NMFS Outlines Plan to Rescue Pacific Leatherback Populations
The National Marine Fisheries Service is planning a $3 million, five-year initiative to prevent the extinction of the Pacific leatherback sea turtle. The program is part of the Clinton administration’s budget proposal to Congress covering fiscal years 2000 through 2004.
One key element in the initiative is the elimination of incidental take of the leatherbacks by commercial fishing fleets, including the Honolulu-based longline fishery. Over five years, the plan calls for spending $475,000 to “eliminate incidental take.”
A one-paragraph explanation of the initiative, provided by the NMFS Office of Protected Resources, notes that the leatherback sea turtle “is considered endangered worldwide… Once numbering in the tens of thousands, Pacific nesting populations of this species have declined dramatically in the last decade. A 1996 study of the four major nesting beaches for the Pacific leatherback in Mexico, which sustained a large portion, perhaps as much as half of all global nesting for this species, revealed that the population had collapsed. During the last decade the nesting population has declined by 90 percent, to fewer than 1,000 females nesting annually. Recent evidence suggests that the drift net and longline fisheries of the Pacific, including those prosecuted along the western coast of South America, may be largely responsible for these dramatic declines. Urgent action is needed in order to prevent the extinction of this species in the Pacific.”
Other elements in the initiative include population assessments ($490,000 sought over five years), stock identification ($425,000), protection of nesting beaches ($725,000), and determination of habitat needs ($950,000).
Even as the agency recognizes the need for protection of Pacific leatherback stocks, however, it continues to allow their take in the Hawai`i longline fishery. As Environment Hawai`i reported in December, NMFS issued a biological opinion in November that allows the Honolulu longliners to continue to take — and kill — these critically endangered turtles. The opinion imposes only a modest reduction over previous take levels for leatherbacks: 244 takes (including 19 mortalities) as opposed to the previous level of 271 (including 23 mortalities).
The biological opinion has since been challenged in court. On February 24, the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund filed suit in federal court in Honolulu over the ongoing harm inflicted on sea turtle populations by the Honolulu-based longline vessels. Named as defendants in the case are NMFS, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the U.S. Department of Commerce and its secretary, William Daley. Plaintiffs in the case are the leatherback sea turtle, the loggerhead, and the olive ridley — as well as the Center for Marine Conservation, a national organization, and the Turtle Island Restoration Network, based in California.
The lawsuit asks the court to find NMFS and the other defendants in violation of the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, among other things, and to provide injunctive relief until such time as those violations are cured.
Logbook summaries compiled by NMFS for 1998 disclose that 11 leatherbacks were caught and released alive, one leatherback was caught and released with injuries, while one was caught and released dead, for a total of 13 leatherbacks taken by the Honolulu longline fleet.
The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council is preparing to require vessels in the Honolulu-based longline fleet to take measures to reduce their catch of seabirds. Each year, thousands of birds- especially albatross – are killed by the fleet when they try to snatch bait as lines are being set.
For the last two years, the council has studied the problem, sponsoring a workshop on mortality rates of black-footed albatross (one of two species thought to be injured by the longline fleet), and hiring a consultant to investigate what methods might be most effective in keeping birds away from bait.
The council is expected to begin the long process of adopting rules at its next meeting to be held at the Ala Moana Hotel in Honolulu June 15-18.
At the April meeting of the council’s Pelagics Advisory Panel, Laura Torre of Garcia & Associates, the company contracted to investigate mitigation methods to reduce seabird bycatch, presented some preliminary results of work her company has been doing for the last year. Chris Boggs of NMFS also reported on some test fishing that NMFS conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of several proposed mitigation measures.
Both Boggs and Torre indicated that using blue-dyed bait seemed to make the bait invisible to albatross. Use of the tori pole – a streamer-bedecked pole intended to scare birds away from baited hooks as lines are being set – was somewhat less effective. Boggs reported that the combination of blue- dyed bait and weighted hooks resulted in an interaction rate that was 90 percent less than with no mitigation measures. Use of the tori poles resulted in a 70 percent reduction, he said.
One of the most closely watched bills in the 1999 Legislature was the proposal to ban the landing of shark fins in Honolulu. The bill, introduced by Rep. Brian Shatz, passed the House, but became stalled in the Senate Water, Land and Hawaiian Affairs Committee.
Many fishers testified in support of the bill. Testifying against it was the fishery management council, which recommended that the bill be deferred until the council completes its study on the practice. Also testifying in opposition was BOATS- Hawai’i, a lobbying group representing some boat owners and suppliers.
According to the U.S. Coast Guard, the Hawai’i-based fishing vessel, Lea Lea fished inside the protected species zone around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands on January 26. The zone was established to protect the endangered monk seal, turtles, and seabirds that use the islands for nesting and haul-outs.
The Lea Lea, like all other vessels in the Hawai’i longline fleet, is equipped with a vessel monitoring system, or VMS, that allows the Coast Guard to track its position any time it leaves port. After receiving VMS data on the Lea Lea’s location, the Coast Guard boarded the vessel on January 29, checked its logbook, and confirmed the violation.
VMS also allows the Coast Guard to monitor encroachments into the longlined closed area around the Main Hawaiian Islands, established to reduce gear conflicts between close-to-shore handliners and trollers and the longline fleet. According to the Coast Guard, in the first quarter of 1999, two vessels – the Lila and the Northern Venture – were fishing with longline gear in the closed areas.
Governor Cayetano has forwarded to the secretary of Commerce nominations for the two-at-large seats from Hawai’i on the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council. The two incumbents, – Frank Farm and Roy Morioka – have been renominated. Other nominees for filling the terms, which begin in August, are William Aila, Ed Ebisui, Rick Gaffney, and Linda Paul.
Farm is a recreational fisherman and manages the Hyperbaric Treatment Center in Honolulu. Morioka is president of the Hawai’i International Billfish Tournament and an employee of Nortel. Ebisui, a lawyer, is a part-time fisherman and served previously on the council, including a term as its chairman.
Aila, harbormaster at the Wai’anae small boat harbor, is a part-time commercial fisher and is active in efforts to preserve Hawaiian culture and traditions. Gaffney is a journalist whose columns on fishery-related issues appear in Hawai’i Fishing News. Ebisui, Aila, and Gaffney all sit on the council’s Pelagics Advisory Panel. Aila and Ebisui are on the council’s Bottomfish Advisory Panel as well, while Aila serves on the council’s Native and Indigenous Rights Advisory Panel.
Linda Paul, former president of the Hawai’i Audubon Society, is a practicing lawyer with a background in marine biology.
Volume 9, Number 12 June 1999
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