Council Limits Permits, Requires Satellite Monitoring of Longline Fleet

posted in: October 1995 | 0

The Pelagics Fishery Management Plan, adopted and implemented by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, regulates the taking of such fish as tunas, swordfish, mahimahi, moonfish, and sharks. About 80 percent of the total catch of these pelagic species in Hawai`i are taken by fishermen using longline gear.

Owners of longline vessels wanting to fish in U.S. waters must be in possession of a permit issued by the council. The council has issued 163 permits, with another permit being awarded by administrative action of the National Marine Fisheries Service Southwest Region. Of those, about 125 permits were in active use in 1994.

In 1991, following spectacular growth in the longline fleet in Hawai`i, the council became concerned that the fleet would soon be overcapitalized (that is, the amount of investment made by the fishermen is too great to be paid off by income from the sale of fish). A three-year moratorium on new longline permits was in place from 1991 to 1993. In 1994, the moratorium was made permanent although existing permits are allowed to be transferred.

That same year, another rule took effect to require all vessels in the longline fleet to participate in a vessel satellite monitoring system (VMS). The system allows the U.S. Coast Guard, responsible for enforcing fishery management rules, to know the location at any moment of any vessel in the fleet. Boats that are setting or hauling in lines trace distinctive patterns and move at slower speeds than boats not actively fishing. By tracing the course and speed of a given vessel, then, Coast Guard enforcement officers can know — without ever setting on board a boat — whether it is fishing in prohibited waters, including a stand-off zone of about 50 miles surrounding the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, established to protect seabirds and monk seals. As of August, most of the vessels had been equipped with VMS transmitters.

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So, What’s Longlining?

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council has recently published three brochures on pelagic fisheries in the Pacific: “Pelagic Fishing Methods in the Pacific,” “Important Pelagic Fishes of the Pacific,” and “Hawai`i Seafood Market for Pelagic Fish.” The first of these offers a good description of longline fishing methods. Here is an excerpt:

“Modern tuna longlining evolved from techniques developed in Japan several hundred years ago as a relatively simple method to harvest large yellowfin tuna and albacore. This technique is preferred for harvesting large tunas for sashimi markets, and swordfish. Longline gear consists of a mainline that is set horizontally near the surface, to which branch lines (‘gangions’) are clipped at regular intervals, each with a single baited hook. One set of longline gear can consist of thousands of hooks clipped to a single mainline extending across several miles of ocean, buoyed by plastic or glass floats. Longlining allows a single vessel to distribute effort over a large area to harvest fish that are not concentrated enough to be caught by fishing methods such as purse seines. Usual longline bycatch includes dolphinfish, wahoo, barracuda, moonfish, pomfrets and sharks, nearly all of which are kept and utilized. Typically, however, only the fins of sharks are kept and dried for shark fin soup, and usually only mako and thresher shark carcasses are landed whole…

“Longlining for swordfish in the North Pacific is a relatively new fishery for the USA, and the introduction of chemical light sticks in the late 1970s revolutionized the industry. In addition to using squid or other bait (mackerel, saury, etc.) on the hooks, these lights are attached by rubber bands or line clips to the branch lines about 2 meters (6 feet) above the hook. The light sticks produce a chemical luminescence for up to 24 hours. The lights are thought to attract either the bait upon which swordfish prey, or the swordfish themselves. The light sticks are positively buoyant and of a shape and size that, if inadvertently lost from the branch line or discarded improperly, could create problems if ingested by marine mammals, seabirds, or marine turtles.

“The mainline is typically 30-100 kilometers (18-60 nautical miles) long, with 400-2,000 baited hooks set each day (with an average of 800 in the Hawaiian fishery). The branch lines are typically 11-15 meters (35-50 feet) long…

“Longline trips typically last about 14-21 days when yellowfin and bigeye tunas are targeted, and about 30-45 days when swordfish are pursued. Hawai`i longliners often sell their fresh tunas at the auction, where they are purchased by both local and export wholesalers. The swordfish catch, on the other hand, is typically sold directly to export wholesalers who ship the catch by air to the U.S. mainland, Japan, and Europe.” The brochures together provide a comprehensive picture of the pelagic fishery in Hawai`i. Copies may be obtained from the council office at 1164 Bishop Street, Suite 1405, Honolulu HI 96813.

— Patricia Tummons

Volume 6, Number 4 October 1995

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