Scientists Concerned about Hawai'i Swordfish fishery expansion

Please join leading biologists and researchers Professor James Spotila of Drexel University, Dr. Robin Baird of Cascadia Research Collective and Professor David Ehrenfeld of Rutgers University by signing on to the

Public Comment Letter from Scientists to National Marine Fishery Service to
Hold the Line on the Hawai’i-based Longline Fishery for Swordfish
Deadline to sign-on July 30, 2009

This petition is for members of the scientific community. If you want to oppose this expansion but are not a part of the scientific community, please go our public petition. If you represent an organization that wants to go on record against this deadly fishery, please go to our public comment section or contact Program Director Teri Shore tshore@tirn.net

July 30, 2009

 
Dr. Jane Lubchenco 
Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
HCHB, Room 5810 
1401 Constitution Avenue, NW 
Washington, DC 20233 

Dr. James W. Balsiger
Acting Assistant Administrator for Fisheries
National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration
1315 East-West Highway
Silver Spring, MD 20910 
 

RE: Expansion of Hawai‘i-based Shallow-set Longline Fishery 
Proposed Rule 0648-AW49 -Amendment 18 to the Fishery Management Plan for Pelagic Fisheries of the Western Pacific Region

Dear Dr. Lubchenco and Dr. Balsiger,

As members of the international scientific community who are deeply interested in conserving protected sea turtles, marine mammals and vulnerable fish species, supporting sustainable fisheries, and ending overfishing, we are writing to express our opposition to the proposed of expansion of the Hawai‘i -based shallow-set longline fishery for swordfish. 

The proposed Amendment 18 to the Fishery Management Plan for Pelagic Fisheries of the Western Pacific Region would remove all limits on the numbers of sets and hooks allowed in the fishery, increase pressure on overfished and data-deficient fish species, and increase the accidental capture of protected marine species including sea turtles, whales, and seabirds. The measure as proposed would triple the number of North Pacific loggerhead turtles allowed to be captured and permit more than 4 million hooks to be set on the fishery – more than twice the current number. The proposed expansion would also subject critically endangered Pacific leatherback sea turtles to continued unsustainable levels of death and injury and increase fishery pressure on vulnerable fish species including big eye and yellow fin tuna.

Considerable published research has attributed the precipitous declines of leatherback and loggerhead sea turtles at all major Pacific nesting beaches to unchecked longline bycatch of these species. Sea turtles throughout the Pacific are hovering on the brink of extinction. While bycatch rates from individual longline vessels are low, the high level of longline fishing effort in the Pacific makes the cumulative bycatch of reproductively mature sea turtles a serious threat to their survival.   At present, the death of even small numbers of the leatherbacks or loggerheads has serious consequences for their future survival. The best available science indicates that Pacific leatherbacks, loggerheads, and other species simply cannot sustain the harm wrought by expansion of the Hawai’i-based longline fishery for swordfish.  

Many species targeted by the Hawai’i longline fishery are either overfished, approaching an overfished condition or lack sufficient data to determine whether their populations are healthy and sustainable. Until estimates of stock status are more certain, the Scientific Committee of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission recommends no increase in fishing effort on swordfish.  Substantial quantities of bigeye and yellowfin tuna will also be caught.  Both the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) and U.S. stock assessment scientists have identified Pacific bigeye and yellowfin tuna populations as subject to overfishing.   Increasing bigeye and yellowfin tuna catch levels defies federal law requiring that fishery managers end overfishing immediately and rebuild overfished populations.

We urge NMFS, at a minimum, to reject Amendment 18 and instead maintain current set limits and hard caps on sea turtle takes.  The best available science demonstrates that, instead of relaxing current conservation measures, NMFS must do more to protect these critically imperiled species, conserve marine mammals and seabirds, and provide for the rebuilding of overfished, data-poor, and vulnerable fish stocks. Thank you for considering our views. We look forward to a response.

Sincerely yours,



James R. Spotila
Professor of Environmental Science
Drexel University
Pennsylvania
United States of America


David Ehrenfeld
Professor II of Biology
Dept. Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources
School of Environmental and Biological Sciences
Cook Campus, Rutgers University
New Brunswick, NJ  08901-8551    USA


Robin W. Baird, Ph.D.
Research Biologist
Cascadia Research Collective
218 1/2 W. 4th Avenue
Olympia, WA 98501 USA

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0-25 of 60 signatures

Number	Date	Name	Organization	Location
60	August 04, 2009	Clare Bradshaw	Stockholm University	Stockholm, SE
59	August 03, 2009	Scott Stark	Australian Antarctic Division	Kingston, Tasmania, AUSTRALIA, Australia
58	August 03, 2009	Cynthia Klepadlo	Scripps Inst. Oceanography	La Jolla, US
57	July 31, 2009			,
56	July 30, 2009			,
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54	July 28, 2009			,
53	July 28, 2009	Jacques Moskovic	défense des animaux	Marseille, FX
52	July 28, 2009			,
51	July 26, 2009	Michael Sergeev	Novosibirsk State University	Novosibirsk, RU
50	July 22, 2009			,
49	July 22, 2009			,
48	July 22, 2009	C. Thomas Schaefer	Pacific Marine Research	Seattle, US
47	July 22, 2009	Abigail Moore	LP3L Talinti	Palu, ID
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38	July 20, 2009	Christopher Kauffman	Scripps Inst. of Oceanography	San Diego, US
37	July 20, 2009	Alan Lewis	Dept. of Earth & Ocean Sciences, University of British Columbia	Vancouver, CA
36	July 20, 2009			,

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