Saving Seafood

American Samoa Demand Answers From Fisheries Management Council Conference

October 16, 2017 — PAGO PAGO, American Samoa — Due to the many concerns from members of the House Agriculture, Marine & Wildlife and Forestry Committee, on the issues of Federal regulations that affect fisheries in American Samoa, the director of the Department of Marine Wildlife Resource, Va’amua Henry Sesepasara, asked House members to make sure they voice all questions and frustrations to members of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (WPFMC) when their annual conference convenes next week.

Va’amua and Christine Lutu-Sanchez, who is president of the Tautai Longline Fishing Association and also one of the two American Samoa representatives on the WPFMC, appeared before the Committee last Friday, to discuss issues pertaining to fishing in American Samoa, and how federal regulations affect fishing in the territory.

However, one of the main issues discussed during the hearing, had to do with money that American Samoa fishing boats are paying for fishing licenses, and money that fishing boats pay in fines if they are caught fishing illegally inside the territory’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

Rep. Vesi Talalelei Fautanu Jr. believes all these monies should come straight to American Samoa, instead of going to federal agencies that work together to enforce regulations on the seas; and other reps reminded Va’amua that all new revenues must be sent to the Fono for appropriation before DMWR can use them.

Va’amua confirmed that all monies from fishing vessel fines and licenses go straight to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) — and American Samoa through DMWR must send them a proposal to notify them what project they want to use the funds on, before the territory can access the funds.

Read the full story at the Pacific Islands Report

Hawaii Longline Leader Testifies on Ways to Strengthen the MSA

July 27, 2017 — SEAFOOD NEWS — A Hawaii fishing industry leader made three suggestions to the House Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans during a hearing last week on “Exploring the Successes and Challenges of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.” The hearing was designed to continue discussions relevant to MSA reform and consider current draft legislation.

Hawaii Longline Association President Sean Martin, one of four invited witnesses, said overall the MSA is working well, but the Hawaii seafood industry is facing problems related to national monuments created under the Antiquities Act, Endangered Species Act issues and more.

“The MSA is a success and should be the principal source of authority for management of U.S. fisheries,” Martin said in his testimony. “Overfished stocks have been rebuilt, and few stocks are now overfished. Management measures are precautionary and based on the best scientific information available. The regional fishery management councils provide regional fishing expertise and utilize an effective bottom-up decision making process that includes the fishing industry. The MSA also requires the evaluation of impacts on fish stocks as well as fishermen and fishing communities.”

However, the 140 active vessels in the longline fleet, which lands roughly $100 million worth of tuna and other highly migratory fish annually, is struggling with access to fishing grounds.

“We operate in a very competitive arena, both for fishing grounds in international waters and for the U.S. domestic market. The recent marine monument designations established under the Antiquities Act prohibits us from fishing in 51 percent of the US Exclusive Economic Zone in the Western Pacific region,” Martin said. “Access to the high seas is also being challenged by recent United Nations initiatives. Closure of US waters and the high seas hurts us, reducing our ability to compete and increasing the vulnerability of our markets to foreign takeover.”

Martin said the longliners have worked with NMFS and the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council for more than 25 years to ensure sound fishery data would be used in stock assessments and regulations. They have collaborated on research such as gear modifications to protect sea turtles, seabirds and marine mammals.

“We are proud of our efforts and the Hawaii longline fishery is an iconic, internationally recognized model fishery. It is the most highly monitored, strictly regulated longline fishery in the Pacific,” he said.

With that, Martin suggested three things to help make the MSA stronger:

  1. Manage U.S. ocean fisheries through the MSA process;
  2. Strengthen support for U.S. fisheries in the international arena; and
  3. Simplify the MSA regulatory process.

“In recent years, the management of fisheries covered by the MSA has been circumvented by other statutes and authorities,” Martin said regarding using the MSA process for managing ocean fisheries. “This includes the Endangered Species Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, National Marine Sanctuaries Act, and the Antiquities Act. These acts do not require the same level of public consultation and transparency as compared to the MSA.

“For our fishery, the biggest gains in protection have been achieved through the Council process. For example, sea turtle and seabird interactions were reduced by 90 percent as a result of industry cooperative research and Council developed regulations. In HLA’s view, fisheries should be managed primarily through the fishery management councils under the MSA. This ensures a transparent, public, and science-based process which allows the fishing industry and stakeholders to be consulted. It provides that analyses of impacts to fishery dependent communities are considered, and prevents regulations that might otherwise be duplicative, unenforceable, or contradictory.

