{"id":9503,"date":"2017-02-16T23:13:21","date_gmt":"2017-02-16T23:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.environment-hawaii.org\/?p=9503"},"modified":"2017-03-01T00:13:25","modified_gmt":"2017-03-01T00:13:25","slug":"new-eis-to-be-prepared-for-longline-fishery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/?p=9503","title":{"rendered":"New EIS To Be Prepared for Longline Fishery"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DSCF2193\"<\/a>
\nThe National Marine Fisheries Service has announced its intention to prepare an environmental impact statement for the Hawai`i- and American Samoa-based deep-set longline tuna fishery and will be holding a series of public scoping meetings around the islands beginning February 21.<\/p>\n

Michael Tosatto, administrator of NMFS\u2019 Pacific Islands Regional Office, told Environment Hawai`i<\/em> that there was no \u201ctrigger\u201d or \u201cnew\u201d federal action that prompted the decision to develop a new EIS. \u201cRather, I felt it appropriate to conduct a thorough analysis of the potential environmental impacts of the continued authorization of the deep-set longline fisheries,\u201d he said. \u201cWe last completed a PEIS [programmatic environmental impact statement] on the deep-set fisheries in 2009 \u2026 and since then we have completed separate NEPA analyses (EAs) on the potential impacts of several [Fishery Ecosystem Plan] amendments and additional regulatory changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Federal Register<\/em> notice, published February 13, notes that participation in the Hawai`i longline fisheries is limited to 164 vessels, of which about 140 are active. All but a handful of the vessels in the Hawai`i fishery are based in Honolulu, although about 10 operate from ports on the U.S. west coast. About 20 of the Hawai`i-permitted vessels also engage in the shallow-set fishery that targets swordfish. In 2014, the notice states, there were 1,350 deep-set trips and just 81 shallow-set trips.<\/p>\n

The stated purpose of the programmatic EIS is \u201cto maintain viable domestic deep-set tuna longline fisheries, while ensuring the long-term sustainability of fishery resources and the conservation of protected species and their habitats.\u201d<\/p>\n

Management provisions identified in the Federal Register<\/em> notice include: limited entry\/access programs; vessel size limits; mandatory permits and reporting of catch and effort; areas where fishing is prohibited; on-board observer monitoring; satellite-based monitoring; catch limits and prohibitions on the catch of some species; gear requirements; and methods for release of bycatch.<\/p>\n

Public scoping meetings in Hawai`i will be held in Hilo and Honolulu, starting at 6 p.m.<\/p>\n

Hilo: Tuesday, February 21, University of Hawai`i, Edith Kanakaole Hall, room 122;<\/p>\n

Honolulu: Thursday, February 23, Nu`uanu Elementary School Cafeteria, 3055 Puiwa Lane.<\/p>\n

Comments are being received by NMFS through April 14 and may be submitted in any one of the following manners. If commenting, be sure to refer to NMFS action: NOAA-NMFS-2017-0010.<\/p>\n

Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to http:\/\/www.regulations.gov\/ docket?D=NOAA-NMFS-2017-0010, click the \u2018\u2018Comment Now!\u2019\u2019 icon, complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments.<\/p>\n

Mail: Send written comments to Michael D. Tosatto, Regional Administrator, NMFS Pacific Islands Region (PIR), 1845 Wasp Blvd., Bldg. 176, Honolulu, HI 96818.<\/p>\n

Scoping Meeting: Submit written comments at a scoping meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The National Marine Fisheries Service has announced its intention to prepare an environmental impact statement for the Hawai`i- and American Samoa-based deep-set longline tuna fishery and will be holding a series of public scoping meetings around the islands beginning February … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":220,"featured_media":9504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[351],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eh-xtra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9503","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\/220"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}