Hawaii’s Tuna Fishing Limits Challenged
A federal lawsuit wants to limit how many more bigeye tuna Hawaii’s longline fleet can catch this year.
Hawaii’s holiday sashimi could聽be in聽short supply this year if conservation groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity,聽get their way in a lawsuit filed in federal court Thursday.
The 聽the National Marine Fisheries Services violated an international agreement to end overfishing of bigeye tuna when the agency announced Hawaii longliners could exceed their annual catch quota by using unmet allotments from other parts of the Pacific.
Hawaii’s bigeye tuna catch is the subject of a new lawsuit filed by conservation groups.
Nick Grube/Civil Beat
Civil Beat first reported on the issue in October聽when U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz lauded the decision, saying it was important to boost the quota聽to make sure there was enough ahi on the islands for families to enjoy.
But the Center for Biological Diversity as well as other groups for a number of reasons. Not only have big eye tuna been overfished for years, but longline fishing can be indiscriminate resulting in catching other species, such as sharks, dolphins and seabirds.
鈥淭he solution for saving bigeye tuna is not creating a new loophole so they can be fished even more,鈥 Center for Biological Diversity attorney聽Catherine Kilduff said in a press release. 鈥淲e need to be smart about protecting this valuable resource, or soon it鈥檒l be gone.鈥
Other parties to the lawsuit, which you can , are the Conservation Council for Hawaii and the Turtle Island Restoration Network. The organizations are represented by聽Earthjustice attorney David Henkin, who is based in Honolulu.
