U.S. Coast Guardsmen documented the crew of a vessel suspected to be illegally fishing in the protected waters of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument last weekend, a press release said Monday. An O‘ahu-based long-range aircraft launched late last week located
U.S. Coast Guardsmen documented the crew of a vessel suspected to be illegally fishing in the protected waters of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument last weekend, a press release said Monday.
An O‘ahu-based long-range aircraft launched late last week located the 79-foot U.S.-flagged long-line fishing vessel believed to be fishing inside the monument Friday.
The aircraft documented the vessel apparently having its long-line fishing gear in the water some three miles inside the monument and roughly 875 miles from Midway.
A Coast Guard vessel was diverted to the fishing boat’s last-known position in the monument and dispatched a law enforcement team via a small boat to board the vessel in order to examine the logs and interview crew members, the release said.
The Coast Guard buoy tender’s boarding team gathered evidence that was forwarded to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement.
According to a NOAA schedule of penalties for violations within the monument, those who fish in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands without a valid permit can be fined between $1,000 and $15,000 for their first offense, plus the catch or its fair market value.
A second offense can cost violators between $15,000 and $75,000, while three-time offenders can be fined between $45,000 and $130,000 and have their vessel seized.
Various other violations within the monument — including failure to notify NOAA before entering, failure to maintain logbooks, fishing for lobster in violation of the zero annual harvest limit, fishing without a vessel monitoring system, and taking or disturbing a marine mammal or an endangered species — can earn stiff monetary penalties ranging into the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The monument falls within the Fourteenth Coast Guard District’s area of responsibility and is one of the most remote areas of the world. There are approximately 60 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel and contractors at Midway and a handful of Hawai‘i Fish and Wildlife Service scientists on other small islands, but the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are mostly uninhabited.
Crews aboard Coast Guard boats and aircraft conduct routine enforcement and surveillance patrols of the monument while working closely with partner agencies in order to enforce monument regulations and laws.
“The Coast Guard is the primary agency responsible for at-sea enforcement of federal fisheries laws and we work very closely with our federal and state partners to do that,” said Lt. Cmdr. Jay Caputo, the Fourteenth Coast Guard District’s fisheries enforcement officer, in the release. “We are deeply committed to good stewardship of our oceans and protecting the rich and fragile ecosystems of this unique part of the world.”
The monument includes all waters within 50 miles of the islands, reefs and atolls of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
“With the combination of training, planning, seamanship and close coordination with our state, federal and international partners, we effectively executed maritime law enforcement this past weekend,” said Caputo. “Preservation of our fragile coral reef environment is paramount to the Pacific’s survival and the U.S. Coast Guard is committed to detecting violators in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.”
The maritime area of responsibility for the Coast Guard in the Pacific includes more than 1.5 million square miles of exclusive economic zone areas, eight time zones, and more than 14,000 miles of international boundary line, all of which is threatened by more than 1,200 foreign fishing vessels every day.
On June 15, 2006, former President George W. Bush signed legislation creating the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument, which was later renamed the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument on March 2, 2007.
It is one of the world’s largest fully-protected marine conservation areas.
“Responsible stewardship of the nation’s oceans and waterways is a core Coast Guard mission and one we perform proudly,” said Capt. David Swatland, the Fourteenth Coast Guard District’s Chief of Response and the service’s senior operations officer for the Central and South Pacific, in the release.
The Coast Guard’s role in protecting the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument is not limited to law enforcement, notes Swatland. Coast Guard crew members are instrumental on marine debris removal trips and transporting endangered marine mammals.
The boat that was diverted to the fishing vessel was at the time on a mission to transport an endangered Hawaiian monk seal for NOAA scientists, who released it in the more remote Northwestern Hawaiian Islands because it was becoming overly friendly with people on Lana‘i.
More than 510 metric tons of debris has been removed from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands by Coast Guard buoy tenders since 1996, according to Fourteenth District statistics.
