{"id":14167,"date":"2022-01-01T21:18:36","date_gmt":"2022-01-01T21:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.environment-hawaii.org\/?p=14167"},"modified":"2022-01-03T05:13:49","modified_gmt":"2022-01-03T05:13:49","slug":"wespac-advances-albatross-measure-balks-at-gear-change-for-false-killer-whales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/?p=14167","title":{"rendered":"Wespac Advances Albatross Measure, Balks at Gear Change for False Killer Whales"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The 189th meeting of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council convened last month, amid a spate of unfavorable publicity, much of which dealt with the council\u2019s lack of transparency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the day before the full council meeting, the council\u2019s Executive and Budget Committee had a publicly noticed meeting, held virtually. But, as if to thumb their collective noses at the critics, committee members\u2019 exchanges were muted during the quarter of an hour that the public was able to tune in. Instead, the public was treated to a pantomime of sorts. Kitty Simonds, the council\u2019s executive director, could be seen speaking on her cell phone or texting from her place at the head of the conference table in the council headquarters in Honolulu. John Gourley, council member checking in from the Commonwealth of the North- ern Mariana Islands, could also be seen on his phone. On occasion, Simonds, phone in hand, got up from the conference table and walked out of view, leaving two or three council staff still seated at the table. A few times, the video for Gourley and Simonds was turned off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 3:10, a square popped up indicating that someone from American Samoa had logged into the meeting. For a few minutes, video of the council office in Honolulu came on and went off again, as did that for CNMI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, at 3:15, members of the public were excluded from the WebEx link altogether, having never heard so much as a peep from council staff or any council member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was not the first time the public was kicked out of this committee\u2019s meeting. It was, however, the first time that not a single word was uttered while the public was still able to listen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nor was it the case that nothing was discussed. Much later in the full meeting, shortly before adjourning on the third day, the council voted to endorse the financial and administrative reports that the Budget and Executive Standing Committee had apparently considered. Simonds stated in advance of the vote that council members had had more than a week to look at the reports, then asked if anyone had questions about them. No one did \u2013 or at least no one raised any at that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The records provided to the public by means of links to council agenda items did not include any financial or administrative report. In this way, it was entirely in keeping with past council meetings, where financial information is never disclosed publicly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the council\u2019s website, the agenda for the standing committee meeting included, as item 8, the opportunity for \u201cpublic comment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the course of the regular meeting, the full council approved a long-anticipated recommendation that the National Marine Fisheries Service revise its rule intended to deter seabirds \u2013 particularly black-footed albatrosses \u2013 from attempting to take bait from hooks as they are deployed by longline vessels fishing for bigeye tuna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The existing rule requires bait to be dyed blue (making it less visible to birds), which can be messy and expensive, and also that crew discard offal from fish already caught while lines are being set. The council approved a recommendation that NMFS instead require the use of a tori line \u2013 a rope suspended from a pole at the vessel\u2019s stern that extends above water three times the vessel\u2019s length, and from which are hung short streamers. During a three-year trial period where selected fishing trips deployed the tori pole, albatross were found to be four times less likely to make contact with baited hooks than when blue-dyed bait and strategic offal discharge were used and were 14 times less likely to actually be hooked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a news release from the council praising this action, Simonds was quoted as saying, \u201cThis action is an example representing the council\u2019s long history of proactive and adaptive conservation measures to address fishery impacts to protected species.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

False Killer Whales<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of those protected species is the false killer whale. As with all marine mammals, it enjoys protection under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act. But the small population of false killer whales that sticks close to the Main Hawaiian Islands has been listed as endangered and is protected also under the Endangered Species Act by a no-longline-fishing zone around the Main Hawaiian Islands. Another population, the pelagic stock, whose range lies further offshore, is protected under a Take Reduction Plan established under the MMPA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under that plan, the deep-set longline\u00a0fleet is to be excluded from a large swath\u00a0of water south of the Main Hawaiian Islands \u2013 the so-called Southern Exclusion Zone, which covers about 17 percent of\u00a0all available fishing grounds for longlin- ers within the U.S. Economic Exclusion\u00a0Zone \u2013 if the fleet is found to have killed\u00a0or seriously injured four false killer whales between the closed zone and the EEZ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2021, the number of interactions between the deep-set longline fleet and false killer whales approached a record high, with most of the interactions occurring outside the EEZ. On November 19, however, at 3:14 in the morning, an observer aboard a deep-set longliner fishing just inside the EEZ almost due west of Honolulu recorded the hooking of a false killer whale. The animal had been hooked in the mouth. According to the observer\u2019s record, \u201cthe crew stopped the vessel and pulled the whale alongside the vessel. At the observer\u2019s encouragement, the crew got the captain. The captain directed that the branchline be secured to a floatline and tied off to the vessel. He then used the vessel to apply tension to the line. The line broke at the swivel before the hook straightened. The interaction lasted 15 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Protected Species Division of NMFS\u2019 Pacific Islands Regional Office immediately began a fast-track review of the incident, since, if determined to have resulted in a mortality or serious injury (M\/SI), it would be the fourth for the year and trigger closure of the Southern Exclusion Zone. Expedited reviews are to take no more than 25 days. By press time, no determination had been made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The captain in this case seems to have followed the protocol advised by the False Killer Whale Take Reduction Team (TRT) \u2013 pull the line tight and hope the hook straightens as the animal struggles to free itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hook in this case had a wire diameter of 4.5 mm. Many members of the TRT have pushed for years to require the use of weaker hooks, which would straighten with less pull. The idea is that, if the hook is the weakest part of the gear, large bycaught species could free themselves by straining against the line and unbending the hook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than a decade ago, a study undertaken by a researcher at NMFS\u2019 Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center looked at the catches of vessels outfitted with both 4.5 mm hooks and 4.0 mm hooks. No significant catch differences for bigeye tuna were observed. However, since the fishing trips that were part of the study were not made at a time of year when the largest bigeye tuna are typically caught, the results were regarded skeptically by the longline fishing community. Today the standard hook size remains 4.5 mm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, another study was conducted to determine catch differences between sets using the 4.5 mm hook and those using a smaller one, with a diameter of 4.2 mm. Overall, bigeye tuna caught with the strong hooks were heavier by almost 7 pounds than those caught on weak hooks. And a heavier fish usually also means a more valuable one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final report on this study was issued in late November, just days before the Wespac meeting. Looking at the value of all fish collected and sold at the Honolulu fish auction, the mean difference between strong and weak hooks in sales price-per-pound was just 1.18 percent, with fish caught with the weak hooks being greater in overall value. For bigeye tuna, fish caught with weak hooks brought 1 percent less per pound than those caught with strong hooks, with the difference in overall sale price between bigeyes caught with weak versus strong hooks just over 9 percent in favor of the strong-hooked fish. \u201cThe total ex-vessel gross revenue for all species sold at auction that were caught on strong hooks was only $604.15 greater than the total gross revenue for all species sold at auction that were caught on weak hooks,\u201d the study noted. These differences, the study concluded, \u201cwere within TRT\u2019s threshold of revenue loss\u201d of a less than 10 percent reduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ryan Steen, an attorney for the Hawai\u2018i Longline Association and also a member of the False Killer Whale Take Reduction Team, disputed the suggestion that anything less than a 10 percent reduction in revenue loss was acceptable to his clients. \u201cThe suggestion that the TRT had agreed upon a 10 percent threshold … is not exactly correct. There was never any agreement on what threshold of impact is acceptable. The only thing that was discussed at the TRT meeting is the number of sets performed and the statistical power available to detect a change. Based on the number of sets conducted, it was only possible to detect a statistically significant difference of 10 percent. We had hoped for 5 percent, but this was only what the study was capable of. There\u2019s no acceptable percentage change for switching to a weaker hook. … From a fisheries perspective, the switch to weak hook is not the way to go. We will be advocating for the TRT to take a different direction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The council then approved a motion to direct its staff \u201cto develop the council position on the implications of the hook study,\u201d with input from a special Working Group set up by the council\u2019s Scientific and Statistical Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bigeye Quotas<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For years, the Hawai\u2018i-based longliners have chafed at the bigeye tuna quotas imposed on them by the Western and Central Pacific Fishery Commission (WCPFC), the international organization that, by treaty, regulates fishing throughout most of the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That quota has been stuck at around 3,500 tons for years. To get around it, the Hawai\u2018i Longline Association has been allowed by the federal government to purchase a portion of the bigeye catch allocated to the three U.S.-flagged Pacific territories \u2013 Guam, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa. That has resulted in the longline fleet being able to continue fishing through the end of each calendar year and has added around 2,000 more tons of bigeye to be landed in Honolulu annually than otherwise would have occurred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. delegation to WCPFC has presented information at the organization\u2019s meetings year after year that it says shows the bigeye stocks in the fishing grounds usually plied by the Hawaii longliners are healthier than in other regions of the Pacific. A higher percentage of longline trips are monitored by observers than in the fleets of other countries. In the words of Kitty Simonds, the Hawai\u2018i longline fishery \u201cis the gold standard of the commission.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite it all, at the WCPFC meeting that concluded last month, the commission rejected the U.S. plea to increase the U.S. longline quota for bigeye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simonds did not hold back in her disparagement of the WCPFC:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe support the world,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have a hard time supporting our little, manini requests. We need a new U.S. strategy in the WCPFC. 2021 was to be the year of the Hawai\u2018i longliner, but it ended up another victory lap for Japan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All this, she continued, \u201csignals the need for a new high-level strategy in the Pacific \u2013 a completely new strategy for the U.S. government to tie into our geo-political interests in the Pacific. A high- level campaign, with much more engagement with [the Departments of] State and Commerce.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the 2021 meeting, she said, Wespac staff helped the U.S. delegation craft a proposal to increase the U.S. quota, \u201cbased on scientific evidence that the U.S. industry could increase catch with- out risking\u201d the health of bigeye stocks. Despite that, the WCPFC members \u201cinsisted on the status quo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The commission, she said, \u201cis rooted in hypocrisy and inconsistency. … It\u2019s all about politics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eric Kingma, executive director of the Hawai\u2018i Longline Association, expressed his group\u2019s frustrations with the WCP- FC. \u201cWe have been aggrieved, injured by the WCPFC. We have a quota that has never matched fleet capacity or local demand,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. government needs its com- missioners to be more involved in the negotiations, he said, adding, \u201cIt feels like you\u2019re at the championship game but those who have most at stake are left in the locker room and are not part of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Signing Off<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The meeting ended, hours behind schedule, just as it had begun: with a prayer delivered by chair Archie Soliai, thanking his heavenly father for \u201cyour greatest gift, Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that, he announced he was opening a new bottle of scotch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simonds saw him and raised the pot: \u201cWe\u2019re celebrating with bluefin tuna sashimi from the industry,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But neither Simonds, at the council office, nor Soliai, in his government office in American Samoa, outdid the send-off the previous week for Kurt Schaefer, a member of the council\u2019s Scientific and Statistical Committee whose term on the committee was at an end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following an elaborate power-point presentation by staff, complete with inside jokes and many references to margaritas, a grinning Schaefer was shown seated at a kapa-covered table in council offices, behind a line-up of a dozen bottles of hard liquor and wine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNotice all the bottles at the front,\u201d Simonds instructed the group, drawing special attention to the labels on two bottles of wine, featuring \u201cwomen practically naked on old cars.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Patricia Tummons<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 189th meeting of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council convened last month, amid a spate of unfavorable publicity, much of which dealt with the council’s lack of transparency. On the day before the full council meeting, the council’s Executive and … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,8,492],"tags":[7],"class_list":["post-14167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-endangered-species","category-fisheries","category-january-2022","tag-patricia-tummons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14167","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=14167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}