“Past administrations have established huge national marine monuments in the Pacific totaling more than 760 million acres of U.S. waters under the Antiquities Act of 1906. In our view, marine monument designations were politically motivated and addressed non-existing problems. Fisheries operating in these areas were sustainably managed for several decades under the MSA and the Western Pacific Council. There was no serious attempt to work with the fishing industry in the designations of these marine monuments. Public input was minimal.”

Regarding support for U.S. fisheries in the international arena, Martin said, “In 2016, Congress enacted ‘Amendments to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Convention Implementation Act’ (16U.S.C. 6901 et seq.). The amendments direct the Secretaries of Commerce and State to seek to minimize any disadvantage to U.S. fisheries relative to other fisheries of the region and to maximize U.S. fisheries’ harvest of fish in the Convention Area.

“The amendments are intended to level the playing field between
U.S. and foreign fisheries. U.S. fisheries managed under the MSA are sustainable, yet they are often disadvantaged within international fisheries commissions. U.S. fishing interests require strong U.S. government negotiators to advocate and support U.S. fisheries.

“For example, the Hawaii longline bigeye quota has been reduced to 3,345 metric tonnes (mt), while quotas for other countries have not been reduced (e.g. Indonesia). The WCPFC-imposed quotas are based on historical catch and do not match current fishing capacity. For example, Japan has a bigeye quota of nearly 17,000 mt, but only catches around 11,000 mt. China has been expanding its longline fleet from about 100 vessels in 2001 to over 430 vessels in 2015, and has a bigeye quota of around 7,000 mt. Our fleet has been limited to 164 permits since 1991. China is continuing to expand its longline fisheries and supplying US markets with poorly monitored seafood.”

Lastly, Martin hit on another problem faced by several industry groups around the country, not just in Hawaii: Simplifying the MSA regulatory process. The National Environmental Policy Act has caused delays and duplications in several regions.

“HLA supports the regional councils’ efforts to achieve a more streamlined process for approval of regulatory actions,” Martin testified. “A fishery management plan document from a regional council typically contains a full discussion of impacts on the fisheries, on the fish stocks, and on associated species (e.g., endangered species, marine mammals, seabirds, etc.).

“The National Environmental Policy Act requires duplicative evaluation and incongruent public comment periods. The analytical duplication between the MSA and NEPA is unnecessary, delays needed actions, has a high cost, and provides more avenues for legal challenges and delays on non-MSA grounds. Also, it is often very confusing to the industry with regard to timing and where we should apply our input in the process.”

Martin said the longline association recommends amending the MSA to authorize a single analytical document for any proposed regulatory action that will streamline the process, eliminate duplication and allow for more meaningful industry input.

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

WESPAC’s Work To ‘Define Cultural Fishing’ Could Impact American Samoa

June 29, 2017 — An attorney with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has hinted to a federally established group that its work to define cultural fishing will have an impact on future issues pertaining to fisheries in American Samoa.

One of the main issues on the agenda at last week’s three-day meeting of the Western Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Council, held in Honolulu, dealt with defining cultural fishing in American Samoa, following a Honolulu federal judge’s decision in March, that the US National Marine Fisheries Services failed to consider the Deeds of Cession, when implementing the 2016 amendment to the Large Vessel Prohibited Area in territorial waters.

US District Court Judge Leslie Kobayashi said the NMFS’ 2016 LVPA Rule disregards its obligations under the Deeds of Cession to “protect and preserve cultural fishing rights in American Samoa.” (The Deeds for Tutuila and Aunu’u were signed in 1900, and 1904 for Manu’a — with the US.)

There were several discussions during the Council’s three-day meeting on ways to define cultural fishing and what is considered cultural fishing, as well as protecting and preserving cultural fishing in the territory.

What was clear from the speakers and answers from NOAA officials as well as others, is that ASG, the local fishing community, and others in the territory need to be consulted for a final definition.

Among the many questions raised, were those from American Samoa Council member, Christinna Lutu-Sanchez, who wanted to know if once the cultural fishing definition is finalized, would that cultural fishing definition apply to anyone fishing within the LVPA, and not necessarily just the US longline fleet based in American Samoa.

Read the full story at Pacific Islands Report

Hawaii Loses A Fishery Council Seat After Governor’s Fumble

June 29, 2017 — Hawaii managed to hold onto one of the two at-large seats it has historically held on the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council thanks to the governor of the Northern Mariana Islands nominating someone from the Aloha State.

Edwin Ebisui, a lawyer, part-time commercial fisherman and the council’s current chair, has been appointed to serve another three-year term, the U.S. Commerce Department announced Wednesday.

The other at-large seat will go to commercial tuna fisherman Eo Mokoma of American Samoa, who will replace Kona charter fisherman McGrew Rice after his term ends Aug. 11. Mokoma operates the only active longline boat in the territory, an alia catamaran, according to the nomination letter American Samoa Gov. Lolo Moliga sent to the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Gov. David Ige’s administration twice missed deadlines to submit to federal officials a list of nominees to fill two of the at-large seats that are expiring on the council, which manages fish stocks in nearly 1.5 million square miles of the Pacific Ocean.

