Western Pacific 

 Invertebrate Fisheries 



Unit 



16 



NMFS SOUTHWEST FISHERIES 



SCIENCE CENTER, 



HONOLULU LABORATORY 



Honolulu 

 Hawaii 



,^*?-^ 



INTRODUCTION 



The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) 

 lobster fishery is the major eommercial marine in- 

 vertebrate fishery in the western Pacific. A very 

 small-scale, primarily recreational, fishery for lob- 

 ster also exists in the Main Hawaiian Islands 

 (MHI), American Samoa, Guam, and the North- 

 ern Mariana Islands. A deepwater shrimp resource 

 is found throughout the Pacific islands but is rela- 

 tively unexploited. A resource of deepwater pre- 

 cious coral (gold, bamboo, and pink corals) exists 

 in Hawaii and possibly other western Pacific ar- 

 eas. A short-lived (1974-79) domestic fishery op- 

 erated oft Makapu'u Point in Hawaii, but there 

 has been no significant precious coral harvest for 

 20 years. However, interest in the fishery has re- 

 cently resurfaced, and one Federal permit was is- 

 sued in 1997. 



Management Situation 



The NWHI lobster fishery, which began in 

 1977, harvests spiny and slipper lobsters and is 

 governed by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery 

 Management Council under a fishery management 

 plan. The MHI lobster fishery is managed by the 

 state of Hawaii, although a few offshore banks are 

 included in the Fishery Management Plan for the 

 Crustacean Fishery of the Western Pacific Region. 



This plan was implemented in 1983 and has 

 since been amended nine times. Many of the ear- 

 lier amendments were in response to requirements 

 to eliminate lobster trap interactions with the en- 

 dangered Hawaiian monk seal (Amendments 2 

 and 4), protect spiny and slipper lobster repro- 

 ductive potentials (Amendments 3 and 5), and 

 specify overfishing definitions (Amendment 6). 

 The most significant change in the plan occurred 

 in 1992. In response to continuing declines in 



Blunt slipper lobster. Hana- 

 uma Bay, Oahu, Hawaii. 



1 83 



