Fishery Longline MHI trolling MHI Handline Offshore Handline Aku boat Other Gear Total
Pounds caught (1000 lbs) 18,532 3,053 1,318 465 648 185
2004 Ex-vessel revenue ($1000) $44,233 $6,427 $2,355 $769 $886 $320
Average price ($/lb) $2.52 $2.24 $1.84 $1.82 $1.37 $1.81
24,201
$54,989
$2.40
2005 Pounds Ex-vessel caught revenue (1000 lbs) ($1000) 23,234 $57,939 2,416 $4,999 1,272 $2,132 155 $196 940 $1,074 164 $313 28,181
$66,652
Average price ($/lb) $2.61 $2.18 $1.70 $2.05 $1.14 $1.95 $2.47
Source: WPRFMC 2005b Domestic High Seas Squid Jigging Fishery This fishery has recently been conducted by a single operation which uses four catcher vessels and one large mothership (NMFS 2005). These vessels operate under HSFCA permits and visit ports at Honolulu, Hawaii and in Alaska. Each vessel carries 21-38 jigging machines and fishes primarily to the north of the Hawaiian Archipelago targeting neon flying squids (Ommastrephes bartrami) seasonally during the summer months. Please see the FEIS written for Amendment 12 to the Pelagic Fishery Plan for a detailed description of these squid and the fishery (NMFS 2005). 4.6
PRIA-based Pelagic Fisheries
There are no known pelagic fisheries based in the PRIA at this time. However, longline fishermen from Hawaii have reported catch landings from the EEZ waters surrounding the PRIA. 4.7
Purse Seine Tuna Fishery
Purse seiners catch tuna by setting a net vertically in the water with floats attached to the top for flotation and weight on the lower edge which is deployed by smaller skiffs which encircle the school of target tuna. The fish are then confined in the net as it is closed off from the bottom. Purse seiners typically set their nets on a variety of school types including schools associated with floating objects, such as logs or other debris, with other species such as whales or dolphins, or with FADs; or those that are free swimming or unassociated. The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) lists 18 countries that have participated in this fishery in the WCPO in the last 15 years; however, more than 70 percent of the total catch may be attributed to four distant-water fishing nations (DWFNs), Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and the U.S. (NMFS 2006). Currently the U.S. purse seine fleet in the Pacific is managed as part of international agreements with the aforementioned Pacific Ocean RFMOs and is regulated by NMFS through the High Seas Fishing Compliance Act; however, the Council has developed and NMFS implemented management measures applicable to the purse seine fishery in the Western Pacific Region. For 147