The Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, Part of NOAA''s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has released a report of the fish catch and fishing effort of Hawaii-based longline vessels during the first quarter of 2008. World Fishing looks at the data.
The report summarises data reported to NMFS in federal logbooks of daily fishing activity submitted by vessel operators. The report covers longline operations for fishing trips completed in the first quarter of 2008 and most, but not all, Q1-2008 data from trips that began late in the first quarter and continued into the second quarter of 2008.
During Q1-2008, 127 vessels were active in the Hawaii-based fleet, six more than in Q1-2007. They made 439 longline trips (14 more than in Q1-2007), including 394 using deep-set gear to target tuna (27 more than in Q1-2007) and 45 using shallow-set gear to target swordfish (13 less than in Q1 2007).
A record 10.2 million hooks were deployed in Q1-2008, 1.3 million more than in Q1-2007. The fleet fished mainly outside the US Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) (48% of the total hooks set), followed by the EEZ of the Main Hawaiian Islands (MHI) (32%) and waters within the EEZ of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) (9%).
Seven per cent of the hooks were deployed in the EEZ of the US Pacific Remote Island Areas (PRIA).
In Q1-2008, the Hawaii longline fleet caught a record 45,239 bigeye tuna; 51% were caught outside the US EEZ, 31% in the MHI EEZ, 9% in the NWHI EEZ, and 8% in the PRIA EEZ.
The bigeye tuna catch-per-unit-of-effort (CPUE) on tuna-targeted trips was 4.7 fish per 1,000 hooks, exceeding the Q1-2007 CPUE of 3.9.
The albacore catch and CPUE on tuna-targeted trips in Q1-2008 were 7,623 fish and 0.65 fish per 1,000 hooks, respectively. The yellowfin tuna catch (19,039 fish) in Q1-2008 established a first quarter record and the yellowfin CPUE on tuna-targeted trips (2.0 fish per 1,000 hooks) was higher than average for the quarter.
The Q1-2008 swordfish catch was 11,022 fish, 20% lower than in Q1-2007. The smaller swordfish catch is attributed mostly to fewer shallow sets made this year. In Q1-2008, swordfish CPUE on shallow-set swordfish-targeted trips was 15.2 fish per 1,000 hooks, 0.8 lower than in Q1-2007.
The Q1-2008 striped marlin catch (2,301 fish) and CPUE on tuna-targeted trips (0.23 fish per 1,000 hooks) were lower than in Q1-2007 by 30% and 43%, respectively. Conversely, the Q1-2008 blue marlin catch (810 fish) and CPUE on tuna-targeted trips (0.08 fish per 1,000 hooks) were higher than in Q1-2007 by 45% and 14%.
The fleet caught 18,809 sharks in Q1-2008, of which 572 (3%) were kept. Blue shark comprised 82% of the total shark catch (15,467 fish). Blue shark CPUE on shallow-set swordfish-targeted trips was 10.1 fish per 1,000 hooks.
In Q1-2008, the Hawaii longline catch of other key pelagic species included 25,931 mahimahi with a CPUE of 2.6 fish per 1,000 hooks on tuna-targeted trips; 1,726 moonfish with a CPUE of 0.18 fish per 1,000 hooks on tuna-targeted trips; 10,993 pomfret with a CPUE of 1.2 fish per 1,000 hooks on tuna-targeted trips; and 3,246 wahoo (Fig. 24) with a CPUE of 0.34 fish per 1,000 hooks on tuna-targeted trips. A high percentage of the catch of these species was kept.
