December 14, 2020 — The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council has released the second of seven new issues in its historical Pacific Islands Fishery Monographs series. Each monograph looks at some of the most important federal fisheries and management issues for the U.S. Pacific Islands.
“History of the Billfish Fisheries and Their Management in the Western Pacific Region,” the second of these new monographs and the tenth overall in the series, is now available.
Written by Michael Markrich, the monograph depicts the controversies among various foreign and domestic fisheries that caught billfish in and around the Hawaiian Islands and how East Coast big gamefish and environmental advocates influenced the management of fisheries not only in the Atlantic and Gulf but also in the U.S. Pacific Islands.
Prior to Western contact, Native Hawaiians used special hooks to catch billfish, tuna and other large pelagic fish from outrigger canoes.