The Commerce Department, which oversees the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, was left to choose from the lists of nominees provided by the governors of American Samoa and the Northern Marianas. Guam, the other U.S. territory represented on the council, which has 13 voting members, did not nominate anyone.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

Blown Deadlines Weaken Hawaii’s Voice On Federal Fishery Council

June 28, 2017 — Hawaii will soon have less influence in setting national policies that affect everything from commercial fishing to endangered species in nearly 1.5 million square miles of the Pacific Ocean.

Gov. David Ige’s administration twice missed deadlines to submit to federal officials a list of names to fill two at-large terms that expire in August on the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council.

The seats have historically been held by Hawaii residents. Instead, they will be filled from the lists provided by the governors of American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands. Guam, the other U.S. territory represented on the council, did not nominate anyone.

Environmentalists see it as a missed opportunity for Ige to rebalance the council, which has long weighed heavier on the side of the commercial fishing industry than conservation. Others view it as a blown chance for Hawaii’s longline tuna fishermen to maintain their grip on the council’s direction.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

Papahanaumokuakea Review Spurs Tension With Conservation Groups, Fisheries

June 28, 2017 — President Donald Trump’s targeting of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in the northwest Hawaiian Islands for national review has revived a lopsided debate between Native Hawaiians, senators, scientists and conservation groups in favor of the monument’s designation, and an activist fishery council mainly concerned with “maximizing longline yields.”

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council vocally opposed the monument’s expansion in 2016 during a public comment process, communicating that to the White House under the leadership of Executive Director Kitty Simonds. Simonds’ PowerPoint presentation at a recent Council Coordination Committee meeting detailed other monument areas in the Pacific under review, including the Pacific Remote Islands and Rose Atoll, explicitly criticizing the designations as an abuse of the Antiquities Act. The PowerPoint concludes, “Make America great again. Return U.S. fishermen to U.S. waters.”

Established by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Acts of 1976 and 1996, WESPAC is charged with reporting its recommendations for preventing overfishing and protecting fish stocks and habitat to the Commerce Department.

While WESPAC International Fisheries Enforcement and National Environmental Policy Act coordinator Eric Kingma believe that WESPAC’s communications with the president fall within the agency’s purview of advising the executive branch, others, including Earthjustice attorney Paul Achitoff, consider the comments an illegal “lobby to expand WESPAC turf” and shape public policy.

WESPAC argues that monument expansion hampers longline fishermen from feeding Hawaii, which imports roughly 60 percent of the fish it eats. Pro-expansion groups such as Expand Papahanaumokuakea point out that only 5 percent of longliner take came from the monument; that longliners have recently reached their quota by summer, then resorted to buying unused blocks from other fleets; and that much of the longliners’ take, including sashimi-grade bigeye tuna, is sold at auction to the mainland U.S., as well as to Japanese and other foreign buyers. The bigeye tuna catch, moreover, has been trending upward every year since the first year of logbook monitoring in 1991. In 2014, the Hawaii longline fleet caught a record 216,897 bigeye tuna, up 12 percent from 2013.

Read the full story at Courthouse News Service

It Looks Like Another Good Year For Hawaii Tuna Fishermen

June 15, 2017 — Hawaii’s longline fishermen will hit their annual 3,138-ton limit for bigeye tuna in the western and central Pacific by early September, according to a forecast Wednesday by federal fishery biologist Christofer Boggs.

But that’s not expected to stop them from setting their hooks for more ahi through the end of the year. In fact, the longliners may be able to haul in another 3,000 tons thanks to deals that let them attribute additional catch to certain U.S. territories in exchange for payments to a federally managed fund.

Environmental groups are concerned that the quota-sharing agreements are leading to overfishing.

But they’re good news for consumers who enjoy fresh ahi poke, sashimi and tuna steaks that are revered in the islands. Prices can spike when the fishery closes and a constant supply helps the market remain more stable.

Boggs delivered his report to the Scientific and Statistical Committee that advises the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council. The council, known as Wespac, is tasked with developing policies to prevent overfishing, minimize bycatch and protect fish stocks and habitat but has a long history of fighting for measures to benefit the fishing industry and getting sued for hurting the environment.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

WESTPAC Calls For End To Monument, Sanctuary Fishing Restrictions

June 14, 2017 — The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council has requested that the federal government consider reviewing the continued need for existing monument and sanctuary fishing restrictions, given the availability of federal regulations which manage fisheries in the US Pacific Islands.

