Hawai'i Fisheries Initiative - The Hawaii Institute for Public Affairs

Pacific Pelagics: History and Status of
Hawai‘i’s Longline Fisheries
Longlining for Tuna
and Swordfish
Tuna and swordfish have remained
Hawai‘i’s top-yielding fisheries for
decades, as demonstrated by the results
of a 2000 study.
n Total ex-vessel (wholesale) value for
tuna and swordfish longline fisheries:
$50 million ($3 million over 1999)
n Per boat averages
n Swordfish vessel gross
revenue: $490,301
n Large swordfish vessels
generated the highest gross
revenue: $526,277
n Swordfish vessels’ net
return: $27,484
n Tuna vessel gross revenue: $495,456
n Tuna vessels’ net return: $55,058 264
Hawai‘i’s pelagic fishery – which predominantly
targets tuna – is the most economically
important sector of the fishing
industry, generating the greatest quantity
of catch and the resulting income. Longline
fishing yields more than two-thirds of the
pelagic fish harvest. 265 However, due to the
highly migratory nature of pelagic fish, the
fishery also has significant international
management issues. The Hawai‘i pelagic
longline fleet comprises 3 percent of the
total pelagic longline vessels that operate
in the central and western Pacific Ocean,
and the Hawai‘i fleet is 5 percent of total
effort, in terms of numbers of hooks set.
The Hawai‘i longline fleet operates within
and outside the EEZ. Unlike most of the
U.S. Mainland’s coastal zones, the Hawaiian
Islands drop off fairly sharply and there is
little coastal shelf, which is a prime reason
pelagic fish make up the vast majority
of commercial fisheries production. 266
The Pelagics Fishery Management Plan,
developed by Wespac and approved by
NOAA in 1987, initially regulated the
efforts of foreign fishing in the U.S. EEZ
via a permitting system, prohibited driftnet
fishing, and established catch reporting and
observer requirements. 267
In the 1980s, commercial fishing for
skipjack (aku), yellowfin, and albacore
dominated in terms of weight landed.
Tuna purse seine fleets unloaded about
20 million pounds of fish caught in the
western Pacific at the Hawaiian Tuna
Packers cannery in 1984. 268 Hawai‘i had
its sights on being a tuna processing and
transshipment capital, and in 1985, as many
as 75 albacore trollers plied the waters
in the North Pacific Fishery. But, due to
logistics, the 1984 closure of the Honolulu
cannery, and fluctuations in the world tuna
market, this dream collapsed.
Also in the 1980s, the restaurant market in
Honolulu began to expand significantly,
providing increased local sales opportunities
and better market prices. In addition,
feeding off the increased awareness
generated by the Hawaiian tourism market,
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