Incorporating sea turtle interactions in a multi-objective programming model for Hawaii's longline fishery

Abstract

There has been a growing concern about the interactions of endangered sea turtles with the pelagic longline fishery in Hawaii recently. Some tough measures including a swordfish harvest ban have been put into effect since 2000 to protect these turtles. Accounting for protected turtle species interactions with the longline fishery by the fishery management has become an increasingly important policy goal lately. A multi-objective programming model has been extended to incorporate sea turtle interactions as one of the fishery management goals in the Hawaii's longline fishery. The model result indicates that there is a tradeoff between fleet-wide profit and turtle interactions. It also indicates that there are possibilities of significantly higher profit and reduced turtle interactions compared to the base case scenario by reconfiguring fishing efforts. However, the current fishery policy related to sea turtle interactions disallows tapping of all the potential efficiency gain, as the number of turtles allowed to get interacted severely limits swordfish-targeted longline fishing that uses the conventional technologies. Banning longline activities are also costly, as the average shadow price per turtle in terms of lost profit is about $9120, and in terms of lost revenue is about $56,060. Adaptation to ‘turtle-friendly’ fishing technologies is among the many strategies that would allow for higher optimal fishing efforts leading to higher overall welfare.