The Hawaii Seafood Council is an independent not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. The organization has prepared a Fishery Improvement Process feature posted on the www.hawaii-seafood.org educational website.
The Fishery Improvement Process is specific for the pelagic fisheries of the US Western Pacific region which includes Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The pelagic fisheries include longline, handline, troll, pole & line and purse seine fishing gear sectors.
The Fishery Improvement Process is described by key accomplishments (milestones) substantiated by amendments to the Pelagic Fishery Ecosystem Plan (and FMP prior to 2009). Where possible, web-based linkages are provided (or citations if web links are not available) to publicly available resources that verify the record of management actions taken.
The publicly available resources are primarily web-based documents posted by the Federal Register, the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (Council), NOAA Pacific Islands Regional Office (PIRO), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Hawaii Seafood Council.
A Marine Stewardship Council Pre-assessment of the Hawaii bigeye tuna and swordfish fishery was performed as a result of the initiative of the Hawaii Longline Association and the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership to test this fishery against the MSC standard.
The Hawaii Seafood Council will also describe the Fishery Improvement Process by reporting on the status of amendments that have been or are being addressed in the period since 2009 when the Fishery Ecosystem Plan was first published.
The Hawaii Seafood Council will prepare a description of the process by which issues and concerns raised by the public, stakeholders and/or Advisory Bodies of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council work in an integrated protocol to discuss, consider, develop and propose draft amendments for consideration for adoption by the full Council prior to submission to the Secretary of Commerce for further review and consideration.
The Hawaii Seafood Council will also report on actions taken outside of the Council process and Fishery Ecosystem Plan that further contribute to the independent evaluation of the responsible nature of the Hawaii pelagic fisheries and the sustainability of the seafood produced. These include the 2006 and 2008 Responsible Fisheries Assessments of the Hawaii Longline Fishery against the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, the 2009 Marine Stewardship Council Pre-Assessment of the Hawaii Longline Fishery and the 2009 Responsible Fisheries Assessments of the American Samoa Longline Fishery against the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.
