{"id":11519,"date":"2019-06-30T02:05:24","date_gmt":"2019-06-30T02:05:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/?p=11519"},"modified":"2019-12-05T23:44:57","modified_gmt":"2019-12-05T23:44:57","slug":"take-reduction-plan-goes-awry-for-insular-false-killer-whales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/?p=11519","title":{"rendered":"Take Reduction Plan Goes Awry For Insular False Killer Whales"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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False killer whale. Credit: Robin Baird<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nearly nine years ago, responding to a petition from the Center for Biological Diversity, the National Marine Fisheries Service determined that the insular population of false killer whales around the Main Hawaiian Islands constituted a distinct population segment and merited protection under the Endangered Species Act. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A take reduction plan was developed,\nwith the expectation that, within six months\nof its implementation, fewer animals from\nboth the pelagic and insular stocks would\nbe injured or killed as a result of interactions\nwith longline gear. For the insular stock,\nthe target was to hold mortality or serious\ninjury (M&SI) to 0.3 animals per year \u2013 or\nabout one animal every three years. For\nthe pelagic stock, whose range overlaps the\ninsular stock\u2019s and extends to the high seas,\nit was expected that the M&SI rate would\nbe held to less than nine animals a year.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Longer term, the measures proposed in the plan were to reduce within five years the M&SI rate of both populations to insignificant levels approaching zero. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how has that worked out?\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose goals have not been met,\u201d said\nAnn Garrett, protected resources supervisor\nat NMFS\u2019 Pacific Islands Regional Office,\nin her presentation to the federal Marine\nMammal Commission. The commission\nheld its annual meeting in Kona last May.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plan had specified certain gear\nchanges: weaker hooks that could be more\neasily straightened and stronger branch\nlines that wouldn\u2019t break off and end up\ncausing further injury to false killer whales\nincidentally caught by the longliners. Also,\ncaptains were to be notified whenever a false\nkiller whale was hooked and were to receive\ntraining in how to release them.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 2013 through 2018, Garrett said,\n\u201cthe vast majority of times, the line was cut\nor broke.\u201d On just four occasions in that\nfive-year period did the crew manage to\nstraighten a hook; one time, the hook itself\nbroke. Overall, 39 percent of interactions\nterminated when the line was cut, while\nthe line broke in 29 percent. Nearly three\nquarters of the interactions \u2013 73 percent \u2013\nresulted in mortalities or serious injuries,\nGarrett said.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How many times was an animal released free of gear? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just once.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe determined that the plan isn\u2019t\nmeeting all its goals and objectives,\u201d Gar-\nrett said, mastering the understatement.\nThe take reduction team (TRT) began\ndrafting new recommendations to amend\nthe take reduction plan, she said, noting\nthat the number of meetings the team has\nhad is \u201cunusual.\u201d Most of the teams set\nup for other endangered species may have\njust one annual meeting. The team dealing\nwith the Hawai\u2018i insular population of false\nkiller whales \u201ccontinues to have regular calls\ninstead of just an annual meeting.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brendan Cummings of the Center for Biological Diversity, the group that originally petitioned to have the insular stock listed as endangered, is also a member of the take reduction team. He told the commission that the reason the original plan didn\u2019t work was because it simply wasn\u2019t implemented. \u201cWe were to have a 4.0 (mm) hook, according to the criteria set out by the team, and NMFS proposed that as a regulation. But the final regulation proposed a 4.5 hook, which was status quo for much of the fishery,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe fact that the plan didn\u2019t work was\nmasked by the fact that new abundance\nestimates\u201d were developed, he said. But in\nfact, the actual M&SI didn\u2019t go down.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s taken a decade for people to recognize that, … and now we\u2019re at a point where we agree there\u2019s a need to move to a weaker hook. The sticking point is, what trade-offs need to happen.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eric Kingma, formerly with the Western\nPacific Fisheries Management Council\n(Wespac), is now executive director of\nthe Hawai\u2018i Longline Association, which\nrepresents owners of most of the longline\nvessels that interact with the Hawai\u2018i false\nkiller whales. He defended his members\u2019\nefforts to reduce interactions, blaming the\nfailure to adopt the weaker hook on NMFS:\n\u201cWe understand there was an initiative to\nget the necessary research done,\u201d he said.\n\u201cThe proposal wasn\u2019t done in time. NMFS\ndidn\u2019t finish that process.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As to increasing the strength of the\nbranch line, \u201cWe understand that suppli-\ners are looking into getting this available,\u201d\nhe said.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also praised the Hawai\u2018i fleet for the level of observer coverage, which is around\n20 percent on the deep-set longline vessels.\nElsewhere in the Pacific, \u201cforeign fleets …\nare subject to five percent observer coverage,\nand many fleets don\u2019t reach that at all …\nNo other fleet is even close.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asuka Ishizaki, Wespac\u2019s protected resources coordinator, said that Wespac was looking at ways to minimize depredation on the longliners\u2019 bait by the false killer whales. \u201cUntil we can address depredation,\u201d she said, \u201cwe can\u2019t address interaction issues,\u201d adding that the council has been looking at a device that might prevent this. \u201cThere are operational challenges\u201d to deploying it, however, she noted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, Ishizaki said the council had\nconcerns with the way in which a hooking\nis determined to be a mortality or serious\ninjury. \u201cMost interactions result in the\nanimal being released alive, but because of\nthe gear remaining around the head, it\u2019s\nconsidered to be a serious injury. But this\nis NMFS policy, not statute\u201d.