The request was made in a recent letter signed by Council Chairman Edwin A. Ebisui Jr., and Council Executive Director Kitty M. Simonds to US Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur L. Ross, with copies of the letter sent to President Trump, leaders of two federal departments, and Governors of American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands.

The letter claims that the establishment of National Marine Sanctuaries and Marine National Monuments (MNM), under the National Marine Sanctuaries Act (NMSA) and the Antiquities Act, “are being hard-pressed by environmental activist groups to displace processes” under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) “that provide for the sustainable use of fishery resources while conserving vital marine resources.”

Read the full story at the Pacific Islands Report

NMFS Put Councils on Notice About Overfishing or Overfished Conditions on Bigeye, Four Other Stocks

April 24, 2017 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The National Marine Fisheries Service has notified regional councils that five species are subject to overfishing and/or are overfishing or overfished, requiring measures be put in place to remedy the situations.

Bigeye tuna in the Western and Central Pacific and South Atlantic golden tilefish are subject to overfishing, according to NMFS. South Atlantic blueline tilefish remains subject to overfishing. Pacific Bluefin tuna in the North Pacific Ocean and South Atlantic red snapper are both overfished and also subject to overfishing.

NMFS determined the bigeye tuna stock is subject to overfishing based on a 2014 stock assessment update conducted by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, which was accepted by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, an international body composed of more than 35 member countries, participating territories and cooperating non-members.

Both the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council and the Pacific Fishery Management Council are charged with addressing the international and domestic impacts to bigeye tuna. Actions to address international recommendations must be forwarded to the Secretary of State and Congress.

NMFS acknowledged that overfishing of the bigeye stock is largely due to international fishing pressure. Regardless, Hawaii longliners are concerned that U.S. fleets will bear the brunt of the regulations.

Hawaii Longline Association President Sean Martin said any regulations likely won’t have a short-term effect on the year-round fishery. However, it seems like NMFS was premature in its decision and used an old stock assessment to make the determination, he said.

“I’m not sure why they did that, prior to the new stock assessment,” Martin said.

The SPC currently is working on an updated bigeye tuna stock assessment to present to the Commission in August. The assessment may show the stock in better shape than the 2014 assessment — or it may not.

Regardless, the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council is required to take into account the relative impact of the longline fleet — which is pretty small in the scope of international fishery management, Martin said. “So it complicates the issue because we are so small,” he added.

Hawaii already imports bigeye tuna from other Commission countries as demand for bigeye and poke has increased in restaurants.

Further constraints on the domestic fishery will likely be filled by other countries. The U.S. takes conservation seriously, Martin said, but at the international level, discussions frequently center more around allocation rather than conservation.

“We’re suffering the consequences of others who want access to our markets,” Martin said.

NMFS’ notice about the status of the bluefin tuna in the North Pacific also must be dealt with by both the Western Pacific and Pacific fishery management councils.

The overfishing and overfished condition of Pacific bluefin tuna in the North Pacific Ocean is due largely to excessive international fishing pressure and there are no management measures (or efficiency measures) to end overfishing under an international agreement to which the United States is a party, NMFS said in its notice.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council has been notified it must take action immediately to end overfishing of golden tilefish and continue to work with NMFS to end overfishing of blueline tilefish and red snapper and rebuild the red snapper stock.

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

Amendment to Billfish Conservation Act Would Shutdown U.S. Markets, WESPAC expresses opposition

April 4, 2017 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council: 

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council recently concluded its 169th meeting in Honolulu, during which S.396, an amendment to the Billfish Conservation Act (BCA), was discussed. The proposed amendment would shut down the long established U.S. market for U.S. fisheries operating within the Western Pacific Region (Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands).

North Pacific blue marlin, which comprises the largest component of non-swordfish billfish landings in the Western Pacific Region, is not experiencing overfishing nor is it in an overfished condition. In the Atlantic, blue marlin is both overfished and is subject to overfishing. Marlin and other billfish sent from Hawaii to the US mainland are required to have a Billfish Certificate of Eligibility (COE), which identifies the fishing vessel, its homeport and the port and date of offloading. Hawaii markets about 550,000 lbs. of billfish per year to the U.S. mainland, worth about $600,000 annually in wholesale value. The Western Pacific Region also has an industry of value added billfish products such as smoked marlin and marlin paté, jerky and sausages.

The Council voted to send a letter to the Secretary of Commerce on the stock status of Pacific billfish and the economic impact of the introduced amendment. The Council also noted that US mainland sport fishing tournaments target billfish and is requesting that the National Marine Fisheries Service  provide information on the estimated number of billfish killed in these US mainland tournaments and whether or not the billfish retained goes to local consumption.

Read the full letter to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross here