Present exploitation : Harvest is by diving, grabbing, or 

 spearing for recreation or subsistence, and a small commercial 

 fishery with tangle nets; some incidental catch in fish traps. 



MSY was estimated in the plan at 552,000 to 690,000 lob- 

 sters, based more on extrapolation from other lobster fishing 

 regions than on the sparse data from Hawaii. 



Conservation measures : No OY or Total Allowable Catch fig- 

 ures were established in the plan. The fishery was regulated 

 by gear, area, and size restrictions instead. Conservation 

 measures would prohibit fishing within 20 miles of Laysan Island 

 for five years, would place size restrictions on males and fe- 

 males taken, and would prohibit landing of females with eggs 

 or lobsters with swimmerettes removed. Measures also would pro- 

 hibit fishing methods other than trapping or hand catching, spe- 

 cifically tangle nets, traps with triggered closures, and spear- 

 ing. Fishing would be prohibited in water shallower than 10 

 fathoms except around Midway and Kure (to allow recreational 

 fishing by military personnel) in order to protect lobster 

 spawning stock to some extent, and also to protect the fringing 

 reef area inhabited by monk seals and to minimize interactions 

 between the seals and fishermen. 



Laysan Island would be established as a refuge for monk 

 seals to allow a comparison of the effects of fishing and not 

 fishing on monk seal populations around an island. Extensive 

 observation of monk seals was recommended both to check on pop- 

 ulation trends and to try to assess food habits. 



Review : The plan rested on the assumptions that regula- 

 tions of no fishing above 10 fathoms and a sanctuary around 

 Laysan Island would serve as protection to the monk seals, and 

 that either lobsters were not a significant food item for monk 

 seals, or that the potential reduction in lobster abundance due 

 to the fishery would not be serious for the seals. 



The fishery before 1978 consisted of three boats, fishing 

 six months a year and landing about 60,000 lobsters. Because 

 Hawaiian lobsters are a relatively unexploited stock, the possi- 

 bility for high short term profits by rapid overexploitation 

 exists. Very few boats could potentially accomplish that. A 

 large jump in harvesting levels, on the order of a tenfold in- 

 crease, could result from the recommended catch regulations. 

 Such a rapid jump would not allow much of a margin of safety for 

 anticipated or unanticipated ecological impacts of the fishery. 



The management plan acknowledged that the MMPA and ESA 

 completely protect Hawaiian monk seals which are listed as an 

 endangered species. The need for monitoring the seal population 



F-22 



