Hawaii FEP - Western Pacific Fishery Council

The institutional structure for ecosystem approaches to management under this FEP does notintroduce any new regulatory changes to fishery operations; therefore no short-term impacts areanticipated for fishery participants or communities in the Hawaii Archipelago. However, ifsuccessful, the long-term impact of transforming to ecosystem management is anticipated to behighly beneficial, as it will result in the integration of scientific information and human needs ina manner that increases the involvement of local communities in the management andconservation of marine resources. Given that many of the fisheries in the Hawaii Archipelagooccur in remote areas, are almost exclusively prosecuted by local residents, and are subject tolow enforcement levels, community involvement is crucial to successful fishery management.Not only are communities essential to voluntary compliance, local residents possess the majorityof detailed place-based information regarding these resources and their interactions. Incombination with the larger scale information held by government agencies, their knowledgeprovides the foundation for informed ecosystem management. The explicit recognition andincreased inclusion of this local expertise in the management and conservation of marineresources could also stimulate and encourage communities to reclaim or continue their traditionalproprietary roles, and strengthen their identities in a complex and changing world.For detailed information on the economic and social impacts of the Hawaii Archipelago FEP seethe Council’s Draft Programmatic EIS on the Fishery Ecosystem Plans available from theCouncil by mail or online at www.wpcouncil.org.8.2.7 Overfishing CriteriaChapter 4 provides the stock status of each fishery managed under this FEP. Chapter 5 providesthe overfishing criteria used to evaluate the status of management unit species in the HawaiiArchipelago.8.2.8 Bycatch ReportingFor general information on bycatch issues in Hawaii Archipelago demersal fisheries refer toChapter 4. For information on measures to reduce bycatch, see Chapter 5. Bycatch reporting isaccomplished via the State and Federal reporting requirements described in Chapters 4 and 5.Bycatch data sources for the region’s bottomfish fisheries are listed in Table 38 below. Indicatedfor each program or survey instrument is the main agency responsible for implementing the datacollection program. Additional agencies may be involved in collecting, managing, interpreting,and disseminating the data, as described above. Not included in the table are fishery-independentsources of bycatch data and sources of fisheries data that do not generally provide information onbycatch, such as programs that monitor fish sales. The bycatch-related forms used in each ofthese data collection programs are included in Appendix 1 of Amendment 6 to the BottomfishFMP, Amendment 10 to the Crustaceans FMP and Amendment 4 to the Precious Corals FMP.Ensuring compliance with reporting requirements is difficult as data collection for these fisheriesis conducted via non-Federal programs over which the Council and NMFS have limitedauthority.223