Category Archives: Western Pacific
Optimism for deal to lower Pacific tuna catches
Eight Pacific island nations, members of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement, along with Japan and the Philippines, want to reduce the catch of bigeye and yellow fin tuna over the next four years. But objections from the “distant water” fleets meant a modified proposal was now being worked on, said Brian Hallman, executive director of the American Tunaboat Association, which represents about 40 US-flagged purse seine fishing vessels. “At this stage, there is not a clear consensus on a solution which would be acceptable to all members,” Hallman said. [email protected] 08:45
What Is The ACTUAL Risk for Pacific Coast Residents from Fukushima Radiation?
It is very difficult to obtain accurate information on the dangers from Fukushima radiation to residents of the West Coast of North America and Hawaii. On the one hand, there is fear-mongering and “we’re all going to die” type hysteria. On the one hand, there is a tendency for governments to cover up the truth to avoid panic and deflect blame for bad policy. Japan is poised to pass a bill which would outlaw most reporting on Fukushima. And the U.S. government is not even monitoring radiation levels in the waters off the U.S. coast. As the Cape Cod Times reports,<em> [email protected] 09:10
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
American Samoa: Crown of thorns killing our reefs
Coral reefs are under threat from a new bloom of crown of thorns starfish. For the past two weeks, an off-island dive team from the National Park has been killing thousands of starfish in the waters off Fagasa and Fagamalo. [email protected]
PNA tuna MSC Certified product hits European market – I wonder how.
The Pacifical tuna is skipjack tuna caught from wild schools (rather than using Fish Aggregating Devices or FADs) and carries the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) ecolabel. more@solomanstarnews Read TUNA SHOWDOWN. Is this conflicting information? 13:47
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
Fukushima: Arranging the Deck Chairs While Death Comes from Japan
Fukushima continues to leak, and leak at ever increasing rates and the latest prediction is that this contamination will continue until 2015, at the earliest. Until then, will the Pacific Ocean be poisoned beyond repair (if this has not happened already)? That little tidbit was from Global Research. I’m sure they are just trying to scare us, right? I mean how can a little radioactive water do any damage? more@opednews 07:55
Fisherman medevaced from F/V Jeanette near Kiribati
HONOLULU — The Coast Guard medically evacuated a crewmember from a fishing vessel located approximately 280 miles southwest of Kanton Island, Kiribati, Tuesday. more@uscgnews 07:03
Eliminate Bottomfish Restricted Fishing Areas in Hawaii, Western Pacific Regional Fishery Council Recommends
HONOLULU (21 October 2013) The State of Hawaii’s Bottomfish Restricted Fishing Areas (BRFAs) located in federal waters should be eliminated, according to the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council. Meeting last week in Honolulu, the Council also encouraged the State to consider removing all BRFAs in State waters. More here 00:40
Necropsy finds 5 fish hooks in dolphin in Hawaii
HONOLULU (AP) — A rare dolphin found dead on a remote Hawaii beach earlier this month swallowed five fish hooks, but they apparently didn’t cause its death. A necropsy of the dolphin — called a false killer whale — showed the hooks were floating in its stomach along with the partially digested remains of a large marlin, some tuna and several types of squid. more@gosanangelo 11:05
US SHOULD REFUSE ANY QUOTA REDUCTION FOR HAWAII BIGEYE TUNA – WESTERN PACIFIC REGIONAL FISHERY MANAGEMENT COUNCIL
HONOLULU (18 October 2013) The United States should not accept a reduction in the bigeye tuna limit for the Hawaii longline fishery, according to the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, which concluded a four-day meeting in Honolulu today. Authorized by Congress to manage fisheries seaward of State and Territorial waters in the US Pacific Islands, the Council noted that the Hawaii longline fishery operates several thousand miles from the equatorial Pacific, where nearly 90 percent of bigeye tuna fishing mortality occurs. More in Press Releases 22:54
Limits have Maui and Lanai fishing communities worried about ‘cultural rights’
A meeting organized by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources attracted about 100 people Wednesday night at Maui Waena Intermediate School. The changes propose bag and size limits for several popular nearshore reef fish, including goatfish, parrotfish (uhu) and jacks (ulua and papio). Under the new rules, none of the large blue parrotfish (uhu ‘ele’ele and uhu uliuli) may be taken at any time, and no more than two of the other varieties of uhu per fisherman may be taken in a day. more@mauinews 16:29
Listen Live! From Honolulu – Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council Meeting – Happening NOW!
The 158th Council Meeting starts today with agency reports and Hawaii Archipelago and PRIA FEPs. If you can’t make it down to the Laniakea YWCA in downtown Honolulu, you can catch the meeting online at
https://wprfmc.webex.com/
For the agenda and other information (including the webex link) visit www.wpcouncil.org 19:43
Hawaii longline fishery to take 40-percent cut on its current bigeye tuna quota? video
“Right now we are basically at a position where this international body the Western Central Pacific Fisheries Commission is going to be deciding the next sort of phase of the conservation and management for bigeye tuna,” Western Pacific Fishery Management Council Enforcement Coordinator Eric Kingma said. Kingma says even though Hawaii fishermen fish thousands of miles away from where the overfishing is happening, Hawaii is being targeted because we are part of the U.S. commission. more@kohn2 03:23
Scientists Recommend Spatial Management Measures to Conserve Bigeye Tuna, Elimination of Hawaii Bottomfish Restricted Areas
WPRFMC Press Release, Oct. 11, 2013 – An international group of scientists that advises the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (Council) concluded its three-day meeting Thursday admonishing the Western and Central Pacific Fishery Commission (WCPFC) for its failure to prevent an increase in fleet capacity, fishing effort and catch of tropical tunas in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO). more@ Press Releases 10:28
Navigating the Western Pacific Council Process
Guide to the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, 5th Edition [email protected] 15:20
Hawaii Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement officers find giant illegal fishing net off Oahu
State conservation officers continue to monitor waters off Oahu for large illegal fishing nets after several were confiscated in Kaneohe Bay this summer. more@staradvertizer 09:58
WPRFMC: Fishery Scientists and Managers to Consider Potential Quota Reduction for the Hawaii Longline Fishery, Mariana Shark Management
HONOLULU (04 October 2013) The port of Honolulu consistently ranks as one of the nation’s top 10 fishing ports in terms of value landed. The reason is the sashimi-quality bigeye tuna landed by the Hawaii longline fleet. This fishery is recognized globally as a model for sustainable pelagic fishing with a rating of 95 percent against the UN Code of Conduct for Responsible Fishing. Eighty percent of the tuna landed by the fishery stays in Hawaii, where tuna tops the list of seafood consumed. more in press release’s 16:25
The American Samoa Government has signed a new lease with StarKist Samoa
The new lease, which has been submitted to the Fono for review, is for 408,203 square feet of land in Atu’u. The old 30-year lease between StarKist and ASG expired last month and it was for 270,126 sq. feet which covers the cannery premises, warehouse net lockers, marine railway, area along the dock, guard shack and below guard shack. [email protected] 18:15
Pipe Had Leak 1 Year Before Hawaii Molasses Spill
Department of Transportation Deputy Director Randy Grune said Friday he sent a letter in July 2012 to Matson Navigation Co. notifying the company of the leak. The letter, provided to reporters Friday, asked Matson to tell the state when the pipeline was repaired. [email protected] 11:44
HONOLULU: 25,000 fish killed in Matson Molasses Spill
Keith Kawaoka, Chief of the State Health Department’s Hazards Evaluation and Emergency Response said today, “Just to give you an indication of what the fish kill count has been, we’re just over 25 thousand as of today.” more@hawaiinewsnow 14:17
Newsletter of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council – Impressive publication!
Pacific Islands Fishery News Summer 2013 – Newsletter of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council link 23:35
the outsourcing of US domestic fisheries
In my job as a research fishery biologist, I work closely with the Hawaii commercial fishing industry. This industry is dominated by pelagic longline vessels that target tuna and related species for both the U.S. and global markets. The vessels are all U.S. flagged and the captains are all U.S. citizens as the Jones Act dictates, but the crew is almost always outsourced to foreign labor— which should violate the Jones Act. more@dailykos 00:00
Massive Molasses Spill Devastates Honolulu Marine Life – “Everything down there is dead.”
That’s one stunning quote from Hawaii News Now’s latest report about the devastating damage that’s been done to the marine life off Honolulu’s Sand Island by 233,000 gallons of molasses that were spilled into Honolulu harbor on Monday. more@npr 16:48
U S Coast Guard Goes the Extra Miles
Watchstanders at the Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Honolulu received a call from the vessel agent, Tri Marine Group, requesting assistance in transporting a crewmember to emergency medical services. A 36-year-old Panamanian man aboard the fishing vessel Cape Elizabeth III was reportedly suffering symptoms of appendicitis. At 2:05 p.m., JRCC launched an HC-130 Hercules aircrew from Air Station Barbers Point. After a six-hour flight of approximately 3,065 miles, the Hercules crew landed on Kanton Island where they met the patient. The patient was transferred by a helicopter from the Cape Elizabeth III’s sister ship, Cape Horn to Kanton Island. more@uscgnews 20:53
Western Pacific: Penalties for Purse Seine Fishing Violations Total More Than $1.5 Million
Decisions were issued the week of August 19, 2013, in two separate enforcement cases from the Pacific Islands involving U.S. purse seine vessels fishing in violation of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Convention Implementation Act (WCPFCIA)…. F/V American Triumph, F/V Ocean Encounter, F/V Ocean Conquest, F/V Sea Honor, F/V Sea Quest and F/V Pacific Ranger, the owners, operators and fishing masters were charged [email protected] 10:50
Japan considering dumping Fukushima’s radioactive water into the Pacific
There are over 1,000 tanks on-site containing the water, and one has already leaked 300 tons. Water near one tank has radiation levels 18 times higher than previously reported. more@euronews 09:31
Amerian Samoa: STP/Tri Marine makes steady progress
Samoa Tuna Processors went to great lengths to save corals and sea grass near its plant at Atu’u before it begins construction of a small vessel dock. The US Army Corps of Engineers issued the permit for the dock in May. The statement also announced that owners of STP. Tri Marine International, has launched a new brand of canned tuna in the US market. This is Ocean Naturals brand, canned Skipjack tuna in water which is in nation-wide distribution at all Walmart stores. [email protected] 13:14
Hawai’i Fishermen’s Alliance Petition To Delist the North Pacific Population of the Humpback Whale from Endangered Species Act
NMFS announce a 90-day finding on a petition to identify the (Megaptera novaeangliae) as a Distinct Population Segment (DPS) and delist the DPS under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The humpback whale was listed as an endangered species in 1970 under the Endangered Species and Conservation Act of 1969, which was later superseded by the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA). We find that the petition viewed in the context of information readily available in our files presents substantial scientific and commercial information indicating that the petitioned action may be warranted. more here 13:44
