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Isle swordfish Judge David Ezra dealt a blow to swordfishermen today, but opened vast new fishing possibilities to tuna longliners, saying their deeper lines are less of a threat to endangered sea turtles.
fleet dealt a blow
Federal judge severely
Timeline
limits the swordfishing areas,
but opens them for tunaBy Peter Wagner
Star-BulletinIn the latest of several modifications to his November injunction against Hawaii longline fishing, Ezra limited swordfishing to two restricted areas north of Hawaii and limited activity to 360 "sets" (or fishing days) a year -- about half the 636 allowed under a previous modification that covered both swordfish and tuna longliners.
Ezra also required all swordfishing boats to carry a federally-trained observer noting turtle interactions.
Meanwhile, tuna longlining boats initially will be required to have observers on just 10 percent of their trips, with coverage growing to 20 percent in several months.The order, which goes into effect today, outlaws all fishing in a turtle-sensitive "hot zone" north of Hawaii, allows limited swordfishing in two adjacent areas and opens up a huge area surrounding the islands to tuna fishing.
The new order increased the restricted northern areas by two degrees -- about 120 nautical miles of prime fishing grounds.
All of the modifications are in force only until an environmental impact statement is completed by the National Marine Fisheries Service.
That study is expected in April 2001.
"This was not an easy compromise to reach," said Ezra, explaining his decision at length in court this morning. Calling the National Marine Fisheries Service "an agency that didn't do it's job," he said he was bound to enforce federal laws protecting endangered species, even at the expense of jobs in the Hawaii longline industry. "I will not step away from that responsibility now or ever," he said.Under the National Environmental Policy Act, the federal agency is required to complete a formal environmental study to determine the impacts of ocean activities on endangered species before allowing the activities.
Jim Cook, chairman of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council and a longline supplier and fisherman, seemed stunned as he sorted through the details of Ezra's decision in the sparsely-attended announcement in the courtroom this morning.
"I'm guessing there'll be a tremendous loss of revenues," he said. "But I'm pleased the court liberalized its position on tuna fishing."
Attorney Paul Achitoff had asked for a complete ban on longlining until the study was completed. He represents the environmental groups that sued the federal fisheries agency last year for not completing an environmental impact statement on the longline fishery.
"We're certainly pleased that the bycatch of turtles will be reduced," he said. "But tuna longlining does catch turtles."
Ezra said he was easing restrictions on tuna fishing because the lines used by tuna longliners are placed deeper in the water, posing less of a threat to turtles closer to the surface. Swordfishing, which involves shallower lines, is responsible for most incidental turtle deaths, he said."
Ezra's superseding order basically opens about 4.5 million square miles of ocean surrounding Hawaii to tuna fishing, but closes it to swordfishing. Restricted areas, all north of the Hawaiian Islands, total approximately 2 million square miles. He earlier had demanded 100 percent observer coverage -- an observer on each longline boat -- with a maximum of 636 sets allowed in the area per year. The new limitation on sets was moved northward, affecting only the swordfishing fleet.
While the 100 percent requirement remains in effect for swordfishing, only 10 percent of tuna boats will need an observer in the next 45 days, increasing to 20 percent in three months.
Richard Gallimore, a tuna longliner with a fleet of six boats, sat in Ezra's court today along with several other fishermen.
"Swordfish fishing is done," he said. "It's history."
Ezra indicated swordfishermen can convert to tuna fishing in Hawaii, or move to California or elsewhere.
The judge expressed sympathy for the fishermen, but said industry must make way for endangered species under American law.
"Dams have been stopped from construction because of an animal half the size of your finger," he said.
The fisheries agency argued Ezra's July 26 order would have shut down 95 percent of the fishery and cost $44 million in lost revenues while doing little to help endangered sea turtles.
Ezra's order came after two mainland environmental groups, Turtle Island Restoration Network in San Francisco and the Center for Marine Conservation in Washington, D.C., sued the federal fisheries service for allowing a major industry to take hold without first studying its impact on endangered marine species.
The judge's order, which would have closed 6.5 million square miles of ocean surrounding Hawaii to all but a relative few fishing trips, was to have gone into effect on July 26. But Ezra put off the closure until Aug. 5 while considering requests by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Hawaii Longline Association to reconsider his order.
Ezra earlier said he would not reconsider his ruling, but would attempt to mediate a compromise among the various parties.
The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, a federal advisory body to the National Marine Fisheries Service, had also called on Ezra to lift his restrictions, saying Hawaii longliners account for just 3 percent of the fishing effort in the Western Pacific and cause few turtle deaths.
But environmentalists who brought the issue to a head in federal court say even a single leatherback lost to a hook is too many when the future of a species is at stake.
"The leatherback sea turtle is on the verge of extinction," said Todd Steiner, director of the San Francisco-based Turtle Island Restoration Network, a plaintiff in the case. "We need significant curtailment of their deaths in fishing gear. What's happened has gone on way too long."
Steiner was referring to the sudden growth of the longline fishing industry in Hawaii about 10 years ago when converted shrimp trawlers from the Gulf of Mexico and longliners from California and the East Coast arrived to exploit untapped fish stocks. The overnight growth, which tripled Hawaii's longline fleet in the space of about three years, was welcomed by state economists looking for a something positive in an otherwise struggling economy.
According to a draft environmental impact statement published by the federal fisheries service in April, as many as 23 leatherbacks may have been killed by Hawaii longliners last year. But environmentalists believe mortalities are far higher and question the accuracy of data based on less than a 5 percent observer coverage rate of longline activity last year.
The draft study also estimates that up to 61 Olive Ridley sea turtles and up to 92 Loggerhead sea turtles were killed by Hawaii longliners last year.
The early pioneers of longline fishing in Hawaii evolved from wooden tuna sampans that fished Hawaii's waters with poles. Today the fleet includes 119 boats of up to 101 feet. Each boat uses miles of monofilament line. Tuna and swordfish longline fishing is an estimated $50 million a year industry. Longline fishing in Hawaii
1970s: 14 longliners in the Hawaii fleet.
Sources: National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. District Court filings
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