Last month, the National Marine Fisher-ies Service published a final rule limiting catches of bigeye tuna in the eastern Pacific (east of 150* West meridian). The rule, intended to address diminishing stocks of this fish in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, limits the California and Hawai’i longline fleet to a total catch of 150 metric tons of bigeye for 2004 – an amount that NMFS has determined is equal to what the longline catch was in 2001. (By comparison, in 2003, the weight of the catch by the Hawai’i fleet alone was 230 metric tons, according to Paul Dalzell, a fisheries biologist with the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council.) The rule also shuts down U.S.-based purse-seiners in the area for the same period.
But it might be folly to think that the rule will actually do anything to protect bigeye stocks from longline hooks anytime soon. According to Alvin Katekaru of NMFS’ Pacific Islands Regional Office, the rule won’t take effect until December 13. Until that date, the longline vessels can catch as many tuna as they like from wherever the fish are biting, regardless of any looming ceiling. And, with the California and Hawai’i fleets having already snagged 148 metric tons of bigeye from the regulated area as of the end of September, it seems a certainty that the longline catch will exceed 150 metric tons for 2004.
The weight of the catch is arrived at by calculating the number of bigeye caught by 150 pounds, which NMFS statisticians have estimated is the weight of an average bigeye tuna caught in the Eastern Tropical Pacific. At that rate, if the combined catch of the Hawai’i and California longline fleet in the Eastern Tropical Pacific since October 1 has been only 30 bigeye, the ceiling set by rule will have been exceeded.
Katekaru says that no matter how many bigeye are caught, NMFS cannot shut down fishing activity before December 13. And if scientists believe that on that date or at any time before the year’s end the 150-metric-ton threshold will be crossed, then under the federal regulatory system, NMFS must publish timely notice of that closure, letting all participants in the fishery have adequate warning.
Even with the earliest possible closing, the longline fleet would be inconvenienced for no more than 18 days. The effective period of the final rule ends on December 31.
Katekaru expects to see NMFS publish another rule to protect bigeye tuna in the Eastern Tropical Pacific next year. He acknowledges that this year, the process was flawed. The rule, which was developed by staff in NMFS’ Southwest Regional Office, did not take into account the impact of Honolulu longliners. (For details, see the August 2004 issue of Environment Hawai’i: “Honolulu Longline Fleet Faces Limit on Take of Bigeye Tuna in East Pacific.”) “We’ve been struggling this year,” Katekaru said. “We didn’t communicate. We have to do a better job next year. For 2005, we’ll come up with a better game plan and can project pretty well exactly at what point we’ll reach the 150-metric-ton threshold.”
One of the problems, he said, has been the logbook system used by the handful of California-based longliners. Their logbooks must be tallied and verified, he said, causing a long lag period between the time a fish is caught and the time the catch report enters NMFS’ statistical system. “We only now have September logs because of this lag,” Katekaru told Environment Hawai`i. “Next year we’ve got to do better.”
Whether or not the 2004 rule results in any reduced fishing effort on bigeye, it still marks an important development in the history of Hawai’i’s longline fleet: The rule is the first measure taken to date to limit fishing effort on diminished
fish stocks. With no expected turnaround in the bigeye population likely, Dalzell said, the council “needs to discuss allocation issues with the Pacific Council,” Wespac’s West Coast counterpart. Limits on bigeye catches elsewhere in the Pacific may be coming as well. “We’re going to be pressing for action” from the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, the newest kid on the block when it comes to international management of fish stocks. After years of preparatory work, the commission holds its inaugural meeting December 8-10 in Pohnpei, Micronesia. Says Dalzell, “Reality is coming home to bite the bigeye.”
– Patricia Tummons
Ecosystem FMP
The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council and the National Marine Fisheries Service have announced their intention to prepare and draft an environmental impact statement addressing the development of an ecosystem-based fisheries management regime in the Western Pacific.
At its meeting in October, the council endorsed the development of ecosystem-based fishery management plans. When asked by NOAA Fisheries Pacific Islands Regional Office administrator Bill Robinson whether these plans would replace the council’s existing FMPs for precious corals, crustaceans, bottomfish, and other species, the council’s Jarad Makaiau responded that the council wants to change the way it manages fisheries and eventually intends to have an ecosystem plan for each region under council management, including the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, Hawai’i, and American Samoa.
— Teresa Dawson
Volume 15, Number 6 December 2004