The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council was established under the federal Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976. It is one of eight such regional councils nationwide whose purpose is to regulate the exploitation of fish in federal waters in a way that allows for maximum economic development without at the same time wiping out the stocks.
The council’s territory consists not only of the federal waters around the Hawaiian archipelago out to 200 miles (the Exclusive Economic Zone), but also the EEZ around Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
The council consists of 14 members drawn from government agencies and from the fishing industry. The non-governmental members are appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, while the governmental representatives sit on the council by virtue of their official positions. Hawai`i has an “official” seat on the council as well as four appointed seats.
Until 1992, the chairman of the state Board of Land and Natural Resources was the official representative of Hawai`i to the council. But when William Paty resigned as board chairman, he was asked to continue serving by the new board chairman, Keith Ahue. Paty continues to serve as Hawai`i’s designated state official, even though he holds no position in state government.
Other council members from Hawai`i are James D. Cook, Edwin A. Ebisui, Jr., Frank P. Nibley, Jr., and Thomas C. Webster.
Cook is half-owner of Pacific Ocean Producers (a ship chandlery), sole proprietor of Pacific Protein (a vessel), and a one-third partner in CKM (whose corporate purpose is identified in business registration documents as commercial fishing). Cook’s Pacific Ocean Producers holds one of 164 long-line permits, as does Sean Martin, Cook’s partner in CKM and POP. Cook chairs the council’s Pelagics Standing Committee, which makes recommendations to the council on how stocks of swordfish, tuna, and other types of pelagic fish targeted by the long-line fleet should be managed.
Ebisui, a practicing lawyer, is also a part-time commercial bottomfish fisherman. He is chair of the council’s Bottomfish Standing Committee.
Nibley is a vice president of First Hawaiian Bank and is a billfish enthusiast. (Billfish are not caught for food, but for sport and trophies.) Reflecting this interest, Nibley sits on the governing boards of the Pacific Ocean Research Foundation, a Kona-based non-profit organization that conducts scientific studies on billfish, and the Hawai`i International Billfish Association, which sponsors an annual tournament.
Webster owns a long-line vessel, the Havana, and fishes commercially. His term on the council began immediately following the August council meeting.
The council’s executive director, Kitty Simonds, has a voting seat, as does the regional director of the National Marine Fisheries Service, Hilda Diaz-Soltero.
In addition to the holding most of the non-governmental voting seats, commercial fishing interests are well represented on the various panels that advise the council. Plan teams have been set up to advise the council on each of its four regulated fisheries (crustaceans, bottomfish, pelagic fish, and corals). Hawai`i industry representation on these teams includes Richard Phillips (Phillips Sales Co., Inc.); Brooks Takenaka (United Fishing Agency, the main Honolulu fish auctioneers); John Kaneko (Pacific Management Resources, Inc., also known as PacMar); Gordon Leslie (commercial fisherman); and James Witten (commercial fisherman).
Advisory panels have been established for each of the four Fishery Management Plans. These panels are made up exclusively of people with close ties to the fishing industry. No fewer than 24 Hawai`i members sit on the Advisory Panel for pelagic fishery management. Of those, 17 describe themselves as part- or full-time commercial fishermen. Five are seafood brokers. Just four identify themselves as “part-time recreational” fishermen. (Several fall into more than one category.)
Finally, the council sends a delegate to the Marine Fisheries Advisory Council, a national organization. The council’s new representative to MAFAC is Brooks Takenaka, of United Fishing Agency.
— Patricia Tummons
Volume 6, Number 4 October 1995
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