Pacific Islands Annual Catch Limits

A summary of the current estimated catch of target species, percent of annual limits caught, and status of Pacific Island fisheries.

Pacific Islands

Annual catch limits (ACLs) and Annual Catch Targets (ACTs) are tools to prevent overfishing in commercial and recreational fisheries. NOAA Fisheries administers ACLs and ACTs for the Pelagic, Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Mariana Archipelago, and Pacific Remote Island Areas fisheries.

The ACL tables below were updated on March 4, 2022.

Pelagic

Fishery¹	Species	2022 Annual Limit (metric tons)	Estimated Catch (metric tons)	% of Limit Caught	Status
Western and Central Pacific Longline²	Pacific Bigeye Tuna	3,554	-	-	Open
American Samoa Longline	Pacific Bigeye Tuna	2,000	-	-	Open
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Longline	Pacific Bigeye Tuna	2,000	-	-	Open
Guam Longline	Pacific Bigeye Tuna	2,000	-	-	Open
Eastern Pacific Longline	Pacific Bigeye Tuna	750 (for vessels > 24 m)	-	-	Open

¹ NOAA Fisheries has not specified ACLs for most pelagic species because they are subject to international fishing agreements or have life cycles of less than a year.
² The annual limit for bigeye tuna in the Western and Central Pacific longline fishery may be reduced if final counts indicate there was an overage in 2021. NOAA Fisheries will post a revised ACL if needed.

Hawaii

Fishery	Species	2021-22 Annual Limit (lb)	2021-22 Estimated Catch (lb)	% of Limit Caught	Status
Bottomfish¹	Main Hawaiian Islands Deep 7 Bottomfish (Lehi, Ehu, Onaga, Opakapaka, Kalekale, Gindae, Hapuʻupuʻu)	492,000	107,328	21.8%	Open
Precious Coral²	Black Coral - Auau Channel	5,512	-	-	Open
	Pink and Red Coral - 180 Fathom Bank	489	-	-	Open
	Pink and Red Coral - Brooks Bank	979	-	-	Open
	Pink and Red Coral - Kaena Point Bed	148	-	-	Open
	Pink and Red Coral - Keahole Bed	148	-	-	Open
	Pink and Red Coral - Makapuu Bed	2,205	-	-	Open
	Bamboo Coral - 180 Fathom Bank	123	-	-	Open
	Bamboo Coral - Brooks Bank	245	-	-	Open
	Bamboo Coral - Kaena Point	37	-	-	Open
	Bamboo Coral - Keahole Bed	37	-	-	Open
	Bamboo Coral - Makapuu Bed	551	-	-	Open
	Precious Corals - Hawaii Exploratory Area	2,205	-	-	Open

¹ The fishing year for the deep 7 bottomfish fishery began Sept. 1, 2021 and ends August 31, 2022.
² The fishing year for precious corals began July 1, 2021 and ends June 30, 2022.

Fishery	Species	2022 Annual Limit (lb)	2022 Estimated Catch (lb)	% of Limit Caught	Status
Bottomfish	Gray Jobfish (Uku)	TBD	-	-	Open
Crustacean	Deepwater Shrimp	TBD	-	-	Open
	Kona Crab	30,802 lb ACL 25,491 lb ACT	-	-	Open

Fishery

Species

2022 Annual Limit (lb)

2022 Estimated Catch (lb)

% of Limit Caught

Status

Bottomfish

Gray Jobfish (Uku)

TBD

Open

Crustacean

Deepwater Shrimp

TBD

Open

Kona Crab

30,802 lb ACL

25,491 lb ACT

Open

Note: NOAA Fisheries has not specified ACLs for stocks subject to federal fishing moratoria or prohibitions. These include all species of gold coral, all species of deepwater precious coral at Wespac Bed in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and the three Hawaii seamount groundfish: pelagic armorhead, alfonsin and raft fish. The current prohibition on fishing for these species serves as a functional equivalent of an ACL of zero.

American Samoa

Fishery	Species	2022 Annual Limit (lb)	Estimated Catch (lb)	% of Limit Caught	Status
Bottomfish	Bottomfish multi-species stock complex	TBD	-	-	Open

Guam

Fishery	Species	2022 Annual Limit (lb)	Estimated Catch (lb)	% of Limit Caught	Status
Bottomfish	Bottomfish multi-species stock complex	27,000	-	-	Open

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

Fishery	Species	2022 Annual Limit (lb)	Estimated Catch (lb)	% of Limit Caught	Status
Bottomfish	Bottomfish multi-species stock complex	84,000 lb ACL 78,000 lb ACT	-	-	Open

Fishery

Species

2022 Annual Limit (lb)

Estimated Catch (lb)

% of Limit Caught

Status

Bottomfish

Bottomfish multi-species stock complex

84,000 lb ACL

78,000 lb ACT

Open

Pacific Remote Island Areas

Fishery	Species	Annual Limit (lb)	Estimated Catch (lb)	% of Limit Caught	Status
No catch limits	-	-	-	-	-

Note: NOAA Fisheries has not specified ACLs for any bottomfish crustacean, precious coral, or coral reef ecosystem species in the Pacific Remote Island Areas because commercial fishing is prohibited out to 50 nautical miles by Presidential Proclamation 8336 which established the Pacific Remote Island Marine National Monument (74 FR 1565, January 12, 2009).