July 30, 2015

Hawaii’s longliners on course for bigeye limit

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Washington Times

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HONOLULU (AP) - Hawaii’s longline fishermen are on course to hit their annual bigeye tuna catch limit next week, which means they will have to stop catching bigeye in their most productive fishing grounds west of Hawaii on Aug. 5.
Hawaii fishermen will still be able to catch bigeye in eastern waters regulated by a different fisheries commission.

Last year fishermen continued catching bigeye after they hit their quota in November because federal authorities drafted rules allowing them to attribute some catch to U.S. territories.

But Mike Tosatto, Pacific Islands regional administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries service, said officials haven’t yet had time to draft similar rules for 2015.

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