While most of the legal attention on the problem of turtle bycatch in the Hawai`i longline fleet has focused on the take of turtles by boats targeting swordfish, the number of turtles taken by vessels targeting tuna saw a dramatic rise in 2004.
That year, the tuna longline fishery exceeded the limits set by the National Marine Fisheries Service, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, on the take of endangered turtles, prompting the agency to reinitiate consultation on the impacts of the fishery on protected species, as required by the federal Endangered Species Act. In October, NMFS released its biological opinion, concluding that no additional conservation measures needed to be imposed on the tuna fishery. It only suggested that the agency “continue to develop and test circle hooks suitable for use in deep-set [tuna] longline gear.”
That conclusion was at once criticized by the Sea Turtle Restoration Project, a San Francisco-based group that in the past successfully sued to force NMFS to impose conservation measures to protect turtles caught by longliners. The agency “has already studied circle hooks in longline fishing for both swordfish and tuna for more than three years,” said Robert Ovetz, Save the Leatherback campaign coordinator with the group.
“This exemption has been deadly for sea turtles,” the group stated in a press release. “NOAA refused to require circle hooks for the tuna fishery and the turtles have suffered. If these hooks work so well that NOAA could re-open the fishery, and that’s a big if, why aren’t they being required for tuna longlining?” Ovetz asked.
Bill Robinson, administrator of NOAA’s Pacific Islands Regional Office, told Environment Hawai`i that there simply has not been enough research done on the use of circle hooks in the deep-set longline fishery to know if their use would help reduce the impacts or occurrence of turtle bycatch. “There is a really significant difference between turtle bycatch rate in the two fisheries,” he said. “Turtles are fairly common as bycatch in swordfish fishery, so circle hooks and squid baits and other measures are proving to be pretty effective. But the incidental catch of turtles in the tuna longline fishery is still what I’d call a rare event…
“That doesn’t mean it [the use of circle hooks] shouldn’t be looked at. And we are doing that. Although we didn’t require circle hooks in the deep-set fishery, we have been working with the [Western Pacific] Fishery Management Council and the Hawai`i Longline Association, and I believe we have 15 vessels right now in the deep-set fishery that are testing circle hooks, with observers on each and every one of those vessels. So we are testing circle hooks in the deep-set fishery.”
“The problem is,” he continued, “that the occurrence of turtle hookings is so rare that testing will tell us very little, but it will tell us whether the circle hooks are as effective as J-hooks when it comes to catching tunas. And it looks like there isn’t much of a difference.”
In 2004, nearly 32 million hooks were set by the Hawai`i fleet, and the number of turtles taken still numbered in the dozens. For 2005, the number of hooks is anticipated to rise 10 percent, to nearly 35 million, and, Robinson said, the number of turtles taken by longliners is even smaller. “This year in the deep-set fishery, with just six weeks left to go in the year, only two olive ridleys and one leatherback were observed to be taken, with 20 to 25 percent observer coverage” of the deep-set fleet, Robinson said. “Expand that to the entire deep-set fishery, and we estimate the turtle take to be eight olive ridleys and four leatherbacks.
“So it’s still a really, really rare event, with months and months between incidents.”
The argument carries little weight with Ovetz. “According to NOAA, the circle hooks work equally as well for both swordfish and tuna longlining, yet they are not be required on tuna vessels… This points to the tuna longliners using their political connections to get the Bush administration to once again ignore the scientific evidence and let the tuna fishers off the hook.”
Noting that the biological opinion urges international measures be adopted to protect turtles from the effects of fishing, Ovetz said, “How is the rest of the world going to take the U.S. seriously when it completely exempts tuna longliners?”
Climbing Numbers
From 2003 to 2004, the number of leatherbacks caught up in the longlines set by the Hawai`i fleet nearly tripled – rising to 15 from four. Still, this was below the maximum number of leatherbacks (18) allowed to be taken under the incidental take permit issued by NMFS. The number of leatherbacks that NMFS believes to have died as a result of the hooking is five. The leatherbacks are globally endangered, with a high risk of extinction.
In the same period, the number of olive ridley sea turtles hooked by the deep-set longlines rose to 46 from 14, exceeding the limit – 37 – set in the incidental take permit. NMFS estimates that 96 percent of the olive ridleys hooked in the fishery are killed. Olive ridleys are the most abundant turtle in the ocean. Still, they are listed as threatened, with the Mexican population – which interacts with the Hawai`i fleet – listed as endangered.
Between 1994 and 1999, hundreds of leatherbacks and loggerhead sea turtles were caught in the swordfish fishery. The turtle bycatch rates for the shallow-set swordfish fishery were far higher than those for the deep-set (120 fathoms or more) tuna fishery. After litigation, which shut down the swordfish fishery until 2004, it was reopened under strict regulations limiting effort and requiring the use of circle hooks, 100 percent observer coverage, and other requirements. Since then, numbers of turtles caught by the swordfish fishery has decreased dramatically. As of mid-November, says Robinson, “we’ve seen 10 loggerheads and eight leatherbacks taken in the shallow-set fishery.”
What caused the dramatic jump in deep-set bycatch for 2004? “That’s an interesting question, one we’re all looking at,” says Robinson. “It may be that chlorophyll events or other events may cause turtles to congregate in a certain area. But statistically, there isn’t that much difference, since the bycatch events are still fairly rare. For example, 2005 looks a lot like 2003. 2004 sticks out.”
Could the increase be attributed to the rising number of hooks set in the deep-set fishery? “We’re not seeing increase in hookings proportionate to the increase in hooks set,” Robinson said. “Still, the increase in number of hooks set is of some concern and is something both we and the fishery management council are starting to look at – not only from the standpoint of bycatch of protected species, but also because both bigeye tuna and yellowfin tuna are undergoing overfishing, and we’re going to be joining other countries of the world in looking for some type of cap on overall effort, or even rolling back effort to an earlier time to reduce fishing on tuna for their sustainability. The fact that the number of hooks has increased, even though the number of vessels hasn’t, is of some concern.”
Robinson said the longline vessels could set more hooks per set because the spacing between hooks has been reduced. “It will be interesting to see if the number of hooks in the deep-set fishery will go down because of the swordfish fishery starting up again. We will be looking at that very carefully.”
As an aside, Robinson noted that even though the swordfish fishery had been operating under the new rules for barely a year, already the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council had been pressed to increase the fishing effort allowed for swordfish (regulated by certificates issued for each set of longlines made). The proposal was made at the council’s meeting last month in Guam. “But the council decided it was premature to expand the swordfish fishery – and I have to agree. It is way too premature.”
— Patricia Tummons
Volume 16, Number 6 December 2005
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