News Releases and Media Advisories

News in the Pacific Islands Region

• Hawaii-based Shallow-Set Longline Fishery Closed: November 18 through December 31, 2011
  NOAA Fisheries Service, authorