Moratorium on black coral, Pacific bigeye tuna eyed

Scientists are recommending a moratorium on the harvesting of black coral and outlined several measures to address overexploitation of the Pacific bigeye tuna.

The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee concluded its three-day meeting Thursday recommending a moratorium on black coral harvest in federal waters surrounding Hawaii and a suite of domestic and international measures to resolve overexploitation of the Pacific bigeye tuna.

A group of scientists from the United States and the Pacific meets regularly to address fishery management issues in federal waters, which are generally three to 200 miles offshore of the U.S. Pacific islands. The council will consider the recommendations in its next meeting on May 31 to June 2.

Scientists claimed that recent research in Hawaii reveals declines in the abundance of larger, older, and smaller young black coral in waters of Hawaii. The moratorium on black coral harvest would be for five years and during this period, there would be researches on black corals by depth, habitat zones, reproductive biology, impacts of the invasive alien coral Carijoa riisei and other factors on black coral recruitment.

The stock assessment models would also be considered, said the committee, which would evaluate the probable impacts on recruitment of alternative minimum harvest sizes.

After the five-year period and recovery is not achieved, the committee recommends that the moratorium be allowed to remain in place, but if recruitment recovers and the moratorium ends, harvest limitations should be established based on a science-based sustainable harvest plan.

The scientists also recommended that the council voice its concern to the state of Hawaii about the apparent decline of black coral and that the state should adopt a similar management approach and continue collaborating on research with the National Marine Fisheries Service.

As for the Pacific bigeye tuna, the committee said the unsustainable exploitation of this fish has been acknowledged by the NMFS and by Regional Fishery Management Organizations.

The council is urged to adopt federal permit and reporting requirements for all pelagic fishermen based on Hawaii and expand the Hawaii Marine Recreational Fisheries Survey, and to assist the state to improve its fishermen and dealer reporting systems.

On the international front, the U.S. delegation to the Western and Central Pacific Fishery Commission, with headquarters in the Federated States of Micronesia, must continue to give the highest priority to examining input controls to address overfishing of Pacific bigeye tuna.

The committee said controls should include limits on the number of vessels, limited entry programs such as transferable quotas, limits on fishing effort, time and/or area closures and prohibition of sets on Fish Aggregating Devices and floating objects.

The group also recommended that the council formalize protocols in addressing the Pacific Bigeye tuna issue and any future “unsustainable exploitation of other highly migratory pelagic fish stocks.”

The procedure, it said, must include gathering of recommendations from the council’s various advisory bodies. It must also seek solutions from the public.

The council’s final action would include domestic regulations, international actions and council representation on any U.S. delegation to international fishery management organizations in the region.

The council is the policy making agency for fisheries management in federal waters around American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Hawaii, and the U.S. Pacific Island possessions, which is an area of nearly 1.5 million square miles.

For more information, contact the council at 808-522-8220 or email them at info.wpcouncil@noaa.gov or log on to their website at www.wpcouncil.org.