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PACIFIC ISLANDS REGIONAL OFFICE
NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE
The Pacific Islands Region (PIR) supports Hawaii and the U.S. affiliated Pacific Islands. The PIR is physically located at 1601 Kapiolani Boulevard, Suite 1110, Honolulu, Hawaii 96814. One of the most important functions of PIR is to maintain effective communications and coordinate closely in the many related programs that the NOAA Fisheries Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) and PIR share in this geographical area.
Coordinated Approach of the Pacific Islands Region
The diverse expertise of the PIR staff enables them to work together to provide a timely and effective response to the multidisciplinary and multijurisdictional nature of many needs and activities in the U.S. affiliated Pacific.
- Closure Process for the Midway Atoll Naval Air Facility. This process requires NMFS expertise in habitat (environmental cleanup) and protected resources (Hawaiian monk seal, marine turtles) issues, and sensitive intergovernmental relationships with the Navy, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and other state and federal agencies;
- The Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. PIR is a member of the Sanctuary Advisory Committee and each of PIR's staff is contributing actively to the Sanctuary implementation process. The process requires close communication and coordination with the NOAA Sanctuaries and Reserves Division at the local and headquarters level, with the State of Hawaii, and the public.
- Complicated and controversial permit reviews such as the ATOC (Acoustical Thermometry for Ocean Change) experiment. This example involves protected resources, habitat, fisheries, relations with Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Defense Department, environmental groups, and state and local groups.
Programs
The following is a brief description of PIR's program activities as carried out in Hawaii and the U.S. associated Pacific Islands.
The primary responsibilities of this Program are: assistance and support to the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (Council) and its staff; administration of Southwest Region's western Pacific fishing permits program; daily coordination with NMFS Enforcement and the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center in monitoring fish catch and effort data reporting requirements; and participation in the Western Pacific Fishery Information Network.
Under the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the Council has developed, with assistance from the Program, management plans, including amendments thereto, for precious coral, spiny and slipper lobster, bottomfish and seamount groundfish, and pelagic resources in the 200-mile U.S. EEZ around American Samoa, Guam, Hawaii, Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Pacific island possessions (i.e., Johnston Atoll, Palmyra Atoll and Kingman Reef, Jarvis Island, Howland and Baker Islands, and Wake Island). The western Pacific U.S. EEZ encompasses an area of approximately 1.5 million square nautical miles.
The Sustainable Fisheries Program also plays an important role in implementation of the fishery management plans; for example, an effective permits program is integral to the success of the Council's limited access program governing Hawaii's bottomfish, lobster, and longline fisheries. At present, there are 164 limited entry permits in the longline fishery, 15 in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands lobster fishery, and 17 in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands bottomfish fishery. Not only is the Program responsible for maintaining the permits information database for use by the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, NMFS Enforcement, and the Council, but also for tracking and processing the transfers of these permits to new permit holders and replacement vessels as allowed under the fishery management plans.
Data for developing and monitoring the precious coral, lobster, and pelagic longline management plans are collected directly by NMFS through Federal log books. The Program provides day-to-day coordination with the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center and NMFS Enforcement in monitoring compliance of reporting requirements by operators of permitted vessels.
The PIR participates in the Western Pacific Fishery Information Network as a member of its Fisheries Data Coordinating Committee. The committee assists the State of Hawaii and U.S. Pacific Island Territories/Commonwealth in improving their fisheries data collection programs consistent with the objectives of the Council's fishery management plans
This Sustainable Fisheries Program is also responsible for administration and over sight of the Saltonstall-Kennedy Research and Development Program (S-K Program) activities in the Western Pacific. The S-K program provides direct competitive grants or cooperative agreements to a wide spectrum of entities in Hawaii, Guam, the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, the RMI, the FSM, and Republic of Palau. The program supports innovative activities in the areas of marine resource development and mariculture. Information on current or past project activities can be obtained by electronically mailing rclarke@honlab.nmfs.hawaii.edu. The Fishery Management Division also maintains contact with other South Pacific fishery management and development institutions and organizations.
South Pacific Commission, (SPC) New Caledonia
South Pacific Applied Geophysical Commission, (SOPAC) Fiji
University of the South Pacific (USP) Fiji
S-K Program grants provided in FY 1996:
Palau Sportsfishing Project - Palau Conservation Society
Hawaii Public/Private Black Pearl Oyster Partnership- Black Pearls Inc.
S-K Program grants provided in FY 1995:
North Pacific Swordfish Stock Profile - PacMar Inc.
Monk Seal Diving Behavior Study - University of Minnisota
Molokai Subsistence Fishing Methods and Values Demonstration Project - Hui Malama O Mo'omomi
Trochus Reseeding in Yap Outer Islands - Yap State Marine Resources Management Division
Project for the Utilization of Non-Perishable Marine Resources in the Outer Islands of the Republic of the Marshall Islands - Marshalls Marine
Remote Hatchery Production of Pearl Oyster Spat for Commercial Black Pearl Oyster Farms in the Republic of the Marshall Islands - Black Pearls Inc.
