NMFS has announced that the take reduction team will address interactions between the Hawaii pelagic, Hawaii insular, and Palmyra Atoll stocks of false killer whales (FKWs) with Hawaii's two longline fisheries (deep-set and shallow-set).  As many of you know, these teams are essential for helping reduce bycatch in vulnerable populations.  Hawaii pelagic FKWs are listed as a "strategic stock" under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and NMFS recently found that listing the insular population under the Endangered Species Act may be warranted.

 

As presently conceived, however, the new take reduction team would not address several other fisheries that are very likely to interact with at least the insular population of FKWs: Hawaii's shortline and kaka fisheries, which often work within the population's range and target its typical prey species. 

 

Comments should be (1) submitted electronically through www.regulations.gov (regulation number 0648-XT76), or else (2) mailed to: Assistant Regional Administrator, Protection Resources, NMFS, Pacific Islands Regional Office, 1601 Kapiolani Boulevard Suite 1110, Honolulu, HI 96814.  More information is available at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/fr/fr75-2853.pdf.  Again, the deadline for receipt of comments is February 18th.

 

Thanks,

Michael