Hawaii's Fish Industry
Informative content
One Ocean Sustainability Bulletin
Hawai’i’s Fish Industry
The Most Sustainable Monitored Fishery in the World!!
I. All fish from Hawai’i is hook & line. NO NETS!
II. All fish from Hawai’i is US Flag American boats.
III. All boats from Hawai’i are required to keep accurate catch logs.
A. All logs require the following information:
1. Species Type
2. Day / Time
3. Water Temperature
4. GPS Location
B. All logs are monitored by:
1. National Marine Fisheries
2. N.O.A.A.
3. US Coast Guard
4. State of Hawai’i DLNR
IV. All fish 20 pounds or larger are bled & gutted on board. (Pre-icing = Higher Quality)
V. All vessels use “C” shaped hooks to mitigate turtle interaction
VI. All vessels are mandated to “side set” at approximately 30 ft to avoid sea bird interaction. No other pelagic, long line fishery in the world have these hook requirements.
VII. All fish are brought aboard one at a time & sold one at a time, with quality being the goal and the reward for this practice. Sashimi grade for all fish is sought and quality is rewarded. That is due to the fact that low quality = low prices for the boat.
VIII. All long line vessels fish using a similar pattern:
A. At sea for 7-10 days
B. Set 700-1000 hooks per day
C. Have a catch rate of 6-10 large reproductive fish per day
D. Approximate catch sample: 1 pc Opah, 2 pc Monchong, 2 pc Big Eye, 1 pc Walu, 1 pc Hebi, 1pc Nairagi, 1 pc Ono, 1 pc Mahi. This catch ratio does vary daily, with other seasonal changes as well.
E. All fishing is done a minimum of 100 miles out away from the Islands.
IX. All fish are caught down about 200 – 600 feet, which yields large reproductive
fish – sparing the bulk of the school and all juveniles. For example: One school of Ahi Big Eye Tuna has over 1,000 fish. A boat from Hawai’i is lucky to catch two to three of these due to their fast swimming speeds. That means 997 keep swimming. In comparison, should a purseine net hit such a school, the entire school is caught. Also, the purseine net captures additional untargeted marine life such as turtles, marlins, sharks and any other under-reproductive fish in the area.
X. Most large pelagic purseine nets TARGET under reproductive small tunas. Again, Hawai’i does not allow purseine nets for this reason!
XI. The simple answer to the world’s fishing sustainability? Do not net near
shoreline and beaches (For coldwater areas, we must spare the bottom of the
food-chain, all small baitfish i.e., sardines, anchovies, etc. For tropical warm
water reefs, we must spare all residential reef fish and stop all near shore
netting.) As for open ocean pelagic tuna stocks, we must stop ALL the
targeting of under reproductive tuna schools and stop ALL large
net operations.
Call One Ocean for more information 1-808-478-7581.
