Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council Archives - Page 27 of 33

Summary of Action Items for the 177th Meeting of the WPRFMC

April 9, 2019 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

The 177th meeting of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council will convene April 12, 2019, via teleconference. The Council will consider and may take action on the issues summarized below, including any public comments on them. Written public comments should be received by the Council’s executive director by 5 p.m. (Hawai’i time), April 10, 2019, by postal mail, fax or email as indicated below. Opportunities to present oral public comment will be provided during the 177th Council meeting.

1. Managing Loggerhead and Leatherback Sea Turtle Interactions in the Hawai’i-Based Shallow-Set Longline Fishery

The Council at its 173rd Meeting in June 2018 recommended amending the Pelagic Fishery Ecosystem Plan (FEP) to establish a management framework for the Hawai`i shallow-set longline fishery that consists of 1) annual limits on the number North Pacific loggerhead and leatherback turtle interactions consistent with the anticipated level of annual interactions that is set forth in the current valid Biological Opinion (BiOp) and 2) individual trip interaction limits for loggerhead and leatherback turtles. The Council also recommended specifications under the framework as follows: 1) annual limits of 37 North Pacific loggerhead and 21 leatherback turtles; and 2) individual trip limit of 5 North Pacific loggerhead turtles.

The Council’s recommendation for specifying the loggerhead and leatherback turtle annual limits was based on the anticipated level of interactions analyzed in the Biological Evaluation (BE) initiating reconsultation of the Hawaii shallow-set longline fishery under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) Section 7 consultation process. As part of its recommendation, the Council noted that it would review its recommendation if the new BiOp from the ongoing consultation results in a jeopardy decision or otherwise results in a different incidental take statement for North Pacific loggerheads or leatherbacks. The new BiOp was originally scheduled to be completed by October 31, 2018, but the draft was not completed in time for the October SSC and Council meeting. Following the October meetings, PIRO set a new timeline to deliver the draft BiOp by January 31, 2019, and a final BiOp by February 28, 2019. Due to the federal government shutdown, draft BiOp timeline was further delayed to March 25, 2019.

At its October 2018 meeting, the Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) received a presentation from the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) on the population viability analysis (PVA) for loggerhead and leatherback turtles prepared for the ongoing Section 7 consultation. The modeling was conducted in response to a request by the Pacific Islands Regional Office (PIRO) Protected Resources Division for the purpose of examining the long-term viability of the species. PVA results indicate that the North Pacific loggerhead population has a mean estimated population growth rate of 2.4%, while the Western Pacific leatherback turtle population has a mean estimated population growth rate of -5.3%. The growth rates reflect long-term population trends based on nesting beach data representing approximately 52% of the North Pacific loggerhead turtle population and approximately 85% of the Western Pacific leatherback turtle population.

The Council at its 174th Meeting in October 2018 reviewed the Approach to the Assessment for the Biological Opinion and considered the SSC’s report regarding the PVA. The Council recommended convening an interim Council meeting, if needed, to review draft BiOp and consider any revisions to June 2018 recommendations based on the BiOp, and stated that it will reconsider a specification of leatherback individual trip limits if necessary.

The Council convened its 175th Meeting on December 17, 2018, to consider final action on additional mitigation measures for the Western Pacific leatherback turtles in advance of the draft BiOp completion, taking into consideration the results of the PVA model indicating a continuing long-term declining trend of the population. The Council deferred action until the draft Biological Opinion and more complete information on the impacts of the fishery on the Western Pacific leatherback turtles are available to fully inform the Council decision.

At its 177th Meeting, the Council will review its recommendations on the management framework from the 173rd Meeting for consistency with the draft BiOp and may consider taking final action on the management framework.

Read the full release here

Managers, Fishermen Grapple with Federal Pace, Definitions Leading to Fishery Closures

April 5, 2019 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

At 9:40 a.m. yesterday, minutes after Kitty M. Simonds completed the executive director’s report to the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, the Hawai’i-based fishery was closed due to the fishery’s interaction with a 17th loggerhead turtle this year. The Hawai’i-based shallow-set longline fishery for swordfish has a federal observer on every vessel for every trip. The North Pacific loggerhead population is growing annually at 2.4 percent, but a court settlement in May 2018 reduced the fishery’s allowable interaction with the species from 34 to 17. The interaction cap of 17 cannot be modified until the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) completes a new biological opinion (BiOp) for the fishery.

