Developing a management area for Hawaiʻi pelagic false killer whales ...

• Main Author: Oleson, Erin M.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (U.S.) 2023
• Subjects: Killer Whale
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.25923/c9qv-2v95; https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/56119

NOAA technical memorandum NMFS PIFSC 150 ... : In 2010, NMFS convened the False Killer Whale Take Reduction Team (FKW TRT) as a response to unsustainable levels of bycatch of the Hawaiʻi pelagic stock of false killer whales by the Hawaiʻi-based deep-set longline fishery. Since that time, with an assessment based on the Hawaian Islands EEZ only, there has been a notable spatial mismatch in the assessment approach for this stock. The Hawaiʻi-based deep-set fishery area has been expanding to the northeast on the high seas (outside of the Hawaiian Islands EEZ) over the last two decades (Woodworth-Jefcoats et al. 2018). Following the implementation of the Take Reduction Plan in 2012, this fishing area shift has also been accompanied by an increase in MSI on the high seas (Carretta et al 2023, Appendix). With an assessment approach currently based on the Hawaiian Islands EEZ, the impact of the deep-set fishery on the portion of the stock outside of U.S. waters cannot be assessed or managed effectively. Therefore, we have defined a new management area that ...