History of the Billfish Fisheries and Their Management in the Western Pacific Region - By Michael Markrich
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No. 10, November 2020
History of the Billfish Fisheries
and Their Management in the
Western Pacific Region
By Michael Markrich
A
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael Markrich
is the former public
information officer
for the State of
Hawai‘i Department
of Land and
Natural Resources;
communications
officer for State
of Hawai‘i Department of Business,
Economic Development and Tourism;
columnists for the Honolulu Advertiser;
socioeconomic analyst with John M.
Knox and Associates; and consultant/
owner of Markrich Research. He holds
a bachelor of arts degree in history from
the University of Washington and a
master of science degree in agricultural
and resource economics from the
University of Hawai‘i.
Disclaimer: The statements, findings and
conclusions in this report are those of the
author and do not necessarily represent the
views of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery
Management Council or the National Marine
Fisheries Service (NOAA).
© Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management
Council, 2020. All rights reserved, Published in
the United States by the Western Pacific Regional
Fishery Management Council under NOAA Award
#NA20NMF4410013
ISBN: 978-1-944827-55-7
Cover photo: Sports fishing for billfish, Kona,
Hawai‘i. Photo courtesy of Kevin Hibbard.
B
CONTENTS
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PREFACE iii 1a–c. Shortbill spearfish, striped marlin and broadbill
swordfish iv
1. Introduction 1 2. Pacific blue marlin 1
2. Big Game Fishermen 2 3. A marlin hangs in the window of the McDonald’s
on Saipan 2
3. Hawai‘i Early Billfish History 3 4. Striped marlin caught by wealthy angler 3
4. Longline Expansion in the Post–World War II Era 7 5. Wooden sampans introduced by Japanese fishermen 3
6. Flagline gear (also known as basket gear) 4
5. Change Brought by the Big Game Fishermen 9 7. Flagline/longline gear illustration 4
6. The Recreational Billfish Controversy Comes to Hawai‘i 11 8. Flagline-caught billfish 4
9. Kajiki fillet 4
7. Challenges in Developing of the Preliminary Management
10. Japanese woman selling fish cake in Honolulu 5
Plans 12
11. President F. D. Roosevelt visits Hawai‘i 5
8. The Council’s Fishery Management Plan 14 12. Capt. Henry Chee 6
9. Competing Fishery Management Goals for Billfish 13. Capt. Chee charter boat advertisement 6
in the U.S. Atlantic 16 14. Peter Fithian 6
15. Peter Fithian’s fishing news column banner 7
10. Inclusion of Tuna in the Magnuson-Stevens Act 17 16. Japanese longliner (circa 1946) 7
11. Longline Impact on Hawai‘i Fisheries 18 17. Regional fishery management organizations
focused on tuna and billfish 8
12. Local Actions Against the Hawai’i Swordfish Fishery 19 18. U.S. EEZ in the Western Pacific Region 11
13. Marine Protected Areas and Their Impacts 20 19. Longliner heading out to sea from port of Honolulu 17
20. WPRFMC Executive Director Kitty M. Simonds and
14. Negative Impacts of the Billfish Conservation Act Chair Wadsworth Yee 17
Amendment 22 21. Longliner from New Orleans in Honolulu 18
15. Evolution of Billfish Tournaments and Recreational 22. Hawai’i Longline-Sea Turtle Interactions 19
Fishery Policies 24 23. Hawai’i Longline-Seabird Interactions 20
24. Marine National Monuments in the Western Pacific
16. Proposals for Longline Changes 25 Region 20
17. Conclusion 27 25. Hawai’i Longline Exclusion Areas 21
26. U.S. and foreign fishing effort in the Western Pacific 22
27. Billfish selling at $4/pound retail after the Billfish
APPENDIX 1: Meetings Convened by the Western Pacific Conservation Act Amendment 23
Regional Fishery Management Council in Kona 28. Tagging a striper in Hawai’i 24
and about Marlin 28 29. Great Marlin Race 2010 Highlights 24
APPENDIX 2: Pelagic Fisheries Research Program Projects 30. Recreational fishing for billfish off Kona, Hawai’i 25
on Billfish and Hawai‘i Pelagic Fisheries (1997–2012) 29 31. Recreational fishing for billfish off Kona, Hawai’i 25
32. Serving blue marlin tempura at the 2003 NOAA
APPENDIX 3: Impact of the 2018 Billfish Conservation Act Fish Fry 25
Amendment on Honolulu Fish Dealers 30 33. Spicy Au Tartare 26
REFERENCES 33 34. Smoked marlin 26
35. Nairigi (striped marlin) filet 27
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 36 36. Change in billfish sales by species following the
BCA amendment 32
37. Change in total billfish sales following the
BCA amendment 32
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. Change in billfish sales by type following the
BCA amendment 32
i
Photo: SBHawaii.com | Pinterest / Joel Villanueva
List Of Abbreviations
BCA Billfish Conservation Act
CNMI Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
CPUE catch per unit effort
EEZ exclusive economic zone
ESA Endangered Species Act
FCMA Fishery Conservation and Management Act
FCZ Fishery Conservation Zone
FMP Fishery Management Plan
HIBT Hawai‘i Invitational Billfish Tournament
HMS Highly Migratory Species
HVB Hawaii Visitors Bureau
IATTC Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission
ICCAT International Commission for the Conservation
of Atlantic Tunas
IGFA International Game Fishing Association
ISC International Scientific Committee for Tuna
and Tuna-like Species in the North Pacific Ocean
IUU illegal, unreported and unregulated
MAFAC Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee
MHI main Hawaiian Islands
MPA marine protected area
MNM Marine National Monument
MSA Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and
Management Act
MSY maximum sustainable yield
mt metric tons
NCMC National Coalition for Marine Conservation
NEPA National Environmental Policy Act
NGO non-government organization
nm nautical mile
NMFS National Marine Fisheries Service
NWHI Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
OY optimum yield
PFRP Pelagic Fisheries Research Program
PIFSC Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center
PMP Preliminary Management Plan
RFMO regional fishery management organization
(international)
SEZ Southern Exclusion Zone (Hawai‘i)
SPC South Pacific Commission
TBF The Billfish Foundation
UNCLOS United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
USTF U.S. Tuna Foundation
WCPFC Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission
WCPO Western and Central Pacific Ocean
WPRFMC Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council
ii
Preface
Western Pacific Islanders have been skilled deep-water fishermen for pelagic fish such as the
blue marlin for hundreds of years. During the early twentieth century, a cultural clash occurred
between Japanese longline fishermen and European and American big game fishermen. At the
heart of the initial dispute was the Western cultural belief that marlin are beautiful, iconic and
rare. Their aesthetic value encouraged the belief that the fish should be reserved as big game fish
to provide exciting entertainment for the high-end recreational fishing market. This perspective
contrasted sharply with the Japanese view. Japanese fishermen considered these fish as the
unintended bycatch of their far more valuable tuna fishery, to be used most profitably in low-end
processed fish meal products such as fish cake (kamaboko) for the masses.