The Council, which is mandated by Congress to develop management measures for offshore US fisheries in the Pacific islands region, has been waiting for NMFS Pacific Islands Regional Office (PIRO) to deliver the new BiOp so the Council can move forward with proposed new loggerhead limits and other turtle interaction mitigation measures for the fishery. The shutdown reinforced Simonds’ core message, that the “pace with which NMFS PIRO responds to federal and legal procedures has left all of the region’s major fisheries at risk.”

Upon hearing the news of the shutdown, Roger Dang, whose family has fished with longline vessels out of Hawai’i for more than 30 years, immediately sent a message to the Council. Council member Michael Goto read the statement to the Council.

Read the full release here

Change Is in the Air: Scientists Suggest New Approaches for Marine Mammal Interaction Mitigation, Spatial Management, Non-traditional Data Use, Hawai‘i Kona Crab Measures

April 5, 2019 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

The Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council concluded a three-day meeting yesterday in Honolulu with a suite of recommendations to more effectively address issues facing fisheries in the US Pacific Islands. The SSC recommendations will be considered March 18-21 in Honolulu by the Council, a federal instrumentality created by Congress to develop fishery management measures for offshore fisheries in the US Pacific Islands. Recommendations of the Council that are approved by the US Secretary of Commerce are implemented by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).

False Killer Whales: The Southern Exclusion Zone (SEZ), a 132,000 square mile area in the offshore waters around the main Hawaiian Islands, was closed to the Hawai‘i longline fishery on Feb. 22, 2019, after its interactions resulted in a mortality and serious injury (M&SI) determination for two false killer whales. With the SEZ closed, less than 18 percent of US exclusive economic zone around Hawai‘i remains open to the fishery. The SEZ may reopen in 2020 if the average estimated false killer whale M&SI in the deep-set longline fishery within the remaining open areas of the EEZ around Hawai‘i for up to the five most recent years is below the potential biological removal (PBR) for the species. This Honolulu-based fishery lands about $100 million of sashimi-quality tuna, which stays principally in the state. The PBR is defined by the Marine Mammal Protection Act as the maximum number of animals that can be removed, not including natural mortalities, from a marine mammal stock while allowing that stock to reach and maintain its optimum sustainable population, i.e., its maximum productivity keeping in mind the carrying capacity of the habitat and health of the ecosystem. The SSC recommended that the Council request NMFS develop approaches to incorporate population viability analysis (PVA) to supplement the use of PBR and to reduce uncertainty in PBR estimates. PVA is a species-specific risk assessment method frequently used in conservation biology. The SSC also requested that the Council ask NMFS to provide the data needed for the SSC to develop the PVA in parallel to the NMFS process. It also asked that NMFS develop serious-injury determination criteria for false killer whales that are probability-based. Currently, NMFS considers the impact of a false killer whale determined to be seriously injured to be equivalent to the impact of a dead false killer whale, even though animals determined to be seriously injured are released alive.

Spatial Management: A subgroup of the SSC worked to define benefits and limitations to spatial management actions relative to regional fishery issues and management objectives. The working group explored time-area closures; adaptive/real-time closures and restrictions; permanent no-take closures; and alternative non-spatial management actions, such as gear restrictions. It discussed objectives of management actions, such as increasing targeted bigeye and albacore tuna abundance and reducing Hawai‘i longline interactions with sea turtles and false killer whales. It also identified criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of spatially managed areas. The SSC reviewed the outcomes of the working group and recommended that effective spatial management should have the following:

Objectives and performance metrics explicitly specified prior to developing a spatial management area in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the spatial management. The performance metrics should concurrently address conservation, economic and social objectives.
Regular monitoring of the performance of the spatial management area.
Planned and tenable compliance monitoring and enforcement.

Read the full release here

Hawaii longliners counting on new biological opinion to save swordfish season

April 4, 2019 — It doesn’t matter that all of the 17 loggerhead turtles that were accidentally caught in the first three months of the year by shallow-set swordfish longliners off the coasts of the US’ Hawaiian islands were released and swam away alive, or that the loggerhead population in the area has actually been growing at a steady rate of 2.4% annually.

Thanks to the terms of a court settlement reached nearly a year ago by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) with three nongovernmental organizations, that number of interactions with an endangered species forced the longliners to shut down immediately for the season on March 19, leaving much of what they say is a healthy fishing stock untouched.

Now the harvesters are counting on a regular meeting by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (WPRFMC), scheduled for April 12, in Honolulu, to help get them back on the water as soon as possible.

