Saving Seafood

Hawaii longliners convert gear to reduce whitetip shark bycatch

May 27, 2022 — Hawaii’s deep-set longline fleet is completing its changeover from wire leaders to nylon monofilament, a process that fishermen started on their own and is expected to reduce bycatch and mortality of threatened oceanic whitetip sharks by 30 percent.

A new federal regulation effective May 31 will prohibit the use of wire leaders in the fishery, formally instituting the industry-led initiative.

Wire leaders have been used so hooked fish can’t break off, and to make gear safer for fishermen. But even the sharp-toothed oceanic whitetip sharks can’t bite through them, meaning fishermen must release them, a dangerous process for both fish and fishermen.

The Hawaii Longline Association, representing tuna longline fishermen in the area, took the initiative to stop using wire leaders when deep-set longline fishing when its members voluntarily phased out wire leaders starting in November 2020, according to HLA Executive Director Eric Kingma.

“Our members—which include all of the Hawaii-based longline fleet of around 145 vessels—don’t want to catch sharks,” Kingma said in a joint statement with NMFS. “While the amount of fishing effort by Hawaii vessels is small compared with foreign fleets, we continue to work with our members and researchers on innovative methods to minimize the impacts of our fishery on these sharks and other protected species.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Federal Fisheries Managers Enact Shark Conservation Effort Initiated By Hawaii Longline Association

May 25, 2022 — A conservation effort initiated by the Hawaii Longline Association (HLA), which is expected to reduce oceanic whitetip shark catch and mortality, will go into effect on May 31, 2022, according to a release issued yesterday by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (WPRFMC). This effort was initiated by HLA as a voluntary transition from steel wire leaders to more shark-friendly monofilament nylon leaders. The initiative was announced at the December 2020 WPRFMC meeting, and received broad support from industry, scientists, and conservation groups, including The Ocean Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts.

The following is excerpted from a release by the WPRFMC:

An industry-led conservation measure to reduce impacts to oceanic whitetip sharks is the latest example in a long history of bottom-up federal fishery management through the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council.

Starting May 31, 2022, the Hawaii deep-set longline fishery that targets bigeye tuna will be prohibited from using wire leaders, which reduces a shark’s ability to free itself from an accidental hooking by biting through the line. In addition, all longline fisheries operating under the Council’s Pelagic Fishery Ecosystem Plan (FEP) will be required to remove trailing gear from oceanic whitetip sharks before releasing them. Combined, these measures are expected to reduce oceanic whitetip shark catch and mortality by about 30%.

This conservation effort was initiated by the Hawaii Longline Association as a voluntary transition from steel wire leaders to more shark-friendly monofilament nylon leaders. The initiative was announced at the Council’s December 2020 meeting, and received broad support from industry, scientists and conservation groups like The Ocean Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts. Through the stakeholder-based process established under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the Council developed an FEP amendment to make the leader material change a requirement, and finalized its recommendation in June 2021. The Council and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) developed the rule package, and NMFS issued a proposed rule in January 2022 and final rule in April 2022.

Read the full release from the WPRFMC

Ban On Longliners Using Wire Leaders Takes Effect Next Month To Protect Sharks

May 2, 2022 — A new regulation prohibiting the use of wire leaders in longline fisheries is expected to increase the survival of hooked oceanic whitetip sharks by up to 30%.

The regulation takes effect on May 31 this year and will replace wire leaders — short lengths of wire that stop fish from biting themselves free from hooks — with nylon alternatives. Plastic leaders give sharks a better chance of survival because they can bite themselves free, or fishermen can cut them loose with greater ease.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration regulation comes after the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council and Hawaii Longline Association started addressing the issue in 2020.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

 

Yearbook: Fishing fleets flex

March 8, 2021 — With revenues up 3 percent in January and February of 2020, the industry was looking ahead to another strong year in the global marketplace.

In March, when restaurants across the country shuttered quickly under covid-19 outbreak restrictions, seafood supply chains ground to a halt in the early days of the pandemic. Fishermen who had been out harvesting to supply the once-solid market were stuck with their catch left unsold and their boats tied up.

In early March, New Jersey fisherman Gus Lovgren was headed to port after a Virginia summer flounder trip when his wife called him, “saying they’re shutting the country down, basically,” he recalled.

