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Longline fish
ban delayed
10 days

The judge wants to study
motions that ask him to
reconsider his ban

By Peter Wagner
Star-Bulletin

Hawaii's longline fishermen have won a 10-day reprieve on sweeping restrictions that were to go into effect in 6.5 million square miles of ocean next week.

U.S. District Judge David Ezra yesterday extended the effective date of his recent injunction against longlining from July 26 to Aug. 5. The judge said in court documents filed yesterday he needs more time to consider recent motions to reconsider his ban.

"We're encouraged that he's gathering more information; that's the bottom line," said Sean Martin, president of the Hawaii Longline Association.

Ezra, considering a request to reconsider his June 26 order, has met in recent days with parties in a lawsuit that triggered the injunction.

The suit, brought last year by two environmental groups, demanded a stop to longlining until the National Marine Fisheries Service completes a long-overdue environmental study on longliners and turtles.

Ezra said in a Monday hearing he would not reconsider his ruling, but indicated a willingness to mediate a solution.

Fishermen say the ruling could wreck a $50 million fishing industry. Environmentalists say too little is known about longline threats to sea turtles.

Meanwhile, the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council yesterday called on Ezra to lift his ban. "The Hawaii longline fleet accounts for about three percent of the fishing effort in the Central and Western Pacific and less than a dozen leatherback turtle mortalities per year," the council said in a news release.