Western Pacific Bottomfish 

 and Armorhead Fisheries 



INTRODUCTION 



The western Pacific bottomhsh hshcry geo- 

 graphically encompasses the Main Hawaiian Is- 

 lands (MHI), the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands 

 (NWHI), Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, 

 and American Samoa (lable 17-1). In contrast, 

 the pelagic armorhead is harvested Irom the sum- 

 mits and upper slopes of a series of submerged 

 seamounts along the southern Emperor-northern 

 H,iwaiian Ridge. Ihis chain of seamounts is lo- 

 cated just west of the International Dateline and 

 extends to the northernmost portion of the 

 NWHI. 



I heCiuam, Mariana Islands, American Samoa, 

 and MHI fisheries eniplo)' relatively Miiall vessels 

 on 1 -day trips close to port; much of the catch is 

 taken by either part-time or sport fishermen. In 



contrast, the NWHI species are fished by full-time 

 fishermen on relatively large vessels that range far 

 from port on trips of up to 10 days. Fishermen 

 use the handlining technique in which a single 

 weighted line with several baited hooks is raised 

 and lowered with a powered reel. The bottomfish 

 fisheries are managed jointly by the Western Pa- 

 cific Fishery Management Council and territorial, 

 commonwealth, or state authorities. 



The commercial seamount fishery for 

 armorhead was started by bortom-tr.iwl vessels of 

 the former Soviet Union in l^fiiS. During 1969, 

 lapanese trawlers entered this fishery, and by 1 972 

 the catch per unit of effort (CPUE) (based on Japa- 

 nese data) peaked at some 34 metric tons (t)/hour 

 (Figure 17-1 ). Fhe United States has never been a 

 participant. By the end of 1975, the two foreign 

 fleets had harvested a combined cumulative total 



Unit 



17 



ROBERT HUMPHREYS 

 ROBERT MOFFITT 



NMFS Southwest Fisheries 



Science Center, Honolulu 



Laboratory 



Honolulu 

 Hawaii 



Pelagic armorhead and soft 

 coral on summit of Hancock 

 Seamount, north of Midway 

 Island. 



1 89 