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The council, she said, \u201cwants more\nresearch.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erin Oleson, a research ecologist with NOAA\u2019s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, addressed the issue of how mortality and serious injury is determined. \u201cWhat we draw on quite a lot is the long-term prog- nosis of bottlenose dolphins with hooks,\u201d she said. \u201cThat is still for us the best available data.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added, though, that NMFS is just\nnow beginning to re-evaluate the criteria\nfor serious injury and has set up a national\nworking group.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ann Garrett spoke to the need for\nchanges in the take reduction plan. \u201cAbout\nNovember, December of last year, the [take\nreduction] team was making considerable\nprogress. I thought we were close to con-\nsensus recommendations. Then we ended\nup with the government shutdown, which\nput things behind schedule,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following that, there were \u201cadditional\ntakes\u201d \u2013 reported hookings of false killer\nwhales earlier this year that resulted in\nNMFS closing off a large swath of the ocean\nsouth of the Hawaiian Islands to longliners,\nas called for in the take reduction plan.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat,\u201d Garrett said, \u201cchanged the tenor of\nthe discussion in the team to some degree.\u201d\nHowever, NMFS has already begun to\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

look into some of these recommendations, especially with regard to research. \u201cWe\u2019ve allocated funds for that, to take a look at new gear configuration, run trials with\nlongline vessels.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlso,\u201d she added, \u201cinternally, we\u2019re talking about handling and training, which seems like a fairly easy thing to overcome. It\u2019s not without complexity, due to language barriers …. But we\u2019re talking about revamping training to reach the crews and not just captains.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kristy Long of NOAA\u2019s Office of\nProtected Resources reported that a draft\nrecovery plan for the insular false killer\nwhale population is expected to be released\nfor public comment in late summer or\nearly fall.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plan has been a long time coming.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October 2013, Long said, NOAA\npublished a notice of its intent to prepare a\nrecovery plan. Three years later, it developed\na 23-page \u201crecovery outline.\u201d In October\n2017, it held a four-day recovery workshop.\nOnly in April of this year did it submit a\ndraft species status assessment and draft\nrecovery plan for peer review.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe hope to finish the recovery plan by\nnext summer,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As to the cost of implementing the plan, Long said, \u201cWe estimate the cost out over 50 years plus inflation [to] be between $75 and $100 million, but who knows if that\u2019s\nwhat it\u2019ll actually cost.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Closer to Home\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The longline fleet rarely interacts with the\ninsular population of false killer whales,\nsince most of the range of that population\nis closer to the Main Hawaiian Islands than\nthe longliners are allowed to fish.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not so with respect to other gear types.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robin Baird of the Cascadia Research Collective drove home this point in his presentation to the commission. Baird pioneered research into false killer whales with his extensive survey and tagging program, begun more than two decades ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Hawai\u2018i, he noted, there are more than\n3,000 commercial marine license holders,\nand the retained catch of pelagic species by\nthis sector amounts to between four million\nand five million pounds a year.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The haul from the unlicensed recreational fishers is even greater, he noted, estimated at between 11 million and 17 million pounds per year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, there are 567 licenses for bottomfish fishers in the main Hawaiian islands, 459 licenses for tuna handline fisheries, and more than 100 licenses for charter fishers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd there\u2019s no observer program in any\nof these fisheries,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet almost certainly, these fisheries interact with the insular false killer whales. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to broadening the discussions to include fisheries other than the longline vessels, Baird also expanded it to address interactions between all fisheries and other species of marine mammals, including bottlenose dolphins, pilot whales, pygmy killer whales, short-finned pilot whales, and monk seals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOf the eleven species where there is\nevidence of insular populations,\u201d Baird said,\n\u201conly five have had recognized insular stocks\ndesignated by NMFS\u201d \u2013 even though the\n\u201cevidence for others is quite conclusive.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the pygmy killer whales, he said, 43\npercent have evidence of interactions with\nfisheries. \u201cIt\u2019s baffling for us,\u201d he noted. \u201cIn\nall our encounters with pygmy killer whales,\nwe\u2019ve never seen them feeding during the\nday. They interact with gear at night.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, he said, the pygmy killer whales seen \u201crepresent individuals that have survived fishery interactions, and thus indicate the extent of depredation behavior rather than how many may be seriously injured or killed\u201d as a result of the interactions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Patricia Tummons <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nearly nine years ago, responding to a petition from the Center for Biological Diversity, the National Marine Fisheries Service determined that the insular population of false killer whales around the Main Hawaiian Islands constituted a distinct population segment and merited … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,8,455,17],"tags":[7],"class_list":["post-11519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-endangered-species","category-fisheries","category-july-2019","category-marine","tag-patricia-tummons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}