Tag Archives: bigeye tuna
Scientists Recommend Removing Catch Limits, Increasing Allocation Limits for US Pacific Territory Longline-Caught Bigeye Tuna
The Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council concluded a three day meeting today in Honolulu recommending bigeye tuna catch limits and allocation amounts for the US Participating Territories for the fishing years 2020 to 2023. This and other recommendations by the Council’s SSC will be considered by the Council at its 178th meeting in Honolulu on June 25-27. Under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976, the Council has authority over fisheries seaward of state waters in Hawaiʻi and other US Pacific Islands. >click to read<17:09
Fisheries nations to decide fate of declining bigeye tuna
Dozens of nations with commercial fisheries in the Atlantic Ocean will grapple next week with a new finding that bigeye tuna, the backbone of a billion dollar business, is severely depleted and overfished.,,, An internal report by 40-odd scientists working under the inter-governmental International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), finalised last week, shows that populations have fallen to less than 20 percent of their historic levels. Even more critical, the stock is barely half the size needed to support a “maximum sustainable yield”—the largest catch that can be taken without compromising long-term stability of the species. Current harvests, overwhelmingly legal, are also more than 60 percent above levels that would give bigeye at least a fighting chance of recovering its numbers, the report said. >click to read<15:46
Hawaii’s longline fleet hits Bigeye tuna quota early
The longline fleet, nearly all of which is based in Honolulu, will now have to travel farther to fish for bigeye, a factor that could lead to better prices for Big Island fisherman bringing in tuna with handlines. Fishing quotas are set years in advance by the Western Pacific Fisheries Commission, an international group of 27 countries. They are based on historical levels of catch “and then reduced quite a bit,” said Eric Kingma, international fisheries enforcement coordinator for the Western Pacific Fisheries Management Council. Hawaii’s longline fleet makes up about 3 percent of the worldwide bigeye catch. It’s not clear why this year’s quota of 3,554 metric tons was reached so early. Last year, the fishery closed in August, the earliest the region had ever been restricted. “It’s the same number of hooks (in the water),” said Hawaii Longline Association president Sean Martin. Catch rates are 40 percent higher than historical numbers, he said. Read the rest here 14:16
Pew lie’s, Pew cry’s – Pacific tuna conservation meeting ends in deadlock
Environ mental groups expressed frustration Wednesday after a key Pacific fishing industry meeting failed to adopt measures to protect vulnerable tuna species from overfishing. The Pew Charitable Trusts said the bluefin and bigeye tuna species could become severely depleted due to inaction by the . Critics said a commission meeting, which wrapped up in the Indonesian island of Bali late Tuesday, also did nothing to prevent shark-finning and illegal fishing. Read the article here 08:18
Enviros Upset! Hawaii-based longline fishermen allowed to keep catching ahi
Regulators have approved a deal allowing Hawaii fishermen to attribute up to 1,000 metric tons of bigeye tuna catch to Guam, said Mike Tosatto, National Marine Fisheries Service regional administrator for the Pacific Islands. Environmentalists say the arrangement contributes to the overfishing of bigeye tuna in the western and central Pacific. Environmentalists argue this enables fishermen to circumvent international agreements aimed at controlling overfishing of bigeye. yeah yeah. Read the article here 08:45
Hawaii Bigeye Tuna Industry Reels Two Months after Reaching Its Quotas
HONOLULU (08 Oct. 2015) For the past two months, since early August, about a quarter of the 145 active vessels in the 
have been prohibited from catching their target species, bigeye tuna. Arbitrary quotas not linked to conservation objectives are keeping them tied at the docks. These struggling vessels and small businesses they support are accumulating millions of dollars in debt each month, causing untold anxiety for the local fishing community and consumers. This travesty has happened because of two international quota systems,,, Video, Read the rest here 08:42
Activists, NMFS face off in federal court over ahi quotas “This is allowing them to fish without limits,” ??
