The Hawaii-based Longline Logbook Summary Report
January-December 2008
This annual report summarizes data on fish catch and fishing effort by Hawaii-based longline vessels for calendar year 2008. Results are based on the date gear was hauled, as reported by vessel operators to the National Marine Fisheries Service in Federal logbooks of daily fishing activity. The report covers longline operations for fishing trips completed in 2008 and most, but not all, data from trips that began late in the fourth quarter of 2008 and continued into the first quarter of 2009. Therefore, the 2008 summary statistics reported here are preliminary.
During 2008, 129 vessels were active in the Hawaii-based fleet, the same number of vessels as in 2007 (Table 1, Fig. A1); participation in the fishery has been nearly constant over the past five years. Longline fishers made 1,470 longline trips in 2008 (45 less than in 2007), including 1,380 using deep-set gear to target tuna (down 46 trips) and 90 using shallow-set gear to target swordfish (up 11 trips) (Table 1, Fig. A2). A record 41.6 million hooks were deployed in 2008, 1.4 million more than in 2007 (Table 1, Fig. A3); the number of hooks set has increased steadily since 1994. A growing proportion of hooks are being set outside the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) — 59% of total hooks set in 2008. The remainder were deployed in the main Hawaiian Islands EEZ (27%), Northwestern Hawaiian Islands EEZ (11%), and in the EEZ of the Pacific Remote Islands Area (PRIA, consisting of U.S. possessions Wake Island, Jarvis Island, Howland Island, Baker Island, Kingman Reef, Palmyra Atoll, and Johnston Atoll) (3%).
In 2008, the Hawaii longline fleet caught 152,323 bigeye tuna (Table 1, Fig. A4). Bigeye tuna catches have been on an increasing trend since the first year of logbook monitoring in 1991. In contrast, the trend in albacore catches has been downward since 1997, reaching a low in 2007; however, the albacore catch in 2008 was 16,637 fish, an increase of 53% from 2007 and the highest catch since 2004. The catch of yellowfin tuna in 2008 was 34,526 fish, an increase of 31% compared to 2007. Yellowfin tuna catches have remained relatively steady since 2003.
The 2008 swordfish catch was 23,919 fish (Table 1, Fig. A5). This was 1.4% lower than the swordfish catch in 2007 despite an increase in the number of hooks deployed in shallow sets targeting swordfish in 2008. The catch of striped marlin was 14,409 fish in 2008, an increase of 76% compared to 2007; it has continued to vary within a relatively constant range during the 18-year period of logbook records. Similarly, the catch of blue marlin in 2008 (4,225 fish) was higher than in 2007 by 28%.
In 2008, the Hawaii longline fleet caught 62,367 sharks and kept 4% of them (Table 1, Fig. A6). Blue shark comprised 85% of the total shark catch (52,912 fish). In 2008, the fleet caught 3,694 mako sharks and 4,438 thresher sharks. Catches of mako shark have steadily increased, whereas those of blue shark and thresher sharks have been relatively steady during the last several years (Fig. A6).
In 2008, the Hawaii longline catch of other key pelagic species included 67,239 mahimahi, 43,068 pomfret, 30,066 oilfish, 15,122 moonfish, and 14,239 wahoo (Table 1, Fig. A7). Catches of all these species are higher than levels in the 1990s, but those of wahoo and pomfret have declined slightly over the last several years.
The longline logbook statistics reported above refer to all fishing areas combined. Summary catch and effort for 2008 were also compiled by several geographical sub-areas including: the MHI EEZ; the NWHI EEZ; the PRIA EEZ; the combined EEZ of MHI, NWHI and PRIA; and waters outside the U.S. EEZ. These statistics are presented in Tables 2-6. Summary statistics for the entire fishing area in 2008 are also presented for each distinct trip type: swordfish-targeted trips using shallow-set gear (Table 7) and tuna-targeted trips deploying deep-set gear (Table 8).
This Web site also provides a PDF version of the report [download report], a separate collection of quarterly and yearly charts, and an archive of quarterly and annual summary tables of fish catch and fishing effort from 1991 to the present. The statistics in the online graphs and archived tables are updated periodically as new records are added to the database and corrections are made.