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Longline fishermen
By Peter Wagner
may appeal ruling
Star-BulletinPolicing longline fishing in Hawaiian waters could cost $10 million a year, say Hawaii fishermen, today considering an appeal of a federal court injunction they say could dry up the state's fishing industry.
"It would cost between $350 and $400 a day to put an observer on a boat, and our boats run 260 to 280 days a year," said Jim Cook, member of the Hawaii Longline Association and chairman of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council.
The association, representing a fleet of about 115 longline fishing boats, was to meet today to discuss options following a ruling Friday by U.S. District Judge David Ezra. The ruling requires that trained federal observers be on all longline boats within 30 days, a near impossibility because of a shortage of personnel, the fishermen say.
But even if enough observers can be found, the cost of full compliance would be ruinous, Cook said.
"The cost of 100 percent observer coverage will drive the average boat out of service," Cook said. "It's cheaper for us to just tie up."
Cook is part-owner of Pacific Ocean Producers, which has a fleet of five longliners and a boat supply business at Honolulu Harbor. The judge's order, he said, could kill his business and dry up the state's $50 million longline industry.
Cook said the association wants to know how the National Marine Fisheries Service will carry out the judge's order.
"Based on what they plan to do, we may go with an appeal," he said.
Fisheries officials could not be reached this morning.
Friday's ruling gave the federal fisheries service until April of next year to complete an environmental impact statement studying how longliners affect leatherback turtles. Environmental groups say hundreds of the endangered turtles are caught on longline hooks each year.
A longline fishing boat can carry up to 50 miles of monofilament fishing strung with more than 2,000 hooks. Longliners sometimes range for hundreds of miles in search of albacore tuna and swordfish.