That’s when an advisory panel is expected to review NMFS’ new draft biological opinion (BiOps) for handling both loggerhead and leatherneck turtles in the fishery and advise the council, which that same day could pass along its own recommendations to NMFS.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Western Pacific Council to Address Sea Turtle Interactions with Sustainably Caught Hawaii Swordfish Longline Fishery

April 2, 2019 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

The Hawaii longline swordfish fishery closed on March 19 after it interacted with the 17th loggerhead turtle for the year. All of the turtles were released alive. The fishery has 100 percent observer coverage, i.e., a federal observer is on every vessel on every trip to monitor protected species interactions. This observer coverage level is extraordinary and an order of magnitude higher than other competing fishing nations. The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission requirement is only 5 percent coverage, which most other nations have not met. The United States also operates with measures to reduce and report bycatch at levels that other fishing nations do not implement.

”Closure of this healthy, underutilized fishery is not only an economic loss for the Hawaii fishery but also has no discernible stock conservation benefit for the Pacific,” notes Council Executive Director Kitty M. Simonds. ”The catch from the Hawaii fleet will be supplanted by the catch from foreign fleets that have far less monitoring and bycatch mitigation.”

The United States was usurped by Taiwan in the late 1990s as the second leading fishing nation to harvest North Pacific swordfish (Japan leads in landings) as US landings declined. The Hawaii fishery accounted for between 55 percent (2017 and 2008) to 34 percent (2012) of the US domestic swordfish landings.

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council Biological Opinion (BiOp) Review Advisory Panel meeting will review the BiOp for the Hawaii-based shallow-set longline fishery for swordfish on April 12 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Hawaii Standard Time (HST).
The 177th Council meeting will be held April 12 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. (HST). The Council will discuss the Draft BiOp for the Hawaii-based shallow-set longline fishery for swordfish as well as management of loggerhead and leatherback sea turtle interactions in that fishery (final action).

Projections of the stock through 2026 along with recommendations by the International Scientific Committee for Tuna and Tuna-like Species in the North Pacific Ocean determined that the stock is not fully utilized and could withstand a significant, yet sustainable increase in harvest. Such an increase in harvest of about 50 percent from recent catches to near maximum sustainable yield would maintain a healthy stock.

The North Pacific swordfish stock was assessed in 2018 and determined to be nearly double spawning stock biomass at maximum sustainable yield (87 percent over SSB_MSY) with fishing mortality determined to be less than half of fishing mortality at maximum sustainable yield (45 percent of F_MSY). Spawning stock biomass has increased nearly by 10,000 metric tons since 2000 and has not breached below its commonly used biological reference point (SSB_MSY) in any year in the stock’s assessment timeline (1975-2016). The stock had only been considered to be experiencing overfishing (breaching F_MSY) in 1993.

Lack of supply from the sustainable Hawaii shallow-set fishery may increase pressure on other swordfish stocks to meet market demands. This may have inadvertent consequences to stocks, such as those in the Atlantic, that are not as healthy as the North Pacific stock.

The BiOp Review Advisory Panel meeting will be held by teleconference and webinar. The host site is the Council office, 1164 Bishop St., Suite 1400, Honolulu. The teleconference number is US toll free (888) 482-3560 or international access +1 (647) 723-3959; the access code is 5228220. The webinar url is https://wprfmc.webex.com/join/info.wpcouncilnoaa.gov.
The 177^th Council meeting teleconference number is US toll free (888) 482-3560 or international access +1 (647) 723-3959; the access code is 5228220. The webinar url is https://wprfmc.webex.com/join/info.wpcouncilnoaa.gov. Host sites are a) Council office, 1164 Bishop St., Suite 1400, Honolulu; b) Native American Samoa Advisory Council Office Conference Rm., Pava’ia’i Village, Pago Pago, American Samoa; c) Guam Hilton Resort and Spa, 202 Hilton Rd., Tumon Bay, Guam; and d) Department of Land and Natural Resources Conference Rm., Lower Base Dr., Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).
For the agendas and background materials on the meetings, go to www.wpcouncil.org or contact the Council at info.wpcouncil@noaa.gov or (808) 522-8220.

The Council was established by Congress in 1976 and has authority over fisheries seaward of state waters of Hawai’i, Guam, American Samoa, the CNMI and the Pacific remote islands. Recommendations that are regulatory in nature are transmitted to the Secretary of Commerce for approval and then implemented by that National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and enforced by NMFS and the US Coast Guard.

