Report Title:

Longline Fishing; Turtles

THE SENATE

S.C.R. NO.

136

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

S.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

requesting the establishment of an experimental sword fishery to adopt alternative turtle mitigation measures and AVOID ADVERSE ECONOMIC IMPACT.

 

WHEREAS, in August 2000, U.S. District Judge David Ezra ordered the Hawaii longline fishery to be shut down from March 15 to May 31, 2001, unless the National Marine Fisheries Service completes an environmental impact statement (EIS) and Judge Ezra lifts the order; and

WHEREAS, a draft EIS, scheduled to be finalized on April 1, 2001, has proposed the permanent closure of the swordfish fishery and a two month annual closure of the entire Hawaii longline fleet; and

WHEREAS, on March 9, 2001, the National Marine Fisheries Service released a draft biological opinion required under the EIS that would significantly reduce domestic fisheries in the U.S. Pacific islands as a measure to protect sea turtles; and

WHEREAS, the draft biological opinion would ban the use of shallow-set longline gear used to catch swordfish and tuna in the U.S. Pacific islands, close off 1.9 million square miles of fishing grounds to all U.S. Pacific island longline vessels for five months annually, and allow Hawaii longline vessels targeting tuna to operate in year-round waters north of Hawaii where populations of endangered leatherback turtles are more concentrated; and

WHEREAS, the draft biological opinion would eliminate the only sources of information scientists have on the interaction of sea turtles with shallow-set longline gear in the central Pacific, and close the only fishery that reports all protected species interactions and mortalities on the high seas and makes it public; and

WHEREAS, shallow-set gear accounts for about 40% of the $50 million of fish landed annually by the Hawaii longline fleet, and the closed area accounts for 21% of the bigeye tuna and 35% of the yellowfin tuna (about 2.7 million pounds of tuna collectively) caught annually by Hawaii longline vessels using deep sets; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii longline vessels could try to make up the difference by fishing in non-traditional fishing grounds, but the lower catch-per-unit-effort would require more hooks and increase the opportunities for turtle hookups and entanglements; and

WHEREAS, the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council has recommended that an experimental swordfish fishery should be provided for in the draft biological opinion in order to develop new methods and gears that would minimize interactions with marine turtles; and

WHEREAS, scientists, fishermen, U.S. gear manufacturers, and fishery managers have expressed interest in such a fishery, as the mitigation methods developed could then be made available to foreign fisheries which are less regulated and have higher turtle interactions; and

WHEREAS, while 115 Hawaii longline vessels operating under limited entry permits would be banned for half of the year from 1.9 million square miles of the Pacific Ocean where tuna aggregation is high and turtle migration is low, more than 4,000 foreign longline vessels and hundreds of domestic and foreign purse seiners could continue fishing in the closed area; and

WHEREAS, demand for fish will not decrease during the closure of the Hawaii fleet but will be supplied by these and other foreign fleets, which are expected to have higher turtle take rates than the Hawaii fleet; and

WHEREAS, this federal action contradicts the intent of the Endangered Species Act by reducing rather than improving the survivability and recovery of sea turtle populations; and

WHEREAS, closure of the Hawaii longline fishery and fleet would damage the Hawaiian fishing, restaurant, and grocery industries; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-First Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2001, the House of Representatives concurring, that the National Marine Fisheries Service is respectfully requested to establish an experimental swordfish fishery to adopt alternative turtle mitigation measures proposed by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council that would allow the swordfish and tuna fisheries to remain operational year-round with incidental turtle hookups and entanglements incrementally reduced by 75% over a three-to-five year period, allowing Hawaii fishermen an opportunity to devise turtle-friendly fishing gear and methods during the period; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Judge David Ezra, the Hawaii Congressional Delegation, the Chairperson of Board of Land and Natural Resources, Director of the National Marine Fisheries Service, and Executive Director of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council.