Isle fishermen oppose
By Pat Omandam
shark finning
Star-BulletinHawaii fishermen have petitioned U.S. Secretary of Commerce William M. Daley to impose a ban on shark finning in the Pacific Ocean.
The request is an end run around the federal Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, which oversees fisheries in waters three miles to 200 miles off Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands and U.S. remote Pacific Islands.
The council this summer began plans to restrict shark fishing, but critics say it is moving too slow.
As a result, they sent a letter to Daley on Aug. 10 asking him to step in and set policy on pelagic or deep ocean sharks in the Pacific so it conforms with a national policy that calls for full use of the shark and not just the taking of its fins.
That policy by the National Marine Fisheries Service is already in place in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, said Bob Endreson, member of the Western Pacific Fisheries Coalition and Hawaii Fishermen's Foundation.
Endreson said Tuesday he sent the letter to Daley and expects a response between 30 and 60 days.
"It's not something that is going to be put on the back burner," he said. "They've got to respond one way or another."
The state Legislature in its final days this spring could not agree on a ban on shark finning, despite strong lobbying from supporters and lawmakers such as freshman Rep. Brian Schatz (D, Makiki) about the harm done to sharks. The practice involves cutting off a shark's fins and then throwing the rest of the fish overboard. The fins are in demand in Asia and elsewhere for shark fin soup.
Since then, Endreson said news of shark finning and the failed Hawaii ban has made news within sports fishing and diving community on the mainland, resulting in negative exposure to the state.
Linda M.B. Paul, executive director of the Hawaii Audubon Society, who also signed the letter to Daley, said they took action because they could not wait for the council because the United States wants to set a national plan of action for blue sharks in 2001. The federal government has already pre-empted regional councils in the Gulf and the Atlantic on managing sharks, she said.
But James Cook, Western Pacific regional chairman, said the council has a mandate to consider everyone's view regarding shark management. The council answers not only to Hawaii residents but to the other Pacific islanders as well, he said.
"Basically, we're in charge of looking at the science," Cook said. "And the science that's come before us so far shows this particular resource is in good shape.
The council at its June meeting agreed to include bottom long-line gear that is used to catch mostly coastal sharks near the Hawaiian Islands under its existing definition of "long-line" gear. It is also working with the state Division on Aquatic Resources to create complementary state and federal regulations for all types of shark fishing gear. The council will vote on the issue at its meeting in October.