Concerns over the survival of The injuring of protected species was species, taken at the expense of Pacific
large gamefish led wealthy big game mostly solved by the sustained effort Islanders. Currently, 51% of the
anglers—in alliance with recreational of the Council to ban longline fishing U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ,
tackle manufacturers, mass market within 50 nm of the Northwestern 0 to 200 miles from shore) surround
recreational fishermen, environmental Hawaiian Islands (NWHI). In addition, ing Hawai‘i, American Samoa, Guam,
ists and some commercial fishermen— longline captains were required to alter the Commonwealth of the Northern
to play a key role in the passage of the their fishing practices and type of fish Mariana Islands and the Pacific remote
Fishery Conservation and Management hooks. Billfish continued to be caught island areas (collectively, the Western
Act of 1976, now known as the as incidental catch, but their numbers Pacific Region) is designated as marine
Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA). dropped as commercial fishermen national monuments and 83% of the
After implementation of the MSA targeted deeper waters for tuna. In U.S. EEZ surrounding Hawai‘i is
legislation, a suite of federal fishery the meantime, the recreational billfish closed to longline fishing.
measures in the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf industry thrived, and Hawai‘i remains The issue is at once economic and
of Mexico, including calls for partial one of the best spots for big game cultural. By forcing U.S. fishermen
ban of swordfish fishing off Florida fishing in the world. However, cultural from federal waters, it unintentionally
(Shillington 1983), led to economic differences remain. While recreational makes the plundering of these waters
hardships for commercial fishermen, fishermen practice catch-and-release, more viable by illegal, unreported and
compelling them to move thousands one Pacific Islander noted, “Gentlemen, unregulated (IUU) fishermen.
of miles to Hawai‘i where state and we don’t play with our food.” The closures have resulted in loss
federal agencies were providing The protective exclusion of longline of jobs and income for fishermen
incentives for them to fish for pelagic vessels from the waters 0 to 50 nm and their families in Hawai‘i and
fish (Wagner 2000). The result was around the NWHI by the Council was the U.S. Pacific territories. In terms
a fourfold increase in the number held up as a model by the International of environmental safeguards, U.S.
of longline vessels fishing Hawai’i’s Game Fish Association in the early fisheries subject to strict regulations
offshore waters, a situation for which 1990s. Ironically, what evolved was have been supplanted by foreign
the Western Pacific Regional Fishery demands that huge areas of open fisheries that are largely unregulated
Management Council (WPRFMC) was ocean be set aside from fishing forever but are nonetheless able to sell
not prepared. The rapid growth in the without compensating Hawai‘i’s their catches in U.S. markets. For
fishery led to concerns about impacts indigenous people. Native Hawaiians U.S. Pacific Islanders who have few
to protected species such as monk seals have been deprived from from the economic options other than fishing,
and turtles as well as with the fishing income of one of their largest assets, these actions have had significant
practices of local fishermen. the waters of the NWHI, renamed negative consequences.
The problem of longline vessels Papahānaumokuākea and designated The COVID-19 pandemic is alter
interacting with the local, small-boat a national marine monument through ing familiar patterns for commercial
fishermen was solved by the WPRFMC presidential proclamation. This was and charter boat fishing throughout
through the development of a longline the first of what would be a series of the United States. It remains to be
exclusion zone that spanned from shore similar closures of offshore federal seen what impact this will have on
out to 50 to 75 nautical miles (nm) waters in the name of protecting billfish management in Hawai‘i and the
around the main Hawaiian Islands. coral reefs, billfish and other pelagic Western Pacific.
iii
Fig. 1a. Shortbill spearfish (hebi).
Fig. 1b. Striped marlin (nairagi).
Fig. 1c. Broadbill swordfish (shutome).
Photos: Hawaii Seafood Council
iv
1. Introduction
S
ince ancient times, flocks of black seabirds have indicated
the presence of huge schools of tuna swimming off Hawai‘i
(Glazier 2016a). Found among these tuna schools are Indo-Pacific
(Makaira mazara) and Atlantic (M. nigricans) blue marlin (both here
referred to as blue marlin, kajiki or a‘u), black marlin (M. indica or a‘u),
striped marlin (Kajikia audax and Tetrapturus audax, nairagi or a‘u),
shortbill spearfish (T. angustirostris or hebi), sailfish (Istiophorus
platypterus) and broadbill swordfish (Xiphias gladius, mekajiki or
shutome). (See Collette and Graves 2019 and HawaiiSeafood.org.)
These pelagic fish have been well known to the fishermen of the
Western Pacific for hundreds of years (Amesbury 2008) and have long
played an important role in Pacific Island culture.
Longlining is an 18th century only one time for eating, they started
Japanese fishing technique—considered the practice called catch and release,
the most efficient means of subsurface which allowed the same large marlin
fishing for tuna on the open sea—that or other billfish to survive after being
found its way to Hawai‘i in the early hooked so they might be caught
twentieth century. As the longlining multiple times.
industry grew alongside the world’s Eventually, a pastime for the very
demand for tuna, a number of big rich evolved into a recreational charter
game fishermen on the U.S. mainland and tournament industry associated
complained that the Japanese longline with gaming that is today valued at
fishermen were taking too many prized more than $3 billion (Ditton and Stoll
large blue marlin, turning what could 2003).1 As this elite industry grew
be rare and beautiful sport trophies in size and influence, it changed the
into fish cake. A clash of cultures and nature of the sport and transformed
classes developed. the balance between recreational
Unlike their counterparts in Hawai‘i, and commercial fishing in U.S. waters.
who also caught marlin for sport, The competition between U.S. big
big game fishermen from the U.S. game fishermen and commercial
mainland did not normally eat the fishermen, as it affects U.S. regulatory
marlin and other fish they caught. practices and the islands and peoples
They were not interested in the flavor within the jurisdiction of the Western
of the fish but in the exhilaration of Pacific Regional Fishery Management
catching an elusive quarry and sharing Council (WPRFMC), is the subject
the experience with their friends. They of this history.
created yacht clubs, competitions and
social gambling events around the
Fig. 2. Pacific blue marlin (Makaira mazara)
catching of marlin and other billfish. is commonly known in Hawai‘i as kajiki or
Believing that marlin, like freshwater a‘u (the Hawaiian word applied to all marlin
trout, were too valuable to be caught species). Photo: Hawaii Seafood Council
1. Their estimate of the economic impact for the United States in 2003 was $2.4 billion. In 2019 dollars,
that number equates to $3.3 billion. Depending upon the multiplier, it may be even higher.
1
2. Big Game Fishermen
The recreational pursuit of trophy billfish such as marlin, spearfish, emitted highly visible social signals of
sailfish and broadbill swordfish is known as “big game fishing.” This exclusivity, wealth and success. Men
and women alike enjoyed the status
sport was helped in its development around 1900 by the creation of and signature branding that came
specially built fishing boats with inboard engines. (Holcombe 1923). from being photographed standing,
usually well dressed and fishing
The social culture of the time in the Atlantic northwest, as far pole in hand, next to a huge blue
embraced big game fishing as an south as Florida and as far north as marlin hanging from a steel hook,
exciting action sport. Anglers used New England. However, marlin are the fish dwarfing them in scale.
carefully crafted fishing rods and reels found throughout the world’s seas, The sense of accomplishment did
with specially made fishing lines and and the glamour that surrounded not end there. Many of these large
baited hooks to troll for fish behind their catch spread as fishermen trophy fish were cast in sand molds
their boats. Photos of brave anglers competed to catch the biggest fish by taxidermists who hand painted
standing next to enormous fish caught and establish a world’s record. them into brilliantly colored lifelike
the world’s imagination. Opinions The sport was immortalized reproductions that could be hung
differ as to when the first marlin was during the 1920s by celebrity writer on walls in prominent locations
caught by a motor boat. Some say Zane Grey, who wrote bestsellers as a tangible symbol of success for
it was in Florida in 1900. However, such as Tales of Fishing Virgin Seas everyone to see. This is true even
following the establishment of the (1925) and Tales of Tahitian Waters today. Visitors to Saipan who visit
Tuna Club of Avalon in California, (1931). Images of the sport became the local McDonald’s can admire a
prominent big game fishermen who a mainstay of popular culture 239-pound Pacific blue marlin that
knew about the abundance of billfish and were featured in Hollywood was caught by the chairman of the
and tuna in Hawai‘i founded the movies and sports magazines. McDonald’s Corporation in August
Hawai‘i Big Game Fishing Club in Although places such as Key West, 1977 off Honolulu (Tuten-Puckett
1914, the second such club founded Florida, offered at-will shared-cost et al. 2003). Even after more than
globally. The first motorized billfish charters aimed at attracting working- 40 years, its shining presence in the
fishing boat arrived in Hawai‘i in and middle-class participants, the store fills visiting customers with
1916 from San Diego, California. demographics of big game fishing from awe and demonstrates like a talisman
At the heart of this new sport its start was largely the wealthy and the proud connection between
was then and is today the marlin— those with high levels of disposable the Saipan McDonald’s and the
beautiful fish, distinct in shape and income (Ditton and Stoll 2003). executive of its parent company.
color, that swim at 50 miles an Part of the sport’s appeal was that it A number of the big game fishermen
hour or more among tuna schools, of the early sports fishing era went
feeding off the tuna as they move on to participate in exclusive fishing
beneath the surface. The catching tournaments with friends and family.
of these large blue and black billfish
by means of a lure trolled behind
a motor boat produces a sense of
euphoria that is difficult replicate in
other sports pursuits. During the
early part of the twentieth century in
the U.S. Atlantic, the catch occurred
seasonally. Blue marlin were sought
from January to April in the southwest
Atlantic and from June to October
Fig. 3. A marlin hangs in the window of the
McDonald’s in Saipan, Commonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands, and another hangs
on the restaurant’s wall. One of the marlin
was caught by the chairman of McDonald’s
Corporation. Photo: WPRFMC.
2
These tournaments—with their protocols, The sport also attracted busy Through their international organi
carefully carved trophies and exotic executives, who could relax fishing for zations, the big game fishermen of
rituals—were promoted as incentives billfish on a small boat away from the Atlantic were encouraged to travel
for wealthy individuals to visit exclusive the demands of others. Alternatively, the world to catch the biggest marlin.
high-end resorts in Florida, Hawai‘i, they could use the sport as an oppor Encouraged by their international
Cuba and other parts of the world. tunity for negotiating exclusive social networks, a number of big game
business deals while they enjoyed the fishing celebrities, such as Ernest
enhanced privacy the charter boats Hemingway, became interested in
offered (TBP 2004). Hawai‘i where the largest marlin
Despite the economic downturn were caught.
of the Great Depression (1929–1939), In the desire at the time to catch
which caused many of the low-cost the biggest, few were troubled that
charter boats to go out of business, the heaviest and largest fish taken were
interest in the sport remained high, females. The maximum weight of male
and, in 1939, the International blue marlins is 300 pounds and rarely
Game Fishing Association (IGFA) a few pounds more. Thus, they are
was established. The IGFA was an generally not regarded as trophy fish.
organization of like-minded individuals The perceived need to protect and
from around the world who supported monopolize the biggest fish for the
with annual dues the interests of pleasure of their fellow upper-class
big game fishermen, established a sports fishermen would put big game
library and museum, and created fishermen on a collision course with
protocols for world’s record catches. Japanese fishermen who saw marlin and
The last included specifications for the other gamefish as a catch less valuable
reporting, weighing, certifying and per pound than tuna but important
recording of catches. nonetheless as a source of revenue
Fig. 4. Striped marlin caught by wealthy from fish-cake makers. This led to the
angler, mid-twentieth century. Photo: Eugene controversy that followed.
Marie Marron (1957).
