NMFS proposes to specify a catch limit of 2,000 metric tons (mt) of longline-caught bigeye tuna for each of the pelagic longline fisheries of American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands in 2015. NMFS also proposes to authorize each U.S. territory to allocate and transfer up to 1,000 mt of its 2,000 mt bigeye tuna limit to a U.S. longline fishing vessel or vessels based in another U.S. territory or Hawaii, and identified in a specified fishing agreement applicable to the territory. NMFS will monitor catches of longline-caught bigeye tuna by the longline fisheries of each U.S territory, including catches made U.S. longline vessels operating under specified fishing agreements. If NMFS projects that a longline fishery will reach a territorial catch limit, NMFS would prohibit the retention of longline-caught bigeye tuna in the applicable territory. If NMFS projects that the longline fishery will reach a territorial allocation limit under a specified fishing agreement, NMFS would prohibit the retention of longline-caught bigeye tuna in the appropriate fishery. The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council recommended the proposed limits, which are identical to those that NMFS implemented in 2014, consistent with the process set forth in the Fishery Ecosystem Plan for Pelagic Fisheries of the Western Pacific Region.
Specified fishing arrangements allow U.S. vessels to contribute funds to the Western Pacific Sustainable Fisheries Fund. This, in turn, supports NMFS-approved fisheries development projects identified in a U.S. territory’s marine conservation plan. The proposed action would help ensure that territory longline fisheries continue to have access to bigeye tuna, and would support the responsible development of pelagic fisheries in the U.S. territories. The proposed specifications would provide U.S. longline vessels participating in the Hawaii longline fishery up to 1,000 mt of bigeye tuna through each specified fishing agreement.
The fishery would not change under any alternative in a way that has not already been considered in existing consultations.
This proposed action must be completed in a timely manner because the Hawaii longline fishery is expected to reach the U.S. bigeye tuna catch limit of 3,502 mt in September 2015. The proposed action would prevent the fishery from reaching this limit and prevent a possible restriction on catch and retention of bigeye tuna by Hawaii longline vessels.
NMFS expects to have a draft EA for PPI by July 2015. Although the proposed action would specify limits only for 2015, the EA analyzes the potential impacts of the proposed action in 2015 and 2016. We will likely request PPI review concurrent with public review.