PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOuRTH INTERNaTIONal FISHERS FORum

that fishers became bitter, were less receptive to collaborating
with outside groups, and lost the drive to pursue voluntary
initiatives. Ironically, the efforts to close the Hawaii fleet may
have actually increased turtle and bird mortality. During a
four-year closure of the Hawaii longline swordfish fishery
due to concerns over bycatch of sea turtles, swordfish supply
to the US marketplace traditionally met by the Hawaii fleet
was replaced by imports from foreign longline fleets, which
have substantially higher ratios of sea turtle captures to unit
weight of swordfish catch and less stringent or no measures
to manage seabird bycatch. Groups that wanted to pursue
collaborative work with the Hawaii longline fleet to make
the Hawaii fleet a model fishery, and to export identified
solutions internationally, were frustrated by the misplaced
efforts to close the Hawaii fisheries.
The Hawaii Longline Association spent over US $1.6 million
and innumerable staff hours as a result of this litigation.
If this money, plus the funds spent on the litigation by the
US government and environmental groups, had instead been
used to conduct cooperative research to find effective and
commercially viable solutions in the Hawaii fleet and abroad,
this might have saved many more turtles.
As I will next describe, collaborative, industry-led research
has been equally effective at reducing seabird bycatch in the
Hawaii longline fisheries. Substantially more progress has
been made to find effective and practical solutions to seabird
bycatch than turtle bycatch in Hawaii pelagic longline gear,
without litigation as a motive, and at a cost an order of
magnitude lower than that spent on lawsuits.
The Hawaii longline swordfish and tuna fleets are each
authorized to annually take, through injury or mortality,
one federally listed endangered short-tailed albatross. If
more than one short-tailed albatross is observed to interact
with gear of the Hawaii longline tuna or swordfish fleet in
a single year, resource management agencies must consult
to determine if the fleet should be required to employ
additional seabird avoidance measures. Less than 50 Laysan
and black-footed albatrosses are now captured by the
fleet, down from thousands before the fleet was required
to employ seabird avoidance methods and restrictions on
swordfish fishing effort. The fleet has not had any observed
captures of a short-tailed albatross. Cooperative research
by the Hawaii Longline Association, fishery managers and
an environmental organization identified effective and
commercially viable solutions to seabird bycatch in our
fisheries, an approach that we aim to replicate to address
other sustainability issues. The longline association became
an active participant to address seabird bycatch problems
by instituting and participating in research and commercial
demonstrations and supporting adoption of regulations
based on best available science before restrictions, embargos
and possible closures were imposed on the fleet. This
bottom-up approach fostered a sense of industry ownership
for effective seabird mitigation methods and resulted in high
compliance with resulting rules.
Another issue that has recently received attention is the
interactions between the Hawaii longline fleet and false
killer whales. While there have been claims that this is
causing population-level effects, in reality, there is very
little understanding of the status and trends of false killer
whale populations or the consequence of interactions with
longline gear.
Collaboration by fishing industry, government and
environmental organizations has proven to be an effective
approach to reduce fisheries bycatch in Hawaii. This
cooperative approach can be accomplished with strong
and enlightened leadership and the willingness to put
differences aside to work towards a common good. While
the effectiveness of this approach is broadly recognized,
insufficient funding has been allocated for cooperative
research and commercial demonstrations to find solutions
to fisheries bycatch and other problems. In the US, this is
partially due to the government’s fear of being sued if they
propose to conduct or fund experiments in US fisheries that
result in injury to protected resources, even though these
experiments may potentially result in substantial reductions
in mortality of these species. As a result, some US fishery
research agencies have had to resort to funding experiments
in foreign longline fisheries to test technical measures to
reduce sea turtle bycatch.
A recent evaluation of the Hawaii longline fishery using
FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries criteria to
measure the effectiveness of management policies under
which the fishery is regulated resulted in a favorable ranking
of 92% out of a possible 100% score. Results from these
independent evaluations of fishery policies could increase
marketing opportunities into markets that may otherwise
be reluctant to procure fish from controversial or poorly
understood fisheries.
Fishers also have a responsibility to produce safe and
wholesome seafood for consumers. The FAO Code of
Conduct for Responsible Fisheries includes criteria for
harvesting, handling, processing and distributing seafood
in a manner that will maintain the nutritional value, quality
and safety of the products. Fishers must meet the safe fish
handling requirements of both local markets and importing
countries. In the US, the FDA Seafood HACCP regulations
and Good Manufacturing Practices apply. The control of
histamine (scombrotoxin) is the key seafood safety issue
facing the fresh tuna industry. In the Hawaii longline fishery,
great efforts have been made in research and training to
develop and implement an effective HACCP-based histamine
control system that is practical for fishers, documents safe
fish handling and produces safe seafood.
Opening Addresses
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