Private FADs In Hawaii Private FADs What are FADs? FAD=Fish

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Private FADs In Hawaii
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Private FADs

• What are FADs?
• FADFish Aggregation Device
• Certain fish are known to look for food under
  debris
• State has 26 FADs in MHI
• How are PFADs made?
• Variety of methods Known methods are to use
  slightly submerged old boats filled with foam,
  and anchored down to the ocean floor with engine
  blocks, and covered with old nets and other
  materials.
• What are the issues concerning private FADs?

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The Issues

• The mass deployment of privately owned FADs
  (P.FADs) of the coast of the Big Island and
  around the other Main Hawaiian Islands.

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The Issues

• Relatively new fishery development, accompanied
  by other initiatives such as the use of radio
  transponders and the use of sonar fish finders
  suspended beneath the FADs to estimate fish
  biomass, comparable to the technology used by the
  purse seine fisheries.

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The Issues

• Some of the operators deploying private FADs are
  unilaterally asserting the rights to the fish
  aggregating around the FADs, creating social
  tensions and law and order problems in Hilo

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The Issues

• Seasonal fishery during the period in winter when
  bigeye tuna come closer to the Hawaiian
  Archipelago. May intercept and aggregate bigeye
  tuna that would be available to fishermen closer
  to shore
• Also a possibility that the P.FAD fishery might
  interact with the Hawaii longline fishery

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The Issues

• Bigeye aggregating under PFADs may be starving
  (No food for Bigeye at the PFADs)
• Private FADs may become a navigational hazard.
• Private FADs may damage
  the habitat by placement
  of
  or debris from a FAD.

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The Problem

• How to control this fishery without stifling
  what is a new development in the non-longline
  pelagic fishery in Hawaii.

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What is the Council doing?

• The Council is considering defining
• FADs as a fishing gear, and
• strategies for controlling their use.
• In designing such strategies, the
• Council should consider the
• following issues

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ISSUES BEING CONSIDERED BY THE COUNCIL a.
The negative consequences to locally available
bigeye tuna resources from unconstrained FAD
deployment or possible interruption of fish
movements b. Whether or not an Environmental
Impact Statement will need to be drafted if the
private FAD deployment becomes a Federally
regulated activity.
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• c. The need to control the physical
  configurations of FADs, which may present an
  entanglement risk to
• protected species such as marine mammals and
  marine turtles.
• d. The need to improve specific catch reporting
  by gear and method around private FADs.

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• e. The need to exercise a measure of
  control over operators of private FADs, and to
  enumerate and document private FAD location and
  ownership.
• f. The legal issues regarding resource rights
  and responsibilities of FAD operators.

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• g. The potential for interactions between
  private FADs and other fishing gears, primarily
  longlines, during the winter reduction of the
  longline closed area around the Main Hawaian
  Islands.
• h. The economic and social issues stemming from
  this new development in the small boat pelagic
  fishery.

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Fishing for ideas

• What are your opinions on private FADs?
• Have you experienced/encountered private FADs?
• What would you do about this issue?

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Comments?

• Additional Questions? Suggestions? Input? You
  can also write them down and hand them in at the
  end of the meeting.
• To contribute additional comments, suggestions,
  questions, please call the Council office at
  [phone] or email at info.wpcouncil_at_noaa.gov
• For more information, stay tuned to our website
  at www.wpcouncil.org

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