Monitoring confirms it: The Ha‘ena Community-Based Subsistence Fishing Area (CBSFA) works. In October 2014, the Board of Land and Natural Resources approved rules establishing the area over the objections and a contested case hearing request by commercial fishermen Michael Sur and Makani Christensen. Christensen … Continued
On May 22, after hours of public testimony and a long executive session to discuss legal matters, the Board of Land and Natural Resources unanimously voted to deny a recommendation from the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ (DLNR) Division … Continued
The Hawai‘i population of green sea turtles is federally listed as threatened and in 2018, Hurricane Walaka destroyed much of the turtles’ preferred nesting habitat in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI). But according to T. Todd Jones of the Pacific Islands Fisheries … Continued
Last year, the number of longline sets targeting swordfish hit a record low of 300, according to Russell Ito of the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center. Only 14 of the 150 longline vessels fishing around Hawai‘i last year were shallow-set vessels, he … Continued
Whether Hawai‘i longliners are fishing for bigeye tuna or swordfish, they must limit their interactions with federally protected species or face a partial or complete closure. False killer whales and loggerhead and leatherback sea turtles have been the main species of concern over … Continued
Recent reports by the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) suggest that the pelagic population of false killer whales within the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) around Hawai‘i may be larger than was previously thought. Or it may be about … Continued
In late November, the Hawai‘i deep-set longline fleet, which targets bigeye tuna, caught three false killer whales in federal waters off the Big Island. All of them were release alive, but had been hooked in the mouth area and freed with … Continued
At approximately 10:30 p.m. on October 10, 2017, the Commercial Fishing Vessel (CFV) Pacific Paradise, a 79’ longline fishing vessel owned by TWOL, LLC, ran aground in shallow waters of the Waikiki-Diamond Head Shoreline Fisheries Management Area (FMA). Over the … Continued
The federal government is suing the owners of the Pacific Paradise for at least $1.66 million in an effort to recover costs associated with removing the fishing vessel from the reef off Waikiki where it ran aground in October 2017. … Continued
Michael Tosatto, administrator of the Pacific Islands Regional Office (PIRO) of the National Marine Fisheries Service, says his office requires holders of longline permits “to list the business and to declare (under penalty of perjury) that the information is true. … Continued