Read the full release here

Federally Managed Fisheries in US Pacific Islands Face a Mixed Future

March 22, 2019 — HONOLULU — The following was released yesterday by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

Executive Director Kitty Simonds (center) with WPRFMC members (from left) Vice Chair John Gourley (Northern Mariana Islands), Chair Archie Soliai (American Samoa), RAdm. Kevin Lunday (commander of the 14th US Coast Guard District) and Vice Chairs Dean Sensui (Hawai‘i), Christinne Lutu-Sanchez (American Samoa) and Michael Duenas (Guam).

Federal fishery managers concluded their meeting in Honolulu today after dealing since Tuesday with a mixed bag of good and bad news about the future of fisheries in Hawai‘i and the US Pacific islands.

On the good side, a 2018 stock assessment estimates the Hawai‘i Kona crabs maximum sustainable yield at 73,069 pounds. The fishery has reported catch below 3,000 pounds in 2015 and 2016, indicating the potential for a lot of growth. However, participants have left the fishery (which landed 70,000 pounds in the 1970s) since the State of Hawai‘i banned the retention of female Kona crabs. The Council recommended that the Hawai‘i Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) record female crab and minimum size discards separately on the fisherman trip reports to provide a more comprehensive record of commercial catch. It also requested that DAR remove the statute that prohibits take of female Kona crabs and consider revised regulations to extend or shift the closed season to protect berried females.

Other good news is that a recent economic report by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) found the Hawai‘i charter fishery generated close to $50 million in gross sales and supported nearly 900 jobs statewide in 2011. The Council encouraged NMFS to maintain a regular schedule of economic evaluations and monitoring of the fisheries in the Pacific islands.

On the bleaker side, the Council discussed the ongoing UN Intergovernmental Conference on Biodiversity beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), which is considering a framework to establish fishing closures on the high seas. The Council asked the Department of State, which has a non-voting representative on the Council, to exempt high seas fisheries targeting tuna and tuna-like species from any potential high seas closures established under the new BBNJ convention. About 70 percent of the fishing effort of the Hawai‘i based longline fishery is on the high seas.

Read the full release at the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council

Hawaiian longline fishery for swordfish closed due to turtle interactions

March 22, 2019 — The Hawaiian shallow-set longlines fishery for swordfish has been closed because a vessel caught a loggerhead turtle – the 17th this year, which reached the allowable limit for interactions with the species, set by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The interaction cap was reduced from 34 to 17 due to a court settlement in May of last year, though the North Pacific loggerhead population is increasing every year by 2.4 percent.

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council has been waiting for the NMFS to complete a new biological opinion for the fishery, so that the interaction cap for loggerhead turtles can be modified. On board every vessel of the Hawaii-based shallow-set longline fishery for swordfish, there is a federal observer tracking species interactions.

Kitty M. Simonds, executive director of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, wrote in a report earlier this week that the “pace with which MNFS PIRO [Pacific Islands Regional Office] responds to federal and legal procedures has left all of the region’s major fisheries at risk.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Fishermen Identify Projects to Improve Fisheries Development in the U.S. Pacific Islands

March 20, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Projects to develop fisheries topped the list of needs identified by fishermen from Hawai’i, American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands during their March 15 and 16 meeting in Honolulu. The group, which constitutes the Advisory Panel of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, also highlighted the importance of fishing to the communities of each of the island areas.

Advisory panel members said the social and economic value of the local and regional fisheries also needs to better communicated.

“The Council welcomes the ideas and contributions of the Advisory Panel,” Council Chair Archie Soliai said in a press release. “This is a challenging time for fisheries, and the AP has a lot of work to do.”

The Council will consider the AP recommendations when it meets this weaek at the YWCA Fuller Hall in Honolulu.

Some of the suggested projects and activities from the AP include:

fishery demonstration projects;
expanded use of technology to collect fishery data;
characterization of existing fisheries in Hawai’i; and
improved fishing opportunities in Guam and the CNMI through improved fish aggregation devices, fishery access and reduction of shark depredation.

AP members include representatives from diverse fisheries, such as spearfish, longline, bottomfish, charter boat, subsistence and the fishery media. The AP is mandated by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the Council said in the release.

