January 23, 2020 — After being grounded since last March, the Hawaii swordfish fishery reported its first landings of the season on Friday, 17 January.
Pacific Business News reported that “The Lady Luck” arrived at Pier 38 Friday morning with about 30,000 tons of swordfish. Within hours, the catch hit the auction floor.
January 21, 2020 — The US state of Hawaii’s swordfish fishery is expected to land its first catch in nine months this weekend (Jan. 18-19), after closing on Mar. 19, 2019 upon reaching the loggerhead turtle interaction cap.
The fishery produces about 55% of America’s domestic swordfish and supplies 14% of the total US swordfish market.
“Without Hawaii swordfish, US markets will increase their dependence on foreign suppliers,” said Kitty Simonds, executive director of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (WPRFMC), which manages the fishery.
“Our pelagic longline fisheries are well managed and rigorously monitored, and regulations are enforced. International fishery management organizations consider them model fisheries and have adopted many of the measures we developed. Our fishery targets the North Pacific stock, which is healthy…and avoids the troubled Eastern Pacific and South Atlantic stocks.”
January 17, 2020 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:
The Hawai’i swordfish fishery is expected to land its first catch in nine months tomorrow. This healthy fishery produces approximately 55 percent of America’s domestic swordfish and supplies 14 percent of the total US swordfish market.
“Without Hawai’i swordfish, US markets will increase their dependence on foreign suppliers,” said Kitty M. Simonds, executive director of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, which manages the fishery. “Our pelagic longline fisheries are well managed and rigorously monitored, and regulations are enforced. International fishery management organizations consider them model fisheries and have adopted many of the measures we developed. Our fishery targets the North Pacific stock, which is healthy (not overfished or subject to overfishing), and avoids the troubled Eastern Pacific and South Atlantic stocks.”
Some of these rigorous conservation measures include rules protecting sea turtles, gear restrictions and a cap on the number of sea turtles with which the fishery may interact. The fishery currently operates under an annual cap of 17 loggerhead and 16 leatherback turtle interactions and has 100 percent observer coverage. An interaction occurs whenever a sea turtle becomes hooked or entangled in longline gear, as recorded by the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) observer.
The fishery closed on March 19 last year after reaching the loggerhead cap and reopened on Jan. 1, 2020.
According to a 2019 biological opinion issued by NMFS, the Hawai’i shallow-set longline fishery for swordfish does not jeopardize the continued existence of loggerhead and leatherback sea turtle populations. Ninety-nine percent of turtle interactions in the fishery result in the turtle being released alive. The loggerhead turtle population, which nests in Japan, is growing at an annual rate of 2.4 percent.
The Council has developed amended measures, which were transmitted to the Secretary of Commerce on Wednesday for review and approval. The amendment, which could be effective as early as May 2020, would remove the loggerhead cap and have a leatherback cap of 16. The amendment includes a trip limit of five loggerhead and two leatherback interactions, after which a vessel would be required to return to port. If that vessel reaches the trip limit again, it could not fish for swordfish for the remainder of the year and it could interact with only five loggerhead and two leatherbacks total the following year.
Mike Lee of Garden and Valley Isle Seafood notes: “The Hawai’i swordfish fishery has a multimillion dollar impact to the local economy, which includes several wholesale seafood distribution companies. Hawai’i swordfish is a premium product with high levels of demand. Fishery closures disrupt market channels and leave our customers little choice but foreign imports.”
“For the last two years the fishery operated for about three months due to premature closure and generated around $1.5 million in landed value, said Eric Kingma, executive director of the Hawaii Longline Association (HLA). “By comparison, the fishery produced three times that revenue ($4.5 million) in 2017 and nearly $9 million in 2009. Additionally, closing the fishery forces swordfish vessels to convert to target tuna (ahi) with the risk that the bigeye tuna quota may be reached before the end of the year, when market demand peaks.”
The Lady Luck, the first vessel from the Hawai’i swordfish fleet, is expected offload around 35,000 pounds of swordfish at Pier 38 in Honolulu around 5 a.m. tomorrow, Friday, Jan. 17. The swordfish could appear on the auction floor around 9 a.m. For more information, contact Eric Kingma, HLA executive director, at (808) 389-2653 or eric.k.kingma@gmail.com or Asuka Ishizaki, the Council’s protected species coordinator, at (808) 522-8224 or asuka.ishizaki@wpcouncil.org.
