UNIT 16 



WESTERN PACIFIC INVERTEBRATE FISHERIES 



72 



INTRODUCTION 



Important invertebrate fisheries in the 

 Western Pacific have included spiny and 

 slipper lobsters and the gold, bamboo, and 

 pink corals. The fisheries are relatively re- 



cent and range from the Hawaiian Islands 

 EEZ to Guam, American Samoa, and var- 

 ious U.S. Pacific islands. 



SPECIES AND STATUS 



Lobster 



Spiny and slipper lobsters are fished in the 

 Western Pacific, primarily in the Northwest- 

 ern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) area (Fig. 

 16-1). They are not plentiful outside this 

 region. The fishery began in 1977, and a 

 Fishery Management Plan (FMP) took ef- 

 fect in 1983. The NWHI are uninhabited so 

 all harvests are commercial— there is no 

 recreational fishery. In recent years about 

 15 vessels have combined to make about 

 1 million trap hauls. The vessels, all rela- 

 tively large, carry about 800 traps which 



they use on 2-month fishing trips. The fish- 

 ery is managed by the Western Pacific 

 Regional Fishery Management Council 

 (WPFMC). 



Recent lobster landings (Fig. 16-2) have 

 been 80% spiny lobsters. Value of the 1990 

 landings was $6 million. Fishing effort in 

 recent years has been close to 1 million 

 trap-hauls— about the level which achieves 

 LTPY(625t) (Table 16-1). The lower land- 

 ings in 1 990 were attributed to poor recruit- 

 ment due to environmental events. 



Table 16-1. -Recent average, 

 current potential, and long-term 

 potential yields in metric tons (t), 

 and status of utilization of 

 Western Pacific invertebrate 

 fisheries. The LTPY, CPY, and RAY 

 for the unit equals the sum of the 

 species' LTPY's, CPY's, and RAY's. 



Long-term potential yield (LTPY) = 628 t 



Current potential yield (CPY) = 602 t 



Recent average yield (RAY)' = 580 t 



Species group 



Spiny and 



slipper lobsters 



Precious corals 



1988-90 average. 



Yield (t) 



RAY 1 



CPY 



LTPY 



Status of 

 utilization 



580 



600 

 1.5 



625 



2.5 



Full 

 Under 



Figure 16-1.-The main (MHI) and 

 Northwestern (NWHI) Hawaiian 

 Islands. 



^ HANCOCK 



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LAV8AN ISLANO 



LISIANSKI I. • ® .^ 



9 T> '-£\ 



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PACIFIC 



180" 



175* 



170* 



165' 



-30' 



160" 



155* 



