Press Release For Immediate Release – 04 October 2013 Contact: Sylvia.spalding@noaa.gov or (808) 522-5341
Fishery Scientists and Managers to Consider Potential Quota Reduction for the Hawaii Longline Fishery, Mariana Shark Management HONOLULU (04 October 2013) The port of Honolulu consistently ranks as one of the nation’s top 10 fishing ports in terms of value landed. The reason is the sashimi-quality bigeye tuna landed by the Hawaii longline fleet. This fishery is recognized globally as a model for sustainable pelagic fishing with a rating of 95 percent against the UN Code of Conduct for Responsible Fishing. Eighty percent of the tuna landed by the fishery stays in Hawaii, where tuna tops the list of seafood consumed. In the first decade of this century, the Hawaii fishery landed between 4,000 metric tons (mt) and 5,000 mt of bigeye annually. In 2008, the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), which oversees international management of highly migratory fisheries in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO), proposed that longline fisheries reduce their take of bigeye tuna to 90 percent of their 2004 landings. The United States, which is a party to the WCPFC, agreed. Therefore, since 2009, the Hawaii longline fishery has been operating under a bigeye tuna quota of 3,763 mt in the WCPFC convention area. In 2009 and 2010, the Hawaii fishery reached the quota before the end of the year causing a shutdown of the fishery for two days and forty days, respectively, during the holiday season when sashimi is at its highest demand in Hawaii. Now, the Hawaii longline bigeye quota is on the verge of potentially being further reduced to 2,300 mt, or 55 percent of its 2004 landings. That is the recommendation from the eight Pacific Islands nations that comprise the Parties to the Nauru Agreement together with the Philippines and Japan, as part of the outcome of a WCPFC working group meeting convened August 2013 in Tokyo. The proposal did not suggest any quota for the purse-seine fishery, but rather would limit the days that purse-seine vessels could fish on FADs and on the high seas in the WCPFC convention area. The United States responded by saying it “cannot accept the proposed reduction specified for the Hawaii-based longline fleet … which has no freezer capacity and delivers only fresh fish to supply a local domestic market.” The United States also noted that “among other things, the Hawaii-based fleet operates primarily north of 20 degrees North and outside the tropical area where the vast majority of the fishing mortality occurs.” The US discussion paper recognized that “an estimated 88 percent of bigeye tuna fishing mortality occurs between 20 degrees North and 20 degrees South” and called for consideration to be given to spatial management of the longline fisheries. Reducing fishing mortality of bigeye tuna is the key agenda item for the WCPFC, which will hold its 10th regular session Dec. 6-10, 2013, in Cairns, Australia. WCPFC has not been able to find a solution to end prolonged overfishing of bigeye tuna in the WCPO. Overfishing of the species manifested when purse-seine vessels began relying on fish aggregation devices (FADs) to catch skipjack tuna, their target species for canned tuna. Unfortunately, the FADs also attracted juvenile bigeye and yellowfin tuna. The US Delegation to the WCPFC is represented by the US Department of State, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the Pacific and Western Pacific Fishery Management Councils and the US longline and purse-seine fishing industries, among others. Management of the US purse seine fishery has been under the purview of the State Department, as this fishery predominantly fishes in the exclusive economic zones of foreign nations. The Hawaii longline fishery is managed by the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council, whose recommendations are approved by the Secretary of Commerce and implemented by NMFS. --- more ---
______________________________________________________________________________ A Council authorized by the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976 1164 Bishop Street, Suite 1400, Honolulu, Hawaii • Tel (808) 522-8220 • Fax (808) 522-8226 • www.wpcouncil.org