Monitoring socioeconomic impacts of Hawai‘i's 2010 bigeye tuna closure: Complexities of local management in a global fishery

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a study to monitor the socioeconomic impacts of the first extended closure of the western and central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) bigeye tuna (bigeye) fishery to US longliners from the state of Hawai‘i. We applied qualitative and quantitative approaches to examine how diverse members of Hawai‘i's bigeye fishery community, including fishermen, a large fish auction, dealers, processors, retailers, consumers, and support industries, perceived and were affected by the constraints of the 40-day closure of the WCPO bigeye fishery at the end of 2010. Our analysis found that there was reduced supply and reduced quality of bigeye landed along with increased prices for bigeye during the closure period. In addition, Hawai‘i longliners were forced to travel longer distances to fish during the closure. These factors contributed to increased stress and in some cases lost revenue for a variety of individuals and businesses connected to the fishery. We also found that different stakeholder groups responded to the closure in different ways and fish dealers were among those most affected by the closure. However, overall impacts to the bigeye community were not as severe as what had been anticipated at the outset. Several mitigating factors meant this was not a true closure, as US boats could continue to fish for bigeye in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and foreign and dual permitted vessels could still fish in the WCPO. Hawai‘i's longline fleet has since benefited from US legislation and federal rules that have prevented any subsequent closures of the fishery. While this relief from closures could stall short term socioeconomic impacts to Hawai‘i bigeye community, some worry that it could set back global efforts towards sustainable management of the fishery. This study highlights the challenges and equity considerations inherent in efforts to achieve meaningful conservation benefits from localized management actions within a global fishery. It also demonstrates the importance of interdisciplinary socioeconomic monitoring to examine how global fisheries policies scale down to individual fishing communities.