3. Hawai‘i Early Billfish History
Native Hawaiians used special
hooks to catch billfish (a‘u), tuna
and other large pelagic fish for
hundreds of years from outrigger
canoes. The tuna and billfish
schools, including those of blue
marlin, were abundant and could
be found close to shore. As it
was among the Europeans and
Americans later, the excitement
and satisfaction of catching huge,
fast-moving fish was considered Fig. 5. Hawai‘i historic flagline/longline vessels were wooden sampans introduced by Japanese
such a rare experience that it was fishermen. Photo: NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC).
reserved exclusively for the ali‘i, the Native Hawaiian nobility. In the early nineteen hundreds, two
Billfish such as marlin were especially prized for their long, spike-like events occurred that would change that
perspective.
bills, which, in ancient times, were turned into daggers and swords. From 1906 onwards, Japanese
The ancient Hawaiians knew how to catch billfish in the open sea fishermen were searching the world for
and did not anticipate competitors from outside their world coming subsurface tuna schools. Information
to fish for them. reached Japan about the proximity of
3
Fig. 6. Flagline gear included sections of tarred rope. Each section was kept Fig. 7. Flagline/longline gear includes miles of line kept afloat by
in a basket. Photo: NOAA PIFSC. buoys. Source: WPRFMC.
bigeye and yellowfin tuna schools lines with baited hooks fastened to the Hawai’i during the 1920s and 1930s
to Honolulu. Soon afterward, mainline descended to depths of 150 ate with thin noodles known as saimin.
a fisherman from Wakayama, to 300 feet. The average number of Kamaboko had both economic and
Japan, came to Hawai‘i to explore hooks was 300 per vessel. The flagline political importance. It was one of the
its fishing possibilities. He was could spread for up to 8 miles behind principal sources of protein for the
successful, and, in 1917, a fishing the vessel. plantation workers, many of whom
fleet was developed in Wai‘anae that By changing the depth of the hooks, could not afford other kinds of fish.
became the largest source of fresh the fishermen could target different The dismay that sports fishing
tuna in Hawai‘i (Otsu 1954). species. On average, 7,000 pounds of writer S. Kip Farrington expressed
This fleet was comprised of 40- to fish were caught per 10-day trip, of about the Honolulu fish market of the
63-foot motorized wooden sampans, which approximately 25% to 32% was late 1930s was typical of the mainland
vehicles introduced by Japanese fisher billfish of various kinds, including writers of his era. He described the
marlin. In contrast to sight by saying, “… almost all of the
the relatively few large fish brought in [to the fish market in
game fish caught by the Honolulu] are the magnificent game
troll fishermen in small fish we so much desire to catch on rod
boats, skilled professional and reel. Every morning there will be
flagline fishermen caught sampan after sampan tied up at the
hundreds. The largest fishing piers with hundreds of these
flagline fleet was in great fish iced down in their holds”
Honolulu on O‘ahu, but (Farrington 1942). This cultural diffe
other fleets were based rence would have long-term political
in Hilo and Kona on the repercussions on billfish policy in Hawai‘i.
Hawai‘i (locally called the Recreational anglers came to Hawai‘i
Big Island) and in Port from California in search of blue marlin
Allen on Kaua‘i. and giant tuna soon after these species
The catch of marlin were found in Southern California.
Fig. 8. (Right) Billfish would account for one-quarter to one-third by the local flagline Over the next 10 years, Hawai‘i became
of the flagline catch. Photo: NOAA PIFSC. fishermen was criticized
men that would become the standard by visiting recreational fishermen who
in the Hawaiian longline industry for feared that the billfish stocks would
the next 50 years. The longline fishing be overexploited. The recreational
technique imported from Japan was anglers, predominately upper-class
known as flagline. The fishing gear Caucasians from the U.S. mainland,
included sections of tarred ropes, known did not generally eat the billfish they
as “baskets” or “basket gear” as they caught. Instead, they posed with
were often stored in baskets. These them for photos. Meanwhile, the local
sections were deployed connected to flagline fishermen sold their billfish to
each other end to end to constitute a be ground up as fish meal and baked
set. Flagged floats were attached at the into kamaboko, or fish cake, which the
Fig. 9. Kajiki (blue marlin) fillet. Photo: Hawaii
juncture of each section. Numerous working class plantation workers in Seafood Council.
4a premier global destination for big
game fishing for marlin and other fish.
The activity was heavily promoted to
visitors who arrived on Matson luxury
liner ships and stayed in Honolulu at the
world-famous Royal Hawaiian hotel.
Big game fishing differed in Hawai‘i
from other areas on the U.S. mainland.
On the mainland, marlin may have
been thrown away or sold for cat food
after being photographed. However,
Hawai‘i sports fishermen knew their
crews needed to sell game fish at the
local Japanese fish markets to pay their
expenses. For this reason, most did
not share the antagonism to longliners
of their mainland counterparts. Besides,
there seemed to be enough fish for
everyone.
Likewise, recreational billfish played
an important role in local society. Fig. 11. President F. D. Roosevelt offered gifts of octopus (squid) and fish while vacationing in
Prominent members of Hawai‘i society Hawai‘i, July 1934. Photo: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, National Archives.
such as Charles M. Cooke III, co-
founder of the Cooke Trust, became in local tournaments. The sport drew Maui, Kaua‘i and the Big Island of
involved in the sport and participated wealthy tourists, who looked at big Hawai‘i catered to both the local
game fishing as something to do in elite and mainland visitors. In an
Hawai‘i and who posed with the effort to please their high-paying
large fish they caught as mementoes clientele who needed to hook up a
of their trips. The sport became so marlin to be satisfied, charter boat
popular among wealthy visitors that crews developed special knowledge
the Kona Inn was built specifically to of marlin habits. They caught a
accommodate these visiting fishermen, disproportionate number of the blue
who featured among them many and striped marlin in which their
famous people including President clients were interested. This was
Franklin Delano Roosevelt. especially true off Kailua-Kona on the
Recreational billfish fishing also Big Island, where ocean eddies create
played a part in local business and unique currents where marlins tend
commerce. Because the Hawai‘i to congregate (Seki et al. 2002).
tourism charter boat business was Through much of the 1930s, 40s
aggressively promoted by mainland and 50s, the Kona area was known
writers, business was strong. Skilled among the world’s billfish enthusiasts
boatmen of Japanese, Native Hawaiian, as a place where one was likely to catch
Chinese and Filipino ethnicities could a “grander,” a large billfish weighing
earn significant tips from visitors over 1,000 pounds. Each year wealthy
who had high disposable incomes. fishermen from California, including
In addition, a small but highly Hollywood celebrities, would hire
skilled specialty lure business famous local fishing boat captains like
developed. Hawai‘i handmade lures Henry Chee, whose vessel, Malia, was
Fig. 10. Ethnic Japanese, working-class women were sold at high prices to sportsmen known as the “Grey Ghost of Kona.”
