Hawaii FEP - Western Pacific Fishery Council

The Council prepared and transmitted to NMFS in May, 2006, Amendment 14 to the BottomfishFMP, which proposed to close waters of Penguin and Middle Banks to fishing for deepwaterbottomfish in order to end overfishing.The Council originally recommended an annual summer closure from May 1 to August 31 ofeach year for the entire MHI bottomfish fishery (both commercial and recreational vessels).Targeting, possessing, landing, or selling MHI deepwater bottomfish species would be prohibitedduring the closed season. The Council could not fully implement this alternative, however,without a commitment from the State of Hawaii to adopt parallel regulations in State waters.The Council received a letter from the State’s Department of Land and Natural Resources onApril 5, 2006, stating that they would not support a corresponding seasonal closure. Therefore,the Council recommended its secondarily preferred alternative which would close Penguin andMiddle Banks, as these areas are entirely within federal waters and their closure does not requiresupport from the State of Hawaii.Before Amendment 14 was finalized and processed by NMFS, several notable events or changesoccurred which indicated a need to re-examine the prudent course of action with regards toending overfishing of bottomfish in the MHI. The most significant factors are as follows:• A phase-out of the bottomfish fishery by 2011 in the NWHI was mandated through thePresidential Monument designation. This may be significant because Hawaii’s bottomfishare assessed as a stock complex combining the MHI and the NWHI, and because larvaltransport may allow for one area to serve as a source of immigration to other areas suchthat management action in one may affect fish stocks in the other. This permanent closurewill also result in the elimination of one of the major sources of locally-caught bottomfishfor use in the local market/restaurants. After the phase-out vessel operators will have tobegin fishing in the MHI or discontinue fishing for bottomfish.• A late 2006 stock assessment by NMFS’ PIFSC concluded that the required reduction infishing mortality based on 2004 data would be 24 percent in order to end overfishing(Moffitt et al. 2006). Using a dynamic production model and assuming managementmeasures would be applied only to the MHI, this assessment concluded fishing effortwould need to be reduced from the 2004 level by 24 percent to bring archipelago-widefishing mortality down to the MFMT ratio of 1.0.The prior stock assessment which was based on 2003 data determined a 15 percentreduction in fishing effort was needed to end overfishing. Amendment 14 was designedto reduce fishing mortality by 15 percent in the MHI based on the 2003 assessment;however, to adequately end overfishing the precautionary approach calls for a 24 percentreduction.• Congress passed the newly reauthorized Magnuson-Stevens Act which contains severalnew provisions that may affect management of the bottomfish fishery. These include arequirement to move towards management incorporating total allowable catch (TAC)99