This program is responsible for habitat related activities in all U.S. flag islands in the Pacific. Habitats of concern for fishery resources and threatened/endangered species include coral reefs, seagrass beds, benthic algae beds, and mangrove forests.
Under authorities provided by the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Water Act (Section 404), Rivers and Harbors Act (Section 10), Marine Protection and Sanctuaries Act, and others, NMFS interacts with and provides formal comments on public and private activities such as permit applications and construction projects. The Program also provides consultations under the recent Essential Fish Habitat requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.
The Program Coordinator serves on numerous committees, working groups, and task forces. The Program has recently provided expertise in expeditions to identify areas of marine habitat to place in protected status in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The Program Coordinator is the DOC/NOAA representative on the Oceania Regional Response Team (RRT) to assess impacts from spills of oil and hazardous substances throughout the Pacific islands.
Recently, NMFS participated in the first large-scale coral transplant project ever conducted. The project successfully transplanted nearly fourteen tons of live corals from one location to another to mitigate coral loss during harbor construction and to restore nearby reefs.
The Pacific Islands Protected Species Program operates under the authority of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), and other statutes to protect, enhance, and/or recover endangered and threatened species of sea turtles, monk seals, cetaceans (humpback whales and other listed whales), and other marine mammals.
Commercial fisheries are monitored under the MMPA to ensure that incidental marine mammal take (injury and mortality) remains at levels sustainable by the affected populations. When necessary, regulations are developed to mitigate the adverse effects of human activities and may include such measures as area closures, closed seasons, gear restrictions, observers, harvest quotas, and limits on allowable levels of mortality of marine mammals.
The Program also works with ESA Section 7 consultations to ensure that federally funded, initiated, or permitted projects and activities do not jeopardize a threatened or endangered species or adversely affect designated critical habitat.
Under the Compacts of Free Association with RMI and FSM, the U.S. is obligated to apply environmental standards and procedures to U.S. Government activities, and to develop alternate standards and procedures to fulfill this obligation in consultation with and concurrence of the appropriate governments.
The Program works closely with state and other federal agencies in the development of protective regulations and plans (e.g. Hawaii State Land Use District Boundary Review, Hawaii State Ocean Recreation Management (Thrillcraft) Regulations, State of Hawaii Pesticides/Endangered Species Protection Plan, Humpback Whale Sanctuary Management Plan, Coast Guard Area Response Plan for Oil Spills, Interim Hawaiian Sea Turtle Recovery Plan, Pacific Sea Turtle Recovery Plan, Hawaiian Monk Seal Recovery Plan, Humpback Whale Recovery Plan).
Other NMFS Units with Activities in the West Pacific
The PIR and Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center maintain close communications with National Sea Grant and University of Hawaii Sea Grant programs
Other non-PIR NMFS programs that have components in Honolulu and the Pacific Islands are the Office of Enforcement and the Longline Observer Program.
Office of Enforcement: Honolulu Field Office
The Office of Enforcement is responsible for enforcing federal laws and regulations pertaining to federally regulated fisheries and federally protected living marine resources. Four Special Agents, one Fishery Patrol Officer, and three support employees routinely respond to alleged violations throughout the Hawaiian chain and out into the Western Pacific Ocean.
Violations involve both domestic and foreign commercial fishers who access the U. S. Exclusive Economic Zone around the State of Hawaii and United States possessions in the Pacific. The enforcement of these laws and regulations is accomplished in cooperation with other state and federal law enforcement organizations such as the U.S. Coast Guard and State of Hawaii Natural Resource Enforcement organizations.
The Office of Enforcement (NMFS Sanctuary Agent) will also coordinate enforcement in the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary on behalf of the Sanctuaries and Reserves Division Sanctuary Manager, in accordance with the MOU (between NOS and NMFS) and DOO 25-5B Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary.
The Senior Special Agent in Hawaii also supervises Special Agents stationed at more remote field offices in the Territories of Guam and American Samoa. In that capacity the PIR is involved with eighteen South Pacific countries that belong to the Forum Fisheries Agency in the Solomon Islands. The PIR is truly a diverse group that interacts with cultures across the Pacific basin.
Hawaii Longline Observer Program
Through an amendment to the pelagic fishery management plan established under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, mandatory observers are required aboard the Hawaii-based pelagic longline fishery targeting billfishes and tunas.
Protected species that interact with the fishery include all sea turtles, especially loggerheads (Caretta caretta), leatherbacks (Dermochelys coriacea) and greens (Chelonia mydas). Also seabirds such as the Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) and black-footed albatross (P. nigripes). To a lesser extent, a few whale and dolphin species.
The program is responsible for fielding longline observers to obtain data on incidental sea turtle take and collect fishing effort data. The observers document interactions of all protected species, tallies by species of the fishes that are kept and discarded and processes selected specimens for life history information.
The Pacific Islands Region in Hawaii receives observer data to calculate official estimates and produce technical reports. The Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center receives biological samples for analysis.