FAST FACTS ABOUT THE US SWORDFISH FISHERY OPERATING UNDER HAWAI’I LONGLINE FEDERAL PERMITS
December 10, 2019 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:
The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council and its Education Committee members are pleased to announce the availability of up to three undergraduate or graduate scholarships for the 2020-2021 academic year. These scholarships support the aspiration of American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands to build their capacity to effectively manage their fisheries and related resources through employment of their own people. Students with strong ties to these territories are eligible for scholarships that cover the cost of tuition and fees and some living expenses. However, for undergraduates, there is an expectation that the Free Application for Federal Student Aid will be completed early and Pell grants obtained so the relevant university’s Financial Aid Office can determine the amount of aid needed. Click here for more information and a complete scholarship application. Funding for the scholarships comes in part from the NOAA Fisheries Pacific Islands Regional Office and Pacific Island Fisheries Science Center. For further details, please contact Amy Vandehey at info@wpcouncil.org or phone (808) 522-8220.
November 18, 2019 — “There is currently no reliable measure of individual number of fishermen in the American Samoa bottom fish fishery,” wrote Kitty M. Simonds, executive director of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).
“The Council is working with the American Samoa Government to improve the quality of fishery data,” wrote Simonds in a Nov. 12th letter providing the Council’s comment on the NMFS proposed List of Fisheries (LOF) for 2020. (The proposed list was published recently on federal portal www.regulations.gov seeking comments)
“Specifically, the Council provides clarification on the source of information used to revise the number of vessels/persons for the American Samoa bottomfish handline fishery from 1,092 to 2,095,” Simonds explained.
She noted that NMFS cites the Council’s Annual Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation (SAFE) report for the fishery participation data in the 2019 LOF, which resulted in the number of vessels/persons revised from the previous 17 to 1,092 in the 2019 LOF, and the subsequent revision to 2,095 in the proposed 2020 LOF.
November 18, 2019 — “Fishing forms the backbone of our local economy,” said Republican Congresswoman, Aumua Amata Radewagen, speaking at the opening of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council’s (WPRFMC) 180th meeting in Pago Pago, American Samoa. Radewagen is a delegate for the U.S. House of Representatives from American Samoa. The sustainable future of the nations purse seine fishery was also the issue in Lt. Governor Lemanu Peleti Mauga’s speech in which he referred to the importance of fishing for the livelihood of the island.
Radewagen mentioned that US purse seiners pay annually up to USD 2 million per vessel to have access to foreign EEZ’s for fishing. Due to marine national monument regulations, these parts of US EEZ’s are now closed for purse seiners.
The seiner fleet provides skipjack and yellowfin tuna for the American Samoa-based cannery owned by StarKist Samoa Co. The fleet has exceeded the limit of fishing days in 2018 and therefore by US regulations, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announced the closure on October 1, whereby US-flagged vessels have no access to the fishing grounds within the nations’ EEZ which also includes the waters around American Samoa.
The Congresswoman finds it her priority to get the lifting of the fishing closure within the Marine parks – which is still recommended by the US Interior Department – onto President Trump’s agenda. From her perspective, the latest negotiations for the South Pacific Tuna Treaty between the US and the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) nations went backward when 700 fewer fishing days were agreed.
According to a report by the American Samoa Department of Commerce, the Pago Pago cannery provides 25 percent of the territory’s jobs and effectively subsidizes the cost of freight and fuel to American Samoa. If it should shut down, it would be a USD 200 million loss annually to the local economy.
Actually, most employees of StarKist’s American Samoa processing plant are inhabitants of the neighboring country, Samoa, located 137 miles away from American Samoa.
US-flagged purse seiners are owned by US entities and a minority by foreign companies. Only the South Pacific albacore longlining fleet is in American Samoan hands. The reduction of that fleet – that targets albacore – to 13 vessels while China enlarged its fleet is something Radewagen is concerned about. In her view, the US should constantly be active and engaged in the Pacific region and monitor foreign actions that affect the domestic fleet.
November 4, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council discussed changes related to the interaction of sea turtles in the swordfish fishery and the South Pacific albacore fishery when it met in American Samoa last week. Both require the National Marine Fisheries Service to agree with Council’s action to move forward.