“We had been getting $1.75 to $2 (per pound). In the end we got, I think, 60 cents,” said Lovgren. “The market was flooded, and there was nothing we could do.”

Right out of the gates in April 2020, the Hawaii Longline Association worked with others in Hawaii’s fishing industry to donate 2,000 pounds of fresh seafood to Hawaii Foodbank, and planning larger deliveries.

The initial donation, coordinated with the with United Fishing Agency’s Honolulu auction, the Hawaii Seafood Council, Nico’s Pier 38, and Pacific Ocean Producers, “is the beginning of a new pilot program with the Hawaii Foodbank,” the association said.

“Through the partnership, Hawaii Foodbank plans to purchase $50,000 worth of seafood landed by Hawaii longline vessels,” according to a statement from the association. “The purchase will ensure that Hawaii Foodbank will be able to meet the needs of Hawaii residents facing hardship as a result of covid-19. It will also support Hawaii’s longline fishermen.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

US seafood associations respond to human trafficking task force recommendations

February 9, 2021 — Commercial seafood organizations have begun responding to a U.S. Justice Department task force report on human trafficking in international waters.

The report, nearly three years in the making, included 27 recommendations for the federal government to eliminate loopholes or strengthen policies. Some of those recommendations include the need for congressional legislation. Among this is a recommendation to create a temporary worker visa program that would ban “recruitment fees” paid by workers on American vessels that fish in international waters but deliver products in U.S. ports.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Hawaii Longliners Take Action To Fight Poor Conditions And Human Trafficking

February 8, 2021 — The Hawaii Longline Association says it welcomes the recommendations contained in two recent reports to Congress that outline ways the seafood industry can prevent labor abuse.

The longliners, which primarily target tuna and swordfish, faced intense scrutiny after a 2016 investigation by The Associated Press found a number of foreign crewmen working the vessels were living in squalid conditions and earning as little as 70 cents an hour.

Since then, Congress has called for more oversight of the national and international seafood industry, particularly when it comes to issues of illegal fishing and human trafficking.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

Hawaii Longline Association Supports Federal Agency Recommendations Regarding Human Trafficking in the Seafood Supply Chain

February 4, 2021 — The following was released by the Hawaii Longline Association:

Human trafficking, including forced labor in fisheries and the seafood supply chain, has rightfully garnered attention in recent years. This unconscionable activity is not condoned by the Hawaii Longline Association (HLA) and other responsible fishing organizations, and has led to seafood industry-developed standards and social responsibility auditing mechanisms. Recent reports to U.S. Congress present government actions to further prevent and respond to such labor abuses including: 1) Department of Commerce and Department of State Report to Congress on Human Trafficking in the Seafood Supply Chain, Section 3563 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (P.L. 116-92) and 2) Federal Agency Task Force on Human Trafficking in Fishing in International Waters.

“The Hawaii Longline Association commends the work of federal agencies to address this important topic and supports many of the recommendations made in these reports,” said HLA Executive Director Eric Kingma.

Paramount among the recommendations covering domestic fisheries is the development of a temporary visa program for foreign fishing crews. “Providing foreign crews temporary work visas, as recommended in the Task Force report, is an important measure that would benefit foreign workers in our fishery, allowing them to go home and visit family and friends and then return to Hawaii via air travel in an efficient, humane manner,” Kingma said.

Currently, foreign fishermen employed in the fishery are ineligible to obtain a visa and thus are prohibited from flying into Honolulu. Rather, these fishermen must board their employer’s Hawaii-based longline vessel in a foreign port (e.g., Mexico or Canada) or U.S. Territory (e.g., American Samoa) and transit nearly two weeks to Honolulu to begin their legal employment, which is authorized under U.S. law (46 USC 8103(2)(b). However, despite being legally employed to fish on U.S. vessels fishing for highly migratory species in the U.S. EEZ and high seas, without visas they are required to stay within the Honolulu Harbor port area. The only exception to leave the port area is for medical visits or to depart from Honolulu International Airport with permission from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

The majority of the 140 active longline vessels operating out of Honolulu Harbor have legally employed foreign crew for over 30 years. Like migrant farm and food processing workers employed across the nation, these skilled fishermen temporarily leave their countries to seek higher paying jobs in the United States, to support their families back home. Other U.S. tuna fleets that fish on the high seas also employ foreign crew, including U.S. distant water purse seine vessels, West Coast-based albacore vessels, and East Coast-based longline vessels. Hawaii longline crew are mainly from Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, and Pacific Island countries.

