The Factors Influencing Albatross Interactions in the Hawaii Longline Fishery: Towards Identifying Drivers and Quantifying Impacts

The Hawaii longline fishery has been required to use seabird mitigation measures under the Pacific Pelagic Fishery Management Plan (current Fishery Ecosystem Plan, or FEP) since 2001. 

While albatross interactions in the Hawaii longline fishery remain well below pre-mitigation levels, the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, at its 166th Meeting in June 2016, recommended further research to improve understanding of interaction rates in the fishery. 

On 7–9 November 2017, in coordination with NMFS Pacific Islands Regional Office and Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, the Council convened a workshop to explore the potential drivers and implications of the higher albatross interaction rates observed in 2015–2016. 

These were explored in the context of longer-term oceanographic variability, shifts in fishery effort and distribution, changes in albatross at-sea distribution, and albatross demography and population trends. 

Workshop participants stressed the need for continued population monitoring at Midway Island to update the uninterrupted time series of breeding and reproductive success data. They also indicated the importance of resuming breeding population counts at French Frigate Shoals and Laysan Island, two colonies that were historically surveyed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) but are no longer monitored.

Hyrenbach KD, Ishizaki A, Polovina J, Ellgen S (Eds.). 2021. The factors influencing albatross interactions in the Hawaii longline fishery: Towards identifying drivers and quantifying impacts. U.S. Dept. of Commerce, NOAA Technical Memorandum NOAA-TM-NMFS-PIFSC-122, 163 p.  https://doi.org/10.25923/nb95-gs31.