The Council urged NMFS, on the Hawaii deep-set longline fishery consultation under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) consider all anticipated scientific information in the biological opinion. This should include the new model developed by the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center that evaluates the impacts of fishery interactions on the North Pacific loggerhead and Western Pacific leatherback sea turtle populations.
The Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee, prior to last week’s Council meeting, endorsed the new model as best scientific information available for evaluating the fisheries’ impacts. The results of the model for the shallow-set (swordfish) longline fishery showed no discernible impact of the fishery’s interactions on the population trend of loggerhead turtles over the next 100 years. For leatherbacks, it showed a small change in the long-term population trend, indicating that the population impact from the fishery would occur five years earlier at the end of the 100-year period.
The NMFS scientist noted the primary impacts to the leatherback population include directed fisheries and nesting predation where the turtles nest in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
The Council also urged NMFS to apply the model to the Hawai’i deep-set (tuna) and American Samoa longline fisheries so they may be considered in the ongoing consultations. It also recommended NMFS work with the Council to develop only necessary sea turtle protection measures under the ongoing consultations for the Hawai’i deep-set and American Samoa longline fisheries that are appropriate and practicable and ensure the sustainability of the fisheries.
Additionally, the Council will work with NMFS to evaluate the impact of any management actions for reducing turtle interactions on the economic performance and socioeconomic effects of the shallow-set and deep-set longline fisheries, including consideration of the effect on protected species being transferred to foreign fisheries should the U.S. longline fishery close.
Regarding South Pacific albacore tuna, the Council requested NMFS compile and evaluate the catches of albacore from Chinese-flagged longline vessels operating in the southwest Pacific and compare them to the catches and performance of the American Samoa longline fleet.
The Council also wanted to move forward on creating a reference point for South Pacific albacore. It requested NMFS and the U.S. delegation to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission work with other international delegations to develop the reference point. It should include the catch per unit effort of small island developing states and participating territories to reach historical levels, in addition to a biomass target reference point.
Furthermore, they should also work with other international delegations to develop:
a) a harvest plan for South Pacific albacore to achieve its target reference points “soonest” and under 20 years; and
b) an allocation scheme for countries and cooperating members in which small island developing states and participating territories are exempt from annual catch reductions to reach the target reference point or that they can maintain catches commensurate with historical optimal levels. The allocation scheme must take into consideration charter arrangements and allocations should be accounted by fishing vessel registry, such that conservation benefits are not undermined.
This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.
October 25, 2019 — If tuna canner StarKist & Co departs American Samoa for a location with cheaper labor costs as the company has previously warned, the impact on the US territory’s economy would be substantial.
The damages could reduce the gross domestic product of the 55,000-resident territory by some $200 million, according to a report from the territory’s Department of Commerce.
The report, presented at a recent meeting of the Western Pacific Fisheries Management Council, indicates that a closure of StarKist’s cannery, the island’s largest employer, would result in the loss of 4,000 direct and indirect jobs, one-fourth of its labor force.
The cannery is responsible for 80% of American Samoa’s exports and 24% of its imports. It “effectively” subsidizes the territory’s shipping costs by 40% and its fuel imports by around 30%, the report states.
October 25, 2019 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:
Fishermen from Tutuila and Manu’a islands concerned about the future of the Territory’s bottomfish fishery attended the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council meeting yesterday and today in Utulei, American Samoa. A recent draft stock assessment by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) indicates that the federally managed bottomfish complex in American Samoa is overfished and experiencing overfishing. It also indicates that the federally managed Guam bottomfish stock complex is overfished but not experiencing overfishing.
Brian Langseth, a stock assessment scientist with NMFS Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), presented the 2019 draft assessment to the Council. The different outcome between the 2019 and previous stock assessments, he said, had to do largely with the way the data was filtered. The data is collected by the American Samoa Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources (DMWR) through creel surveys, in which DMWR staff interview fishermen about their catch and fishing trip. The Council expressed concerns about the robustness of the data from DMWR that was used in the assessment.
During public testimony, fishermen from Manu’a questioned the accuracy of the data used in the model. They said they haven’t been surveyed yet even though they fish principally for bottomfish due to cost and low availability of fuel as well as the small sizes of their vessels. Fishermen from Tutuila also questioned the data, noting that the creel surveys don’t capture the fishermen who return to port at night. One fisherman estimated that the creel surveys capture only about 5 percent of the catch. The fishermen also said the catch and catch per unit effort (CPUE) are affected by the wind and current conditions, cost of fuel and market demand. One fisherman shared that the boat owner may have only a $50 to $100 profit from a trip after fuel, ice and crew expenses. Fishermen noted that fuel costs have been high and the weather has been rough the past six months to a year. They stressed to the Council that the livelihoods of their families and communities depend on the ability for them to continue to fish.
