Panel in no rush
on shark-finning

By Pat Omandam
Star-Bulletin

Despite criticism they are moving too slowly, members of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council say they must first look at the broad issues before they can impose rules on shark management.

And while the council is perceived by some as foot-dragging, irresponsible and nonresponsive to a ban on shark-finning, the process it is using has been very successful in all fishery management plans, said Roy Morioka, a council member from Kauai.

"This council has always been on the leading edge of such fishery management plan developments," Morioka said yesterday.

"The matter of shark-finning, the matter of identifying the management unit species that are involved, the economics, the cultural aspects -- all of these issues are being addressed and analyzed by the council members."

Along with shark management, the council this week plans to discuss coral reef protection and the safety of black-footed and Laysan albatrosses, which often get tangled in longline fishing gear after they dive to retrieve the gear's bait.

But what seems to be foremost on the council's agenda is a ban on shark-finning. Federal officials said yesterday they are waiting for the council to act, but they understand the process is tedious.

"The National Marine Fisheries Service, and in fact, the United States government, has taken a position internationally that shark-finning is a wasteful use of shark resources, and that it contributes to potential overfishing of sharks by making it lucrative to catch sharks and to kill them for just their fins," said Rod McInnis, assistant regional administrator of the National Marines Fisheries Service.

McInnis yesterday said his agency has prohibited in the Atlantic and the Gulf Coast landing only the fins of sharks, which can constitute just 5 percent of a shark's total weight. The whole shark must be taken as catch and not discarded, he said.

But McInnis said the situation is different in the Pacific, where shark-finning is a newer issue. Here, the evidence is still out on the exact impact of shark-finning, which occurs not just in Hawaiian waters but throughout the Western Pacific. Fins are used locally and in Asia to make shark-fin soup, a popular dish.

Council officials say about 100,000 sharks were landed accidentally by long-line fishing vessels last year. Of that amount of "bycatch," about 60 percent was kept and the rest released.

Council Chairman James Cook said he hopes the council will have some rules on shark management next year.

Meanwhile, Cook said the council may have rules within six months to save albatrosses from longline fishing gear. Devices that prevent the seabirds from retrieving bait will effectively save about 90 percent of the birds, he said.

About 4,000 albatrosses died last year as a result of being caught in fishing gear. Cook acknowledged that requiring fishing boats to comply with these new regulations will be difficult.

"What we're really hoping for is, by putting this into place, we can make it as enforceable as we possibly can," he said.