Shark lawsuit launched

HONOLULU — A lawsuit has been launched to protect Pacific oceanic white-tip sharks, which have been listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act since 2018.

Filed Thursday by the environmental law firm Earthjustice on behalf of several conservation groups, the lawsuit asks the National Marine Fisheries Service to take stronger actions to protect white-tip sharks. It was filed on behalf of Conservation Council for Hawai‘i and Michael Nakachi, a Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner and owner of a local scuba diving company.

The suit asks the court to order NMFS to make proper notifications that “would trigger necessary protections as expeditiously as possible, and no later than 30 days after this Court’s order.”

Oceanic white-tip sharks were historically one of the most abundant sharks in the world’s oceans, but due to both U.S. and international fishing pressure, the population has declined significantly.

Scientists estimate that in the Pacific Ocean alone, oceanic white-tip populations have declined 80% to 95% since the mid-1990s.

The suit alleges that despite years of data showing that thousands of sharks are still killed as bycatch in Pacific fisheries each year, the NMFS has failed to declare that Pacific oceanic white-tip sharks are overfished. This declaration would trigger protective action by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council.

“No protections exist to prevent fisheries from capturing oceanic white-tip sharks as bycatch,” said Moana Bjur, executive director of the Conservation Council for Hawai‘i. “That needs to change if we are to prevent this incredible apex predator from going extinct. That’s why we’re going to court.”

White-tip sharks are no longer targeted by long-liners in the U.S or by most commercial fisheries worldwide. However, thousands continue to die each year because they are accidentally caught in nets, lines or other gear meant to catch different species — such as tuna and swordfish — in the waters off Hawai‘i and American Samoa.

Over the past decade, long-liners operating in the Pacific Ocean have captured an estimated 20,000 oceanic white-tip sharks as bycatch.

White-tip sharks are also victims of shark finning, as was highlighted when marine biologists found a dead white-tip reef shark on Hawai‘i Island that was finned — an action prohibited by state law.

“It’s time for the government to stop preventable shark deaths,” said Nakachi. “As a kahu mano (guardian of the shark) I feel a personal responsibility to speak up on this issue, but I believe we all share a duty to ensure the survival of this sacred animal.”

As the lawsuit points out, in making the determination to list the oceanic white-tip shark as threatened in 2018, the NMFS recognized the overfished status of the species and concluded that due to “significant and ongoing threats,” the oceanic white-tip shark is “on a trajectory towards a high risk of extinction in the foreseeable future.”

The purpose of the Magnuson-Stevens Act is to “take immediate action to conserve and manage the fishery resources found off the coasts of the United States.” Congress enacted the Magnuson-Stevens Act to “prevent overfishing and rebuild overfished stocks (of fish).” Prompt action is required under the Magnuson-Stevens Act to “prevent overfishing and rebuild overfished stocks (of fish).”

Roaming widely, the mobile, solitary, oceanic white-tip shark lives in warm, tropical and sub-tropical waters around the world. At the top of the marine food chain, oceanic white-tip sharks are long-lived and slow-growing. A female oceanic white-tip can take nine years to reach sexual maturity. Females give birth to live young, with an average litter of six pups. A female’s reproductive cycle is slow, typically only giving birth every other year after a lengthy gestation period of 10 to 12 months.

“The oceanic white-tip shark’s unique biology, coupled with the preventable threat of getting accidentally hooked or trapped in fishing gear, means that it is past time for the federal government to do its job and take swift action to protect this species,” said Earthjustice attorney Brettny Hardy.