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

Troll and Handline
Pelagic Fisheries
n The handline fleet targets yellowfin and
bigeye tuna.
n Trollers, including charter boats, target tuna and
other pelagics such as mahimahi, ono, and billfish.
n Combined annual revenues average $9 million.
n In 2004, trolling yielded 3.1 million pounds
(14 percent of the year’s total harvest)
n Tuna handlining yielded 1.9 million pounds
(8 percent)
n Aku pole-and-line fishery brought in
578,171 pounds in 2004, or 3 percent of
the total catch. 299
History and Status of the
Bottomfish Fishery
Bottomfish are found on the deep outer
reef slopes, banks, and seamounts of the
Hawaiian Archipelago. The stock complex
includes 19 species, with the “deep seven” –
opakapaka (pink snapper), onaga (long tail
red snapper), ehu (short tail red snapper),
hapu‘upu‘u (Hawaiian grouper), kalekale
(Von Siebold’s snapper), gindai, and lehi
(ironjaw snapper) 300 – receiving the most
attention. Handlining, with hydraulic or
electric powered gear, is the preferred
fishing method. 301 In 2004, the total
bottomfish harvest was 612,392 pounds.
Recently, several important issues relating
to bottomfishing and the health of the MHI
stock complex have come to a head.
Bottomfish provide a “lucrative market
niche,” according to Wespac. Demand for
bottomfish is particularly high during Asian
holidays, as the brightly colored fish are
harbingers of good fortune. Foreign imports
of bottomfish fill one-third of the bottomfish
market in Hawai‘i. 302 In 2000, 590,000 pounds
of bottomfish were landed commercially in
the MHI, and 270,000 in the NWHI, with
the total catch bringing in $2.55 million.
DAR offers that once revenues from
fish sales to retailers, restaurants, hotels,
and consumers, plus revenues from the
fishing fleet (fuel, ice, supplies, etc.), the
value of the bottomfish fishery, as with all
commercial fishing activity, is significantly
higher than its ex-vessel value. 303
Wespac manages the stock via its Bottomfish
and Seamount Groundfish FMP, which was
established in 1986. Historically, the council
focused its attention on the NWHI, leaving
bottomfish management in the MHI to the
state because it was thought that 80 percent
of MHI bottomfish habitat was in state
waters (the 0-3 nm zone). However, recent
mapping efforts show bottomfish habitat as
being fairly evenly divided between state
and federal waters in the MHI. 304
MHI bottomfish catch rate records show
steady declines since the early 1950s,
dropping steeply in the last decade or
so. 305 In 1988, NMFS scientists reported that
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