October 24, 2019 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:
“Fisheries sustains our livelihoods in all aspects of our lives” was the core message that reverberated through the remarks of Lt. Gov. Lemanu Peleti Mauga, who opened the 180th meeting of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council yesterday in Pago Pago, American Samoa.
Congresswoman Aumua Amata Radewagen’s opening remarks echoed those of the Lt. Governor. “Fishing has sustained us for our entire history,” she said. “Fishing forms the backbone of our local economy.” She noted that the U.S. purse-seine fleet, which provides tuna to the American Samoa-based cannery, pays up to $2 million annually per vessel in access fees to fish in foreign exclusive economic zone (EEZ) waters. Restoring the ability of U.S. fishermen to access U.S. EEZ waters that are now closed due to marine national monument regulations “remains the Interior Department’s clear recommendation,” she added. “It is my priority to get this important decision onto the President’s agenda.” She said that the Chinese longline fleet has soared to more than 500 and now catches 45 percent of the South Pacific albacore, while the American Samoa longline fleet has dropped from 60 vessels to 13 active vessels. “The US must be alert to the actions of China, monitor how that affects our fleet, and be constantly active and engaged in the Pacific region,” she said.
Mike McDonald from the American Samoa Department of Commerce provided a report on the importance of the cannery to the American Samoa gross domestic product (GDP). According to the report, if the cannery were to shut down it would be a $200 million loss annually, which represents one third of the Territory’s GDP. The report said the cannery provides 25 percent of the territory’s jobs and effectively subsidizes the cost of freight and fuel to American Samoa, as the cost of both would be significantly more if that cannery were not in the Territory.
Va’amua Henry Sesepasara, director of the Territory’s Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources (DMWR), reviewed fishery development and fishery data collection efforts.
Based in part from recommendations by the Council’s American Samoa Advisory Panel and Regional Ecosystem Advisory Committee, the Council voted to work with DMWR to improve its data collection, to assist with outreach to fishing communities and to work with the American Samoa Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Commerce to support ecosystem modeling on climate change impacts. At the request of the Territory’s Commerce Department, the Council will also write a letter of support to the US Economic Development Administration for the alia tele, also known as the Super Alia. Based on the traditional double-hull fishing vessel design but larger in size, the alia tele will have the capacity to fish further from shore using multiple gear types.
The Council recommended that DMWR expedite its fishery development projects, provide a plan to improve its fishery data program and meet with the National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa to address concerns of Aunu’u chiefs regarding enforcement of Sanctuary rules and other important issues.
The 180th Council meeting will continue through Thursday at the Tauese P. F. Sunia Ocean Center in Utulei, American Samoa. For more info, go to http://www.wpcouncil.org/public-meetings/ or contact the Council at info@wpcouncil.org or at +1 (808) 522-8220.
Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council: Secretary of Commerce appointees from American Samoa, CNMI, Guam and Hawai’i governor nominees: Archie Soliai, StarKist (American Samoa) (chair); John Gourley, Micronesian Environmental Services (CNMI vice chair); Michael Duenas, Guam Fishermen’s Cooperative Association (Guam vice chair); Edwin Watamura, Waialua Boat Club (Hawai’I vice chair); Howard Dunham, American Samoa Alia Fishing Association (American Samoa); Monique Genereux, business owner (Guam); Michael Goto, United Fishing Agency (Hawai’i); McGrew Rice, charter boat captain (CNMI). Designated state officials: Raymond Roberto, CNMI Dept. of Lands and Natural Resources; Suzanne Case, Hawai’i Dept. of Land & Natural Resources; Chelsa Muña-Brecht, Guam Dept. of Agriculture; Henry Sesepasara, American Samoa Dept. of Marine & Wildlife Resources. Federal officials (voting): Michael Tosatto, NMFS Pacific Islands Regional Office. Federal officials (non-voting): RADM Kevin Lunday, USCG 14th District; Michael Brakke, US State Dept.; Brian Peck, USFWS.