The sale of half of the Commonwealth\u2019s bigeye tuna fishing quota has effectively allowed Hawaii longline fishermen to sink their hooks into the ocean again\u2014two months after the Hawaii vessels were banned from fishing after exhausting the state\u2019s catch limits.<\/p>\n
Gov. Eloy S. Inos has struck an agreement with about three dozen longline fishing vessels\u2014specifically Quota Management, Inc. of Honolulu\u2014to transfer 1,000 metric tons of the CNMI\u2019s 2,000-metric-ton-limit to these Hawaiian vessels, according to the Western and Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council in a statement yesterday.<\/p>\n
CNMI Department of Lands and Natural Resources Secretary Richard Seman separately confirmed this agreement yesterday, which will sell 1,000 metric ton of the year 2015\u2019s 2,000 metric ton territory limit.<\/p>\n
Seman said the agreement is broken down into three parts: for the first year, the CNMI gets $150,000 for the allocation; the second year the CNMI gets $175,000 for quota transferred that year; and in the third year the CNMI gets $200,000 for quota transferred, for a total of $525,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether they use it or not, it doesn\u2019t matter,\u201d Seman said of the allocation.<\/p>\n
Since Aug. 12, about three dozen of the 145 active vessels in the Hawaii fleet were prohibited from fishing for bigeye tuna\u2014locally known as ahi\u2014in Western and Central Pacific Ocean by the National Marine Fisheries Service, which had determined that the fishing fleet had reached its 2015 quota of 3,502 metric tons.<\/p>\n
But a final rule announced by the Service yesterday gives the fishing industry more wiggle room.
\n\u201cNMFS will allow the [CNMI] territory to allocate up to 1,000 mt each year to U.S. longline fishing vessels in a specified agreement that meets established criteria,\u201d said the Service.<\/p>\n
\u201cNMFS will monitor catches of longline caught bigeye tuna by the CNMI longline fisheries, including catches made by U.S. longline vessels operating under specified fishing agreements,\u201d assured the Service.<\/p>\n
The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission\u2014an international body\u2014distributes these quotas. However, the CNMI quota for the most part remains unused.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe never have [reached] even one ton of big-eye [tuna] catch here in the CNMI in any given year,\u201d Seman told Saipan Tribune yesterday.<\/p>\n
The agreement<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThree dozen of [the longline vessels] have put their resources together and entered into an agreement with our governor for the 1,000 metric ton allocation,\u201d Seman explained. \u201cThese longliner association members that have joined this particular purchase of quota are specifically listed in the agreement between the CNMI government\u2026to take advantage of our unused allocation.<\/p>\n \u201cHawaii, as we speak, is going out fishing for the 1,000 metric tons,\u201d Seman added.<\/p>\n He said Inos signed the agreement in September.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not really a fish that we have up here. What we have up here is yellowfin, bonita\u2026and every now and then some albacore,\u201d Seman said.<\/p>\n Wespac, in a statement, said Hawaii\u2019s $100-million fishery has reopened with the Service\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n \u201cThe U.S. longline fleet had not increased its effort,\u201d said Kitty Simonds, executive director of Wespac. \u201cBut it experienced a bumper crop of bigeye, apparently as a result of the El Ni\u00f1o weather.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cArbitrary quotas not linked to conservation objectives kept our boats tied at the docks,\u201d Simonds said. \u201cThe struggling vessels and small businesses they support accumulated millions of dollars in debt each month, causing untold anxiety for our local fishing community and consumers,\u201d Simonds added.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Hawaii fishery lands only 1 and a half percent of the bigeye tuna caught in the Pacific Ocean,\u201d Simonds added. \u201cOur fishery was being unfairly penalized for a problem it did not create.\u201d<\/p>\n The Hawaii longline fishery is unique. The fish are packed in ice and brought fresh to the dock for mostly Hawaii consumption. Only 3 percent is exported. The value of the fish landed by the Hawaii fleet is about $100 million, resulting in the port of Honolulu consistently ranking among the nation\u2019s top 10 ports in landed value, according to the NMFS Fisheries of the United States annual reports.<\/p>\n Boost to fishermen co-op<\/strong><\/p>\n Seman said that portions of the quota sale would be used to build a permanent building for the local fishermen\u2019s cooperative.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s one of our goals and objective to help allocate some of that fund toward developing our fishery,\u201d he said. \u201cNow we have some seed money to help start it. [The Department of] Public Works is helping out with design of the permanent co-op.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a place where fishermen will not have to worry\u2026if they are a member, after coming from days of fishing, they don\u2019t have to worry about where to sell their fish. As a member they go straight to the co-op, unload, and they are done,\u201d Seman said, noting other benefits like discounted gas and ice to pack their fish.<\/p>\n \u201cThey can offset their catch with their charges,\u201d Seman explained. \u201cIt\u2019s time for a permanent site.\u201d<\/p>\n He disclosed that architecture and design for the project is expected to be done by the end of the year, with construction beginning around the middle of next year, and a grand opening eyed by the end of next year.<\/p>\n Opposition<\/strong><\/p>\n The announced rule to transfer the quota allocation has met its share of opposition. Right now, there is a pending litigation from the Conservation Council for Hawaii that challenges the framework process that allows U.S. Pacific Island territories to allocate a portion of their bigeye tuna catch limit to longline vessels.<\/p>\n According to various formal comments submitted and published on the Federal Register, there is concern that the rule would further undermine international efforts to eliminate overfishing of bigeye tuna. There is also concern that the new specifications would authorize Hawaii-based longliners to catch far more bigeye than ever before.<\/p>\n The Conservation Council for Hawaii said the proposed allocation is \u201cillegal\u201d and argue that the Service is enabling the fishermen to circumvent international agreements aimed at controlling the overfishing of this popular tuna species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The sale of half of the Commonwealth\u2019s bigeye tuna fishing quota has effectively allowed Hawaii…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[26,4688,4772,7603],"class_list":["post-212466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines","tag-cnmi","tag-federal-register","tag-nmfs","tag-quota-management"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212466\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}