RALSTON and POLOVINA: COMMERCIAL DEEP-SEA HANDLINK FISHERY 



although some manual equipment remains in 

 use. 



The fishery mainly exploits 13 categories of 

 fish species (Table 1). Confusion concerning the 

 taxonomy of species in the family Carangidae 

 prohibits a more detailed classification of these 

 forms although Pseudocaranx dentex and 

 Caranx ignobilis probably account for the 

 majority of ulua landed in Hawaii. While P. 

 dentex is abundant in the Northwestern Hawaiian 

 Islands, it is apparently uncommon around the 

 main high islands (Uchida 5 ). Further confusion 

 is apt to result from the findings of Anderson 

 (1981), who recently revised the genus Etelis and 

 changed the names of both Hawaiian species. In 

 addition, two hogfish species are frequently 

 taken, Bodianus bilunulatus and B. vulpinus, 

 although the former species seems to inhabit 

 somewhat shallower depths than the latter. Of 

 those species listed, most are caught almost 

 exclusively with deep-sea handline gear. The 

 exceptions are ta'ape, ulua, and a'awa which are 

 commonly taken by several other methods (e.g., 

 inshore handline, purse seine, gill net, etc.) 

 (Ralston footnote 4). Catches of these species 

 reported here include only those portions taken 

 in the offshore handline fishery. 



In descending order the dominant species in 

 the fishery by weight are the opakapaka, ulua, 

 uku, onaga, hapu'upu'u, and kahala (Ralston 



Tabus 1.— Principal species of fish landed in the Hawaiian 

 offshore handline fishery. 



5 R. N. Uchida, Southwest Fisheries Center Honolulu Labor- 

 atory, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, Honolulu, 

 HI 96812, pers. commun. November 1980. 



footnote 4). These species taken together ac- 

 counted for 86% of the total catch by weight in 

 1978, nearly all of which was marketed in 

 Hawaii as fresh fish. Total landings from the 

 fishery have remained relatively constant from 

 1959 to 1978, showing a slight increase in recent 

 years, although higher catches were briefly re- 

 ported during the late 1940's and early 1950's 

 (Fig. 1) (Ralston footnote 4). Most of these species 

 are highly prized and in recent years have 

 averaged close to $5.00/kg ex-vessel. 



In the past about 85% of the catch of deep 

 dwelling bottom fish has been made around the 

 main Hawaiian Islands in contrast to the un- 

 inhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands 

 (Grigg and Pfund 1980). Catches from the latter 

 area have increased remarkably in the last 2 y r, as 

 larger, more seaworthy vessels have entered the 

 fishery. Nonetheless, the lack of sufficient data 



200 



150 



V) 



z 

 o 



K 

 O 

 <T 



K 

 UJ 

 S 



I 

 o 



t- 

 < 



100 



50 



CATCH 



V. / TOTAL EFFORT 



I960 



1965 



1970 

 YEARS 



1975 



10,000 



7,500 



to 



a 



K 



o 

 o 

 UJ 

 tt 



I 

 o 



5,000 - 



o 



2,500 



g 



o 



Figure 1.— Annual landings and total 

 annual effort for the commercial deep-sea 

 handline fishery in the main high islands of 

 the Hawaiian Archipelago. 



437 