Environmentalists on Friday asked a federal judge to stop the National Marine Fisheries Service from allowing Hawaii-based fishermen to attribute some of the bigeye tuna they catch to U.S. territories. They argue the agency is enabling the fishermen to circumvent international agreements aimed at controlling the overfishing of the popular tuna species known as ahi. Earthjustice attorney David Henkin told U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi the fisheries service acted illegally when it created a framework allowing Hawaii longline fishermen to record some of their catch as having been caught by fishermen in Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa. Read the rest here 17:26
Hawaii’s longline fleet dodges hurricanes – Can they survive the Enviro Tsunami?
Bigeye tuna caught by Hawaii’s longline industry is in short supply right now as the fleet dodges Hurricane Ignacio and Hurricane Jimena. Some longline vessels that headed out, turned around without catching anything to avoid the powerful storms. In August, Hawaii’s longline fleet hit the bigeye tuna catch limit of 3,502 metric tons established by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission. Conservation groups, however, have filed a lawsuit to block the change,,, Video, Read the rest here 08:23
Hawaii’s longline fishermen on course to hit bigeye limit – Enviros sue
Hawaii’s longline fishermen are on course to hit their annual bigeye tuna catch limit next week, which means they will have to stop catching bigeye in their most productive fishing grounds west of Hawaii on Aug. 5. Hawaii fishermen will still be able to catch bigeye in eastern waters regulated by a different fisheries commission. Several environmental groups say attributing catch to territories — which allows Hawaii fishermen to effectively double their catch — is illegal and have sued to stop the practice. Read the rest here 07:59
Study of bigeye tuna in Northwest Atlantic uses new tracking methods
A first-of-its-kind study of bigeye tuna movements in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean led by Molly Lutcavage, director of the Large Pelagics Research Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, found among other things that these fish cover a wide geographical range with pronounced north-south movements from Georges Bank to the Brazilian shelf, and they favor a high-use area off Cape Hatteras southwest of Bermuda for foraging. Read more here 07:52
Hawaii longline boats face lower tuna catch quota
HONOLULU (AP) – Hawaii’s longline fishing boat owners expect their sales of ahi will drop by millions of dollars under an agreement in which the United States will reduce its longline tuna catch for three years starting in 2015. Nearly 90 percent of the total U.S. longline catch of bigeye tuna is caught by Hawaii boats. Read more@hawaiinewsnow Tales of a Hawaii Longliner here 17:06:12
Showdown looms for lucrative Western Pacific tuna industry
The future of the world’s largest tuna fishery will be decided at a meeting in Australia this week, with Pacific island nations demanding tighter controls on a catch now worth US$7.0 billion a year. A record 2.65 million tonnes of tuna was hauled from the Pacific last year, accounting for 60 percent of the global catch, with most of the fishing conducted by so-called “distant water” fleets from as far afield as Europe, the United States, China, Korea and Taiwan. Island nations, many of which rely on tuna for a significant portion of their income, fear stocks are becoming unsustainable and want action at the December 2-6 meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) in Cairns. [email protected] 08:16
PNA Must Cut Purse-Seine Juvenile Bigeye Catches
HONOLULU (23 November 2013) A proposal that would subject the US longline tuna fisheries to a 45 percent reduction in bigeye tuna catch is being proposed by the Parties of Nauru Agreement (PNA), an organization that has supported rampant expansion of tuna purse-seining in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO), says Arnold Palacios, chair of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (WPRFMC). This impact of the purse-seine expansion has led to bigeye overfishing and a 75 percent reduction in bigeye yield. Read more here 22:07
TUNA SHOWDOWN: Pacific tuna stock faces growing crisis of inaction
A showdown that could decide the sustainability of the US$7 billion Pacific tuna industry is expected at the annual meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) in Cairns, Australia, on December 2-6. [email protected] 12:33
Limits set on bigeye tuna catches in Pacific – World Wildlife Fund says move by fishing panel doesn’t go far enough. Yeah yeah. We know.
The WWF’s Peter Trott criticized the system, saying plans to put monitors on boats would cover as little as 5 percent of the fishing fleets for all but two months of the year. It will make it almost impossible to prevent countries from underreporting their catches, he said. The commission is responsible for regulating commercial fishing in the region, which stretches from Hawaii to Asia and as far south as Australia. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28196049/ns/world_news-world_environment/
