Hawaii FEP - Western Pacific Fishery Council

The Western Pacific Region’s gold coral fishery is currently dormant, although research on goldcoral remains active. Recent research has called into question current assumptions about thecorrelation between linear and axial growth rates of gold coral. Based on recommendations fromfishery scientists and as a precautionary measure, at its December 21, 2006 meeting, the Counciltook final action to recommend a five-year moratorium to fish for, take, or retain any gold coralin any precious coral permit area. This moratorium includes all waters of the U.S. ExclusiveEconomic Zone of the Western Pacific Region and is currently in effect through June 30, 2013(73 FR 47098). During the moratorium, an associated research program will collect data on theage structure, growth rate, and correlations between length and age. Additional information willbe considered by the Council before lifting the moratorium.The third recent measure was the 2008 designation of the Auau Channel bed as an EstablishedBed with an annual harvest quota of 5,000 kg every 2 years (11,023.11 lbs every 2 years). Thisquota applies to black corals in both State and Federal waters, and existing gear and sizerequirements continue to apply (Table 18).4.4.4 Precious Corals Fishery MSYTo date, beds of pink, gold and/or bamboo corals have been found at various locations in EEZwaters around the Hawaii Archipealgo (see Table 18). Within the EEZ, the Makapuu EstablishedBed has experienced the greatest level of documented exploitation and scientific research, andthus is the source of much of the available information about Hawaii’s precious corals. Densityof occurrence estimates for precious corals colonies in their habitat, based on in situ observationsmade at the Makapuu Bed, reveal a fairly dense habit of growth. This bed was surveyed in the1970s, and again in 1997.In 1971, densities of commercial species were determined in an unexploited section of the bed,and the size frequency distribution of pink coral was determined (Grigg 1976). The averagedensity of pink coral in the Makapuu Bed was 0.022 colonies per square meter. Extrapolation ofthis figure to the entire bed (3.6 million m 2 ) results in a standing crop of 79,200 colonies. The 95percent confidence limits of the standing crop are 47,200 to 111,700 colonies. Conversion ofstanding crop colonies to biomass produced an estimate of 43,500 kg for C. secundum in theMakapuu Bed.The estimates of density for gold coral (Gerardia spp.) and bamboo coral (Lepidisis olapa) in theMakapuu Bed were 0.003 colonies/m 2 and 0.01 colonies/m 2 respectively. However, thedistributional patterns of both of these species were found to be very patchy, much more so thanC. secundum, and the area where they occurred was only about half that for pink coral, or 1.8million m 2 . The corresponding estimates of unfished abundance for gold and bamboo coloniesare 5,400 and 18,000 colonies respectively. Data for the mean weight of colonies in thepopulations of gold and bamboo coral in the Makapuu Bed are lacking, but rough estimates were2.2 kg for gold coral and 0.6 kg for bamboo coral. Multiplying mean weights by densities leadsto rough estimates of standing crop of about 11,800 kg for Gerardia spp. and 10,800 forLepidisis spp. A 1997 resurvey which used a newer technology enabling deeper dives, found theMakapuu bed to be about 15 percent larger than previously estimated (Grigg 2002).117