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

Change Is in the Air: Western Pacific SSC Suggests New Approaches for Suite of Issues

March 19, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The Scientific and Statistical Committee of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council concluded a three-day meeting last week in Honolulu with a suite of recommendations to more effectively address issues facing fisheries in the U.S. Pacific Islands. The Council will consider those recommendations this week.

Regarding false killer whales, the SSC recommended inclusion of a population variability analysis to supplement the use of and reduce the variability of potential biological removal estimates.

The Southern Exclusion Zone (SEZ), a 132,000 square mile area in the offshore waters around the main Hawaiian Islands, was closed to the Hawai’i longline fishery on Feb. 22, 2019, after its interactions resulted in a mortality and serious injury determination for two false killer whales. With the SEZ closed, less than 18 percent of US exclusive economic zone around Hawai’i remains open to the fishery.

The SEZ may reopen in 2020 if the average estimated false killer whale M&SI in the deep-set longline fishery within the remaining open areas of the EEZ around Hawai’i for up to the five most recent years is below the potential biological removal for the species, the WPRFMC said in a press release.

The Honolulu-based longliners land about $100 million of sashimi-quality tuna, which stays principally in the state.

The PBR is defined by the Marine Mammal Protection Act as the maximum number of animals that can be removed, not including natural mortalities, from a marine mammal stock while allowing that stock to reach and maintain its optimum sustainable population, i.e., its maximum productivity keeping in mind the carrying capacity of the habitat and health of the ecosystem. The SSC recommended the Council request NMFS develop approaches to incorporate population viability analysis to supplement the use of PBR and to reduce uncertainty in PBR estimates. PVA is a species-specific risk assessment method frequently used in conservation biology.

The SSC also requested the Council ask NMFS to provide the data needed for the SSC to develop the PVA in parallel to the NMFS process. Furthermore, it also asked that NMFS develop serious-injury determination criteria for false killer whales that are probability-based. Currently, NMFS considers the impact of a false killer whale determined to be seriously injured to be equivalent to the impact of a dead false killer whale, even though animals determined to be seriously injured are released alive.

Members also discussed objectives of management actions, such as increasing targeted bigeye and albacore tuna abundance and reducing Hawai’i longline interactions with sea turtles and false killer whales. The group also identified criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of spatially managed areas. The SSC reviewed the outcomes of the working group and recommended that effective spatial management should have the following:

Objectives and performance metrics explicitly specified prior to developing a spatial management area in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the spatial management. The performance metrics should concurrently address conservation, economic and social objectives;
Regular monitoring of the performance of the spatial management area; and
Planned and tenable compliance monitoring and enforcement. The SSC said permanent closed areas are likely less effective than modifying fishing gear or methods to minimize protected species bycatch. It recommended regulations that would allow industry to find voluntary means to reduce bycatch and have input in the development of mitigation measures.

Hawai’i Kona Crab: The SSC evaluated the benchmark assessment of the Hawai’i Kona crab fishery and determined it is the best scientific information available for status determination and setting harvest limits.

The scientists said the assessment possibly accounted for a limited portion of the stock due to the small geographic extent of the commercial fishery relative to the larger distribution of the stock in Hawai’i as well as a lack of information on noncommercial fishing activities.

It suggested that female crabs discards be recorded on fishermen trip reports and that a stock assessment model be used that can account for sex-specific dynamics, since State of Hawai’i management measures allow the take of males but requires females to be discarded. The SSC recommended that the sex ratio of Kona crab at Penguin Bank be studied to evaluate the potential effects on the stock from the sex-selective fishery and reiterated its strong recommendation that extension of the closed season, changes in mesh size, retention of females and other alternative management options be evaluated to stimulate fishermen participation in this healthy fishery. Fishery participation had declined significantly after the non-retention of female Kona crabs went into effect.

U.S. Territory Longline Bigeye Tuna Quota: Regarding the federal quotas of longline-caught bigeye tuna for the U.S. Pacific Territories that participate in the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, the SSC noted that the projected impacts of allowing each U.S. Territory to transfer 1,000 or up to 2,000 metric tons of their 2,000 mt quotas to permitted U.S. longline fishing vessels would not lead to bigeye overfishing and are consistent with the Commission’s management objectives.

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site, it has been reprinted with permission.

Hawaii Tuna Fishermen Want Higher Quotas

December 4, 2018 — Hawaii’s longliners caught their quota for bigeye tuna early again this year. But that may not be an issue going forward if U.S. officials can negotiate a higher limit next week with an international fisheries commission.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat