TEN YEARS AFTER
The U.S. pelagic longline fleet likes to describe the way it fishes
as “ecosystem-friendly,” citing changes in gear and fishing
practices to minimize fatal interactions
with protected species. Of course, they claim all the credit
for themselves, giving none to the conservation groups that
forced them to change their ways.
The use of circle hooks was required fleet-wide after a
June 2000 “jeopardy-finding” that longlining endangered
the survival of sea turtles. The generally more-forgiving
hooks, however, are not proven to reduce longline deaths of
other non-target species. For threatened billfish and sharks,
the most effective “modification” to longlining was closing
bycatch hot-spots to the indiscriminate gear.
In response to a 2000 lawsuit by the National Coalition
for Marine Conservation, the government closed 133,000
square miles of fishing grounds off South Carolina and both
coasts of Florida to pelagic longlining the following year.
The conservation benefits have been huge, saving tens of
thousands of threatened blue and white marlin, sailfi sh,
pelagic and large coastal sharks and hundreds of thousands
of juvenile swordfish.
Although the closures helped rebuild Atlantic swordfish,
U.S. landings last year were less than two-thirds our ICCAT
quota. The industry blames the closed areas, but in fact, the
U.S. hasn’t landed its quota since 1994. In the 5-year period
before the area closures were implemented, the number of
active longline vessels decreased by 45%. Effort continued
to drop off after 2000, but has been rising in recent years.
In 2009, U.S. fishermen caught nearly the same tonnage of
swordfish they took the year before the closures.
WE’D LOVE TO CHANGE THE WORLD
Even so, the industry wants the U.S. to re-open closed
areas to catch more swordfish, lest a portion of “our”
fish be given to countries that don’t longline in an
“ecosystem-friendly” manner. But surely the answer’s not
to increase our own bycatch and discards of threatened
species in order to keep that from happening?
Filling the U.S. quota will not end attempts by other
nations to get a piece of the pie. ICCAT membership has
doubled in the last two decades. Pressure to redistribute
swordfish was not created by the U.S. underage, and it won’t
go away by laying claim to “our” fi sh. As highly migratory
species they belong to the world. The world is changing.
ICCAT is changing. It’s in our interests to make change
work to our advantage.
We are much better off arguing that re-allocation of
a once-overfished stock, if it occurs, should be based on a
nation’s ability to fish “ecosystem-friendly,” with a minimal
bycatch of non-target species, including turtles, seabirds,
billfish and sharks. To this end, the U.S. must keep its
coservation measures in place – mandatory use of circle
hooks and closure of bycatch hot-spots – measures we ‘d like
to spread throughout the Atlantic.
As for the future U.S. quota, we should accept a modest
reduction, provided the beneficiaries of our sacrifice
are developing coastal states that practice selective and
sustainable fishing. In that way, we recognize the new
realities at home and abroad.
Ken Hinman
President, National Coalition for Marine Conservation
4 Royal Street, SE, Leesburg, VA 20175
(703) 777-0037
www.savethefish.org