in Honolulu (circa 1930) shopped for items like and fishing stores globally. As with But the fishing trips skippered by Chee
fish cake to feed their families. Selling fish and
the ali‘i of old, the sport of marlin and others, such as George Stevens
fish cake from door to door on the plantation
was a form of life insurance for fisherwomen
fishing was reserved for the prominent Parker, catered to a small group of
and their families and provided a constant in Hawai‘i society. Even the boats very wealthy people and did not have
stream of income. If their husband was lost at were moored at yacht clubs, which a significant impact on the island’s
sea, the family could survive by selling fish were privileged retreats for the elite. economy. Only four charter fishing
provided to them from someone else in their Private-charter trolling boats found boats worked regularly between 1945
close social network. Photo: Hawai‘i State Archives. at small boat harbors in Honolulu, and 1955. They anchored off the
5Kona Inn, where deckhands doubled tourism destination if they created However, despite these challenges
as waiters to drum up fishing clients a prestigious international fishing commercial charter boat fishing in
among the visitors. tournament (Hogan 1983). Kona began to grow
For the few In 1958 he proposed the idea to the By the early 1970s Fithian’s
charter boat director of the Hawaii Visitors Bureau interest in building a reliable database
captains, business (HVB). The HVB agreed to make up on Hawaiian billfish attracted the
was difficult. The any incurred losses. Support also came attention of John C. Marr, one of the
money they made from local airlines, Big Island hotels most influential biologists of the era
came from the few and the Kona Jaycees. and the former director of the Bureau
tourists and from While preparing for the tournament, of Commercial Fisheries (later renamed
what they could Fithian discovered the need for billfish the National Marine Fisheries Service
make driving research in Hawai‘i. “We had the species or NMFS) Biological Laboratory in
across the island to all screwed up because we didn’t know Honolulu. The Honolulu Laboratory,
sell their fish at the Fig. 12. Capt. Henry Chee.one kind of marlin from another and as it was commonly called, began its
Source: IGFA.
Suisun fish auction we had different names for them. What work in 1949 under the leadership of
in Hilo. There were few radios on was a black marlin, we called silver, Oscar Elton Sette and soon started
boats. During the early days, captains and there was no recognition of the what would become a long record of
like Chee carried pigeons. When he Pacific blue marlin. The Hawaiians advanced tuna and billfish science.
caught a marlin, he would write a note, called all the blues black (marlin)” During Sette’s time, the lab was known
put it in a capsule, tie it to the bird’s (ibid). The recordkeeping did not meet as the Department of the Interior’s
leg and send the pigeon flying to the IGFA standards. Deciding that the Pacific Oceanic Fishery Investigations.
home of his partner’s wife, Mrs. Charles offshore anchorage at the Kona Inn was Its internationally recognized research
inadequate for world class destination, in the 1950s included groundbreaking
he began promoting the idea of a new surveys of tunas and billfishes and
small boat harbor. their pelagic habitat in the equatorial
Fithian persevered and ran the Pacific with the research vessels Smith
tournament out of his office. The (which did oceanographic research)
first Hawaiian International Billfish and Manning (which did longline
Tournament (HIBT) was held in 1959 gear work).
and attracted 20 Hawai‘i teams, two In the 1979s, NMFS was moving
foreign teams and two U.S. mainland from an approach of fisheries
teams. Most of the entrants had their management based solely on catch
Fig. 13. Advertisement for Capt. Henry Chee’s own boats. There were only six or data by commercial fishermen to one
chartered fishing boat service aboard the Malia. seven charter boats available in Kona in which models might be used to
Source: Honolulu Advertiser, Sept. 12, 1954. for hire. determine populations on the open
Fithian spent the next years actively sea. There was interest in getting more
Findlayson. She would read the note. If promoting fishing charters in Kona and new kinds of data based on the life
it was a big marlin, she would arrange with a travel and history of fish, e.g., their ages, what
for a photographer. The fish was hung booking agency. they ate, how they reproduced, etc.
from a hook attached to palm tree in He introduced This need for improved information
front of the Inn. It was a simple life a share concept for management purposes led Richard
with the captains living on a narrow so that a single Shomura, the director at the time of
margin of income. It may have seemed fisherman could the Honolulu Lab, to hold the first
idyllic to some, but, in fact, it was very book a place on international symposium on billfish
stressful. One of the last things Chee a charter boat. in 1972. The meeting focused on the
said to his wife, before he died of a By making the little known life history of billfishes
stroke at age 55 while gaffing a fish, experience more and included panels of fishermen
was “Don’t let Butch [their son] fish for Fig. 14. Peter Fithian. affordable for and scientists, including Fithian,
Source: Honolulu
a living” (Gutskey 1986). more people, he international fisheries author Peter
Advertiser, Nov. 6, 1955.
The island of Hawai‘i lacks beautiful broadened the Goadby and Kona captains George
beaches that are large and accessible, potential market for fishing boat captains. Parker and Richard Stroud (Hawaii
and it attracted few visitors during the In 1970, his push for a small harbor Tribune Herald 1972).
early years of tourism development. for Kona was successful. It took about By 1975, Fithian’s venture was a
Peter Fithian who arrived in 1955 50 tons of dynamite to blast lava to success. Thousands of visitors were
decided that things could be different. create the harbor at Honokohau. It was coming to Kona to fish with their
He began promoting the concept to a rough harbor without steps in some families and there were luxury resorts
local businessmen that the Kona coast places, and people had to jump down to cater to them. However, as this
could become a year-round, high-end from rock walls to get to the boats. business developed there was increasing
6luxury market that Fithian and his Pacific Ocean Research Foundation.
colleagues had created. If the granders Its goals were “Preservation,
were gone, the business could go too. Knowledge and Management.” The
To garner the information needed foundation’s independent research
to face this threat, Fithian and Marr and lobbying effort ensured that not
Fig. 15. Peter Fithian’s news column banner. formed the Pacific Gamefish Foundation. all discussion dealing with the future
Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Jan. 21, 1966. The foundation supported the work of of billfish would be dominated by the
researcher Charles Daxboeck, whose commercial fisheries and government
concern that commercial longliners work in time moved from forensic exami fishing administrators. The big game
from Japan were taking too many of nation of stomach contents of caught fishing industry, which depended on
the large gamefish on the open sea. billfish toward eventual state of the tourism, would have a seat at the table.
The presence of these large fish was art satellite tagging. The foundation (Hogan 1983)
essential for the new ocean tourism eventually became known as the
4. Longline Expansion in the Post–World War II Era
Partly subsidized by the U.S. and Japanese governments in an effort took 8,236 metric tons of striped
to prevent famine in occupied Japan after World War II, Japanese marlin (126,700 fish) and 9,413
metric tons of blue marlin (75,300
longline fleets re-geared and used their pre-war knowledge to search fish). Not to mention countless other
the world’s ocean for tuna. Their quest for yellowfin and other species billfish and tuna.” (Kane 1966).
such as albacore as well as bluefin and bigeye tuna began in the Pacific The Japanese fleet alone in 1965
and, in 1956, extended the Atlantic (NOAA 1978). They set 100 set almost 100 million hooks in the
Atlantic, catching almost 300,000
million hooks in a band between 40˚ N and 40˚ S. Fishing fleets from marlins according to estimates
Korea and Taiwan soon followed their example (Beardsley 1989). (NOAA 1978).
Although other countries, including
the United States, were involved with
bycatch of marlin, Japanese longline
fishing vessels became identified in
the public mind with the issue of
overfishing of the stock. Some of the
recreational big game fishermen began
to fear that billfish such as blue marlin,
white marlin, sailfish and swordfish
would be wiped out by 1970. Others,
Fig. 16. Japanese longliner (circa 1946). Photo: U.S. NOAA NMFS; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service;
such as Winthrop P. Rockefeller Jr.,
U.S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. a founder of The Billfish Foundation
(TBF) and later to become lieutenant
It did not take long for the South (mt) in 1963 and then dropped to governor of Arkansas, were more
Atlantic big game fishermen to feel less than 2,000–3,000 mt from optimistic and predicted they would
the effects of Japanese longlining. 1967 onwards, while white marlin last until 2001 (Rockefeller 1989).
Their catches in the Caribbean Sea catches peaked at 5,000 mt in 1965 The fears of overfishing worsened
off Florida, Cuba and Puerto Rico and fell to approximately 1,000 as 100 to 300 foreign vessels from
decreased almost immediately. The mt by 1977 (Gentner 2007). Russia, Poland, Spain and other
results of the Japanese industrial A sense of panic set in, reflected nations joined the Japanese and
fishing effort would soon be borne in articles in Sports Illustrated: “[The developed factory-fishing industries
out by Japanese fisheries data, Japanese fishing industry] growth off American shores: from Florida to
which indicated that, from 1958 from 1956 to 1963 was astronomical. Maine on the Eastern Seaboard and
onwards, the catch per unit effort In 1956, when 164,000 hooks were from California to Alaska on the West
(CPUE) of blue and white marlin in set by the Japanese, they caught Coast (NOAA op. cit.). Many of these
the Atlantic had decreased from its seven metric tons of striped marlin industries used huge drift and drag
previous levels (Beardsley 1989). (100 fish) and 50 metric tons of blue nets that caught everything in their
Atlantic blue marlin commercial marlin (400 fish). By 1963 they had path, including billfish (Kifner 1974).
catches peaked at 9,000 metric tons more than 50 million hooks out and
7Regional Fishery Management Organizations
The U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) codified the rules of international law relating to
the high seas. Signed in 1958 and entered into force in 1962, UNCLOS was superseded by UNCLOS III in
1982. Articles 116 to 120 of UNCLOS address the responsibility of states engaged in fishing on the high
seas to negotiate with other states fishing in the same area or on the same stock to establish regional or
sub-regional fisheries organizations to conserve these living resources. Today, there are about a dozen and
half RFMOs globally. Of these, five manage fisheries for tuna and other large species such as swordfish and
marlin, covering approximately 91% of the world’s oceans.
The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Com
mission (IATTC) was established in 1949,
primarily to manage bait fish resources
for pole-and-line tuna vessels operating
in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. The
mem bers of the IATTC are Belize,
Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica,
Ecuador, El Salvador, European Union,
France, Guatemala, Japan, Kiribati,
Korea, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama,
Peru, Chinese Taipei, United States,
Vanuatu and Venezuela. Cooperating
nonmembers include Bolivia, Chile,
Honduras, Indonesia and Liberia. The
focus on baitfish shifted as more indus
trialized methods of tuna fisheries,
i.e., longline and purse-seine fishing, Fig. 17. The major regional fishery management organizations that focus on tuna and billfish.
became prominent. Further information Illustration: PewTrusts.org.
is available at www.iattc.org.
into force on 19 June 2004. The mem- Northern Committee of the WCPFC.
The International Commission for the bers include Australia, China, Canada, Membership is contingent on data
Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) Cook Islands, European Union, Federa indicating that fishing by a WCPFC
was established in 1966. ICCAT is ted States of Micronesia, Fiji, France, member occurred at latitudes higher
involved in management of 30 species, Indonesia, Japan, Kiribati, Republic than 20˚N. The ISC’s main focus is on
including swordfish, white marlin, blue of Korea, Republic of Marshall Islands, North Pacific albacore, Pacific bluefin
marlin and sailfish as well as tuna and Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, tuna, blue marlin, swordfish, striped
mackerels. The Commission is current Papua New Guinea, Philippines, marlin, blue shark and shortfin mako
ly comprised of 53 contracting parties. Samoa, Solomon Islands, Chinese shark. http://isc.fra.go.jp/.
The Commission may be joined by any Taipei, Tonga, Tuvalu, United States of
government that is a member of the America and Vanuatu. Several French, The Commission for the Conservation
United Nations any specialized U.N. U.S. and New Zealand territories (Ame of Southern Bluefin Tuna was estab
agency or any inter-governmental eco rican Samoa, Commonwealth of the lished in 1994 and involves Australia,
nomic integration organization con Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), Japan, New Zealand, Korea, Indonesia,
stituted by States that have transferred French Polynesia, Guam, New Cale Taiwan, the European Union and
to it competence over the matters donia, Tokelau, and Wallis and Futuna) South Africa.
governed by the ICCAT Convention. have a nonvoting seat at the table.
The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission was
Cooperating Non-members countries
The Western and Central Pacific Fisher founded in 1996 and is comprised of
include Curacao, Ecuador, El Salvador,
ies Commission (WCPFC) was established 31 members, including Indian Ocean
Nicaragua, Panama, Liberia, Thailand
by the Convention for the Conservation coastal countries and countries or
and Vietnam. www.wcpfc.int.
and Management of Highly Migratory regional economic integration organi
Fish Stocks in the Western and Central The International Scientific Committee zations that are member of the United
Pacific Ocean (Honolulu Convention), for Tuna and Tuna-like Species in Nations or one of its specialized
which was signed in 2000 and entered the North Pacific Ocean (ISC) is the agencies and are fishing for tuna in the
science provider to the members of the Indian Ocean.
85. Change Brought by the Big Game Fishermen
One day during the 1960s, big game fisherman Christopher Weld Weld recognized that recreational
encountered large foreign fishing trawlers off Georges Bank, one fishermen would have little influence on
the general public in regards to marine
of his favorite fishing grounds. Concerned that the foreign industrial conservation unless they took steps
fishing fleets were threatening the very existence of marlin and other to change their own culture first. For
prized game fish, he decided that the laws governing U.S. ocean this reason, he began promoting the
policies had to change. It was a daunting task. He believed the only way concept of catch and release.
At the time, catch and release was
to resolve the problem was for the United States to adopt a 200-mile a known but not a common practice.
Fishery Conservation Zone (FCZ) off its shores, a suggestion that A whole industry had been built around
had been promoted by UNCLOS since 1958. the killing of game fish: the taking and
framing of photographs, the making
Weld had a unique perspective. In an effort to empower recreational of trophies and handing them out at
In addition to being a big game fisher big game fishermen, he convened a tournaments, and the entire livelihood
man and hunter, he was independently meeting of the IGFA and the organizers of taxidermists. All of these activities
wealthy—a descendant of one Boston’s of the 40 major fishing tournaments in made money and returned it in the
oldest, wealthiest and most distinguished the United States. To them he promo form of sales commissions to charter
families; a Harvard College and ted several ideas: boat crews. These commissions and tips
University of Virginia law graduate; • The need to protect Atlantic tuna were vital to the business of the charter
and a partner in one of Boston’s most from being overfished, fishing boats. Big game fishermen were
prestigious law firms. He was also an reluctant to push catch and release as it
• The first major catch-and-release
appointee of President Richard Nixon program for billfish, and might alienate the captains and crews
to the Department of Commerce’s on whom they depended for successful
• A law that would push foreign fishing trips.
Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee
fishermen away from U.S. shores. Still, Weld and his colleagues persisted.
(MAFAC). Established in 1970, it was
the highest and most senior fisheries These were major ideas at the time. Over time, catch and release became a
advisory committee in the United Management of billfish such as marlin, customary practice that demonstrated
States at the time (Marine Biological which travel thousands of miles across that recreational fishermen were not just
Laboratory n.d.). the open ocean, involves sharing catching billfish, they were doing their
Weld was determined to use his information and gaining cooperation part for conservation.
connections and skills to pass a law from many nations. Most of the Pushing foreign fishing vessels away
in Congress that would force foreign nations that had access to tuna and from U.S. shores would prove more
fishermen from U.S. waters and billfish subsidized the commercial difficult. As a member of MAFAC,
promote the concept of a general fishing operations that sought pelagic Weld was aware that Senator Warren
marine conservation policy in the fish. African states such as Senegal Magnuson of Washington represented
public interest. The number of elite big and Latin American nations such as commercial salmon and crab fishermen.
game fishermen upon whom he could Brazil and Venezuela allowed artisanal Weld also knew that Magnuson had
draw for political support was very fishermen to target marlin and tuna. been trying, unsuccessfully, to push a
small, perhaps no more than 8,000 Organizations like ICCAT, the leading bill matching Weld’s intentions through
(Ditton and Stoll 2003). However, as RFMO in the Atlantic, had difficulty Congress since the early 1960s.
a group, they were disproportionately getting the participating Atlantic However, Magnuson was opposed by
wealthy, and many, like him, had nations to provide them with either powerful interests in the U.S. govern
significant political and economic ties. good data or the authority to make ment: the office of the President, the
In 1973, he founded the National management decisions. U.S. Navy and the U.S. Department
Coalition for Marine Conservation Fishing agencies in most of the of State (Carmel 2012).
(NCMC). His intent was to force countries affected were small, if they During the Cold War, the U.S.
foreign fishing vessels from U.S. waters existed at all, and underfunded. political and military establishments
and to give recreational anglers “a seat The different nation’s political leaders deemed it strategically preferable to allow
at the table” (Hinman 2017). To his competed with one another for fish the presence of foreign fishing fleets in
way of thinking, “the table” was then or sold their fishing rights for hard U.S. waters. The alternative was to face
dominated by U.S. fishery biologists currency to foreign fishermen. There reciprocal demands that would limit the
and large commercial fishing interests. was little incentive to cooperate. ability of U.S. military and fishing vessels
9to enter the coastal areas within 200 In 1975, Senator Magnuson joined began to be written. The legislation
nautical miles (nm) of shores that were Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, whose intended for all decisions to be based
claimed by foreign nations. The U.S. son was a commercial crab fisherman on scientific research, with catch targets
government’s official position could be off Alaska, in sponsoring a new bill for the different species to be managed
summarized as follows: called the Fishery Conservation and based on information derived from
The U.S. wanted to send its military Management Act (FCMA) intended to stock assessment models of existing
throughout the world’s oceans, protect Alaska’s fish from the Japanese fish populations. The models were
unimpeded by regulations as and Russians (Hinman 2017). Congress used to determine whether a stock was
seemingly far-fetched as where a boat men Don Young of Alaska and Gerry experiencing overfishing (too much
could fish. If a country could regulate Studds of Massachusetts, representing fishing effort) and/or was overfished
where boats could fish, that could New England fishermen, introduced it (below the stock level capable of yielding
open the door to other restrictions. in the House of Representatives. catch equal at MSY) and to provide the
But the flip side of this policy was Weld was determined to push the means to support the development of
that other nations claimed the same FCMA through Congress. Using his base rebuilding overfished stocks.
rights, the freedom of the seas to of big game fishermen, he built a However, soon after the MSA was
navigate where they wanted, and to coalition of non-tuna commercial fisher passed and the regional councils were
fish where they wanted, and to claim men, recreational fishing tackle manufac created, Weld and big game fishermen
those fish resources for themselves. turers and ocean conservationists. They complained that their intentions were
(Finley 2012) urged millions of recreational saltwater not being fulfilled. They expressed
fishermen, who normally caught fish their dismay that the U.S. government
The advocates for acceptance of close to shore, to call their congressmen was still biased in favor of commercial
UNCLOS were also opposed by the to protect marlin and other sports fish over recreational fisheries. Since tuna
powerful U.S. Tuna Foundation from foreign fisheries. These actions was the fish most sought after in
(USTF). The USTF consists of helped find the votes to make the FCMA offshore and distant-water fisheries,
individual U.S. flag vessels that use a reality (ibid.). the tuna industry was driving U.S.
purse-seine nets to catch fish. At the However, there was a price to be paid. policymakers. The regional councils
time, they caught 70% of their fish in The USTF would not allow the bill to could not manage tuna beyond their
the Pacific Ocean and opposed any pass Congress without a compromise— jurisdictions; they could only influence
effort that could threaten their access tuna had to be exempt from regulation. the management actions of the
to the fish off the coastline of any other This requirement created a dilemma international RFMOs by working with
nation. The USTF had a powerful because billfish and tuna not only inhabit the U.S. State Department and other
lobby. They were supported by many overlapping depths of pelagic waters but stakeholders including the U.S. tuna
members of Congress and were also eat much of the same food, which fishing industry (primarily the purse-
adamantly opposed to any change in means both have similar vulnerabilities to seine industry). NMFS collaborated
U.S. law that would restrict them from longline and troll fishing gear. One could with the U.S. State Department.
fishing within 3 nm of a foreign shore. not be managed reasonably on the open In response to criticism from big
When Weld began his campaign to ocean without also managing the other. game fishermen, U.S. commercial
protect Atlantic billfish, he knew he Weld said, “The net result of the fishermen responded that they had not
had to change the paradigm in which exclusion has been to defeat completely suffered from years of foreign fishing
fishing research subsidies were awarded every attempt to regulate fishing for so wealthy recreational anglers and
almost exclusively to subjects related to large pelagic species beyond the territo large recreational tackle manufacturers
the success of the commercial fishing rial seas pursuant to the […] Act” (ibid.). could make fortunes at the expense of
industry. He wanted the U.S. govern Nevertheless, reasoning that this com commercial fishermen. Commercial
ment to expend funds on scientific promise was better than no legislation fishermen stated they had a right to
studies so billfish populations could at all, Weld supported the agreement. catch fish, restaurants had a right to
be assessed properly. In the legislation Thus, the revised act, called the serve fish and consumers had a right
he envisioned, the government would Magnuson Fisheries Conservation and to eat it. Commercial fishermen stated
set careful targets based, not on the Management Act (ultimately known as they would proceed along the lines
greatest catch possible, but on the the Magnuson-Stevens Act or MSA), agreed in the FCMA but argued that
maximum sustainable yield (MSY) 2 passed through Congress in 1976 and the ocean did not belong to any one
of the fishery. He wanted to ensure that took effect March 1, 1977. group. This situation became a national
large marlin, spearfish and swordfish— The MSA established eight regional controversy that soon found its way to
the world’s pre-eminent game fish— fisheries councils, and, at the urging Hawai‘i. Here, billfish constituted an
would be not become overfished. of Weld and his associates, billfish important part of the local diet.
fishery management plans (FMPs)
2. The maximum sustainable yield (MSY) for a given fish stock means the highest possible annual catch that can be sustained over time, by keeping the stock at the
level producing maximum growth.
106. The Recreational Billfish Controversy Comes to Hawai‘i
In 1976, the WPRFMC was formed as one of the eight U.S. councils An estimated 1,500 private recreational
created under the MSA. Its authority was the management of fisheries boaters spent more than $1 million to
operate 386 vessels (WPRFMC 1978).
seaward of state/territorial waters of Hawai‘i, American Samoa and
The total spent on recreational fishing
Guam and eventually the CNMI and the U.S. Pacific remote island areas for billfish and tuna in Hawai‘i was
as well. Although the Council was initially dominated by commercial probably much greater.
fishing interests, among its members were charter boat fishermen Although the Atlantic was very far
State Sen. Wadsworth Yee (who would become the Council chair) and away from the Western Pacific, Weld
felt compelled to comment on behalf
Peter Fithian. On the commercial side, the fishermen were represented of big game fishermen against foreign
by Frank Goto, the manager of the United Fishing Agency and the longline fleets operating in the newly
first Hawai‘i tuna fisherman to be appointed to the MAFAC. For the established U.S. EEZ in the Western
first time, Hawai‘i fishermen had influence at the highest levels of Pacific Region. He came to Hawai‘i to
decision-making on fishery policies at the U.S. Department of Commerce. testify against longlining in front of the
new Council (WPRFMC 1977). From
After the Council was established, its more comprehensive Billfish and his office in Massachusetts, he wrote
Council members were appointed and Associated Species FMP (later named to NMFS and recommended several
the Council staff was hired, the Council the Pelagic FMP) (1987), which would changes to the 1978 draft Billfish PMP
began to assist NMFS in the develop regulate both foreign and domestic (Weld 1977). In particular, he wanted
ment of the Pacific Billfish and Oceanic fishing in the Western Pacific Region. foreign longlining “prohibited altoge
Sharks Preliminary Fishery Management There was little question that, by ther in the FCZ” and described long
Plan (PMP). The PMP (1978) would 1976, the local recreational charter boat line as “an indiscriminate fishing gear
be used to regulate foreign fishing in fleet and trollers were more valuable which catches many species of fish ….”
the Pacific U.S. exclusive economic zone to the state’s economy than the decli Compared to the Japanese fleet, the
(EEZ) until the Council completed ning commercial longline fleet was. Hawai‘i longline fleet was insignificant.
At the time Weld wrote his criticism
160°E 180° 160°W of longlining in the
Western Pacific, only
13 full-time domestic
North Pacific Ocean longline vessels were
Hawaiian still operating in
Islands
Hawai‘i. The industry
Wake Is.
20°N had been in decline
for 25 years, from
INTERNATIONAL DATE LINE
Northern
Mariana Islands
Johnston 1950 to 1975, for a
Atoll number of reasons:
Guam low prices for fresh
tuna, the inability
Palmyra
of Hawai‘i fish distri
Atoll butors to enter the
Japanese market,
Howland Is. better opportunities
0°
Baker Is.
Jarvis Is.
for young Japanese-
American men and
increasingly high
fuel costs.
American
South Pacific Ocean Samoa
20°S
200 Mile Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) – Pacific Island Nations
Fig. 18. U.S. EEZ in the Western Pacific Region in red. Source: WPRFMC.
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