

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