‘Reel’ action
By Mike House
can lure more
sportfishingSO much has been discussed about fisheries in Hawaii from a scientific standpoint that a fundamental aspect has been completely overlooked: fishing's economic impact. Hawaii is missing the value of the industry as a tourism draw.
Although people come to Hawaii for many reasons, the lure of catching a big marlin is certainly one dream. After all, Hawaii is completely surrounded by the very environment that billfish naturally inhabit.
But for some strange reason, our charter fleets remain in a state of flux, with some operators bordering on bankruptcy from a lack of business. Our boating industry is weak, hanging onto life like a dying whale.
While there is no doubt that most businesses will succeed or fail based on their management decisions, it's the overall health of the industry on which we should focus.
There are roughly 125 active fishing charter boats in Hawaii, each averaging about 15 trips per month. With the average charter price at $500 per day, that's just under $1 million a month for the industry or $12 million a year -- not counting tournaments and other key factors.
Tack on another $400 per person per fishing day for each person's pro-rated share of air, car and hotel (which assumes they'll do other things while visiting), and without even considering expenditures on meals, and another $31 million has been spent directly on chartered deep sea fishing in Hawaii annually.
That adds up to a minimum of $43 million in annual tourism revenue directly attributed to the pursuit of billfishing.
In addition to our visitors, there are about 12,000 boats registered in Hawaii that are capable of servicing sportfishing. Assuming one-third of them are used for fishing regularly (i.e. 20 trips a year), 4,000 boats or a total of 80,000 days are spent on the water.
Assuming the average owner uses his boat regularly and pays out a mere $6,000 a year on insurance, docking, fuel, food, tackle, bait and maintenance, that's another $24 million a year spent on boat fishing (as opposed to shore fishing), excluding the actual cost of acquiring the vessel.
Based on these simple computations, rod and reel anglers spend a lot of money in pursuit of big game fish. We're almost a $70-million industry.
Fishing is one of the few industries where financial exploitation, appropriately directed, will actually have a positive effect on the environment. Imagine a fishery well managed enough to the point where everyone could reasonably expect to catch a billfish, big or small, almost every time out.
It wouldn't take long before Hawaii's percentage of visitors going fishing made up 2, 3 or even 5 percent of the total, with local anglers spending more time on the water as well.
WHAT can Hawaii do to improve its fisheries management? First, an accurate stock assessment of billfish must be made.
Despite what the Western Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Council has made public with respect to fish stock stability, it does acknowledge that its information is incomplete and that its assumptions are based on calculations.
A process of assessing billfish stocks is currently under way at the council. however, it won't be available until well into the year 2000. Irrespective of scientific conclusions, as a tourist state, we must immediately assess just how much revenue is being lost to other fishing destinations before we can bring anglers back.
What is needed is a world map review of land masses in the oceans between 30 degrees North and 30 degrees South, which represent our direct competition. Hawaii must analyze what these destinations are doing to attract anglers, and then resolve to follow suit.
Since we're spending millions of dollars a year attracting tourists to our shores, let's do everything we can to make sure the things they are promised in ads -- including sportfishing -- are here when they get here. Let's improve and manage our fisheries.
Mike House is president of Sportfish Hawaii,
a sportfishing promoter in Hawaii Kai.