Read the full release here

Western Pacific Council Supports Longliners’ Request to Test Bird Scaring Lines

December 8, 2020 — The Hawaii Longline Association is continuing its efforts to be proactive at mitigating or avoiding effects to threatened or endangered species. In this case, seabirds.

The Association requested an experimental fishing permit for the deep-set longline fishery to test tori line efficacy without the use of blue-dyed bait when fishing north of 23° N. latitude when the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council met last week. The Council endorsed the application and recommended the National Marine Fisheries Service issue the permit as soon as possible. If approved, the permit would be the first of its kind issued in the Western Pacific Region and field trials could start in early 2021, the Council said in a press release.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Hawaii Fishing Fleet Is Changing Gear To Help Protect Endangered Sharks

December 7, 2020 — The Hawaii Longline Association announced this week it’s making key changes to its fleet’s fishing equipment to help the imperiled oceanic whitetip shark stave off extinction.

Specifically, by July, crews aboard the fleet’s 140 or so vessels plan to replace the steel wire fishing leaders at the ends of their fishing lines with ones made from less-lethal nylon, or monofilament, according to HLA Executive Director Eric Kingma.

The move should at least somewhat help the endangered and overfished sharks, local fishing officials and industry watchdogs say, because they can bite through the nylon more easily and free themselves when they’re inadvertently caught.

It’s a much-welcomed change to aid a species that was abundant in the central and western Pacific Ocean before commercial fishing and demand for shark fins decimated their numbers, ocean conservationists say.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

Western Pacific Council Supports Hawaiʻi Industry Request to Test Bird Scaring Lines as Seabird Interaction Mitigation Measure

December 4, 2020 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

The Hawaii Longline Association has requested an experimental fishing permit for the deep-set longline fishery to test tori line efficacy without the use of blue-dyed bait when fishing north of 23° N. The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council today in Honolulu endorsed the application and recommended that National Marine Fisheries Service issue the permit as soon as possible. If approved, the permit would be the first of its kind issued in the Western Pacific Region and field trials could start in early 2021.

Tori, or bird scaring, lines have been internationally recognized as an effective seabird mitigation measure, while data show using blue-dyed bait is less effective than alternative measures. The food-grade blue dye has also become increasingly difficult to source. The Council recommended developing a regulatory amendment to the Pacific Pelagic Fishery Ecosystem Plan to evaluate options for allowing the use of tori lines in lieu of blue-dyed bait. The results from the tori line study will inform the development of the regulatory amendment.

“I support these efforts to improve and streamline conservation measures in the fleet,” said Council member Roger Dang, owner of longline vessels and Fresh Island Fish of Hawai‘i. “The small Hawaiʻi fleet has minimal impact on seabird populations, but has many more regulatory requirements than foreign fleets on the high seas. Any changes to streamline these requirements will help us and make sense for the fleet,” he noted.

Action on specifying the annual catch limit (ACL) and the rebuilding plan for the American Samoa bottomfish fishery was deferred. The stock is overfished and subject to overfishing. The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act requires the Council to take action to end overfishing immediately and rebuild overfished stock within 10 years. In the past quarter, four fishermen landed a total of 665 pounds of bottomfish.

Deferring action allows the Council to support the American Samoa government in finalizing its territorial bottomfish fishery management plan. With 85% of bottomfish habitat located within territorial waters, it is essential that local and federal governments work together to manage the fishery. Henry Sesepasara, director of the Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources, recommended the Council postpone action. “We are in the process of providing feedback to the draft plan and will be completing it by January 2021,” he said.

The Council requested NMFS to extend the American Samoa interim catch limit of 13,000 pounds of bottomfish for an additional 185 days from the expiry date of May 17, 2021, while the Council finalizes conservation and management measures to end overfishing in the fishery. A new stock assessment is scheduled to be completed in 2023.

The Council meeting concludes tomorrow by web conference (Webex). Instructions on connecting to Webex, agendas and briefing documents are posted at www.wpcouncil.org/meetings-calendars.