This table is updated when an interaction is reported, or if no interactions are reported, on the 15th and last day of each month.
Background
Regulations governing the Hawaii-based shallow-set pelagic longline fishery establish maximum annual limits on the numbers of interactions that occur between fishing vessels and sea turtles. There are two calendar-year annual limits, one for leatherback sea turtles, set at 16, and one for loggerhead sea turtles, set at 17. If either of the limits is determined to have been reached, the Hawaii-based shallow-set longline fishery is immediately closed. Once the shallow-set fishery is closed, vessels registered under a Hawaii longline limited access permit are prohibited from shallow-set longline fishing north of the Equator for the remainder of the calendar year.
Sea turtle interactions are monitored by NOAA Fisheries observers. An observer is placed aboard every shallow-set longline fishing trip.
Please refer to 50 CFR 665.33 for the official regulations establishing Hawaii shallow-set longline sea turtle interaction limits. More information can be found in the Observer Program's quarterly reports which detail protected species interactions with U.S. longline vessels in the central and western Pacific.
Historical Interactions - Calendar Years 2004 - 08
Leatherback
Loggerhead
Annual limit
16
17
Interactions in 2008
2
0
Interactions in 2007
5
15
Interactions in 2006
1
*17
Interactions in 2005
8
12
Interactions in 2004
1
1
*NOTE: The 2006 Hawaii shallow-set longline fishery reached the
annual interaction limit of 17 loggerheads and was closed on March 20, 2006.
