{"id":10475,"date":"2018-06-30T02:23:38","date_gmt":"2018-06-30T02:23:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.environment-hawaii.org\/?p=10475"},"modified":"2019-03-27T23:54:23","modified_gmt":"2019-03-27T23:54:23","slug":"council-tries-to-keep-rogue-vessels-from-closing-entire-swordfish-fishery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/?p=10475","title":{"rendered":"Council Tries to Keep Rogue Vessels\u00a0From Closing Entire Swordfish Fishery"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A de-hooked loggerhead sea turtle about to be released. Credit: NOAA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) approves recommendations made last month by the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council, Hawai`i shallow-set longliners will have to immediately return to port in Honolulu for at least three days if they catch five endangered loggerhead sea turtles in a single trip.<\/p>\n

The shallow-set fishery, which targets swordfish, closed on May 8 in accordance with a settlement agreement between NMFS, the Hawai`i Longline Association (HLA), and plaintiffs in a lawsuit over the agency\u2019s 2012 decision to increase the fishery\u2019s annual loggerhead and leatherback sea turtle interaction limits from 17 to 34 and from 16 to 26, respectively.<\/p>\n

Under the agreement, unless NMFS completes a new biological opinion (BiOp) \u2014 and issues new hard caps in accordance with that opinion \u2014 before the year\u2019s end, the fishery\u2019 annual loggerhead take limit starting January 1 will be 17, and will stay that way until a new BiOp is completed.<\/p>\n

Independent of the lawsuit, NMFS already started the process of preparing a new BiOp in April, in response to the fishery exceeding its allowable take of olive ridley\u00a0sea turtles and recording its first interaction with a threatened Guadalupe fur seal, as well as the fisheries service\u2019s listing two new species as threatened (the oceanic whitetip shark and the giant manta ray).<\/p>\n

According to Ann Garret, supervisor of NMFS\u2019s Protected Resources division, a new BiOp for the fishery will completed by the end of October.<\/p>\n

NMFS\u2019s Sustainable Fisheries division has already estimated that the fishery will likely interact with up to 37 loggerheads and 21 leatherbacks in a given year. And at its meeting last month, the council recommended that NMFS set new caps at those levels starting next year. Whether or not NMFS agrees will likely depend on what the expected effect that higher level of loggerhead take will have on the population. Mike Tosatto, head of NMFS\u2019s Pacific Islands Regional Office, says his agency would like to set limits on the fishery so that no more than one adult female loggerhead is killed in a given year.<\/p>\n

At the council\u2019s meeting, scientists with the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center suggested that the loggerhead population was \u201crobust\u201d \u2014 despite being listed as endangered \u2014 considering nesting increases in recent years.<\/p>\n

Whatever the annual hard caps turn out to be, the council\u2019s recommended trip cap would prevent vessels from soaking their hooks too long in turtle hot spots, which is what some vessels apparently did this year, bringing the fleet one take away from hitting its loggerhead hard cap. Had the fishery not closed under the settlement agreement, it would likely have closed anyway given the rate at which it was hooking loggerheads. In most years, a vessel may catch a single turtle in a trip. This year, some vessels continued to fish in areas where they hooked eight or nine turtles.<\/p>\n

According to the HLA\u2019s Roger Dang, some vessels owners denied catching any turtles this year, despite reports to the contrary. \u201cWhen we first started getting reports saying there\u2019s a high rate of sea turtle takes, our knee jerk reaction was to call all the other [vessel] owners \u2026 asking, \u2018Are you catching any turtles?\u2019 Their answer was no,\u201d he told the council.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn any case, we said, \u2018We\u2019re in a high level of take, so please move. \u2026 Then we had another take and another take. Maybe we realized it was not as effective as we hoped it would be,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

In a draft environmental assessment for its proposed framework to manage loggerhead and leatherback fishery interactions, council staff estimated that a trip cap of five interactions would have reduced the level of loggerhead take this year by 30 percent. It would have reduced last year\u2019s loggerhead take of 21, which was the highest it had been in more than a decade, by 14 percent. In comparison, a trip cap of three would have reduced loggerhead takes by 24 percent last year and 45 percent this year.<\/p>\n

At its June meeting, members of the council\u2019s scientific and statistical committee failed to agree on what the ideal trip cap number should be. Some reportedly supported a cap as low as three; others preferred four or five. The council ultimately went with the number that was most beneficial to the fishery \u2014 five. This, despite a caution from its counsel, Kristen Johns.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur office advises the council to carefully consider the trip limit of five, \u2026 whether it\u2019s reasonably calculated to protect the species,\u201d she said noting that the fishery had historically only interacted with five turtles in a given trip 2.7 percent of the time (between 2004 and February 2018).<\/p>\n

Council member John Gourley responded that the hypothetical take reductions put forth by council staff suggest that a loggerhead trip limit of five \u201cwould work really well\u201d to reduce interactions.<\/p>\n

Having such a trip limit will allow the swordfish fishing season to continue \u201cas long as possible,\u201d said council member Mike Goto, whose company United Fishing Agency runs the Honolulu fish auction. \u201cThe last time we had a closure was 2011. It wasn\u2019t really felt that deeply because it was in the latter part of the year, but this earlier closure really saw a deep effect,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Council member Archie Soliai also said he supported the higher trip cap because he believed it would allow the fleet to develop voluntary sea turtle avoidance measures. \u201cA lower limit would hinder the fleet\u2019s ability,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The council also recommended that NMFS assist the industry in developing and implementing a three-year turtle interaction avoidance pilot program to improve data sharing and communication across the fleet, which includes about 15 vessels. At the end of the program, the council would determine whether regulatory management measures needed modifying to further mitigate the fishery\u2019s effects on sea turtles.<\/p>\n

For Further Reading<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Environment Hawaii has written extensively on the Hawai`i shallow-set longline fleet\u2019s effects on sea turtles. The following is an abbreviated list of articles. All and more are available at www.environment-hawaii.org<\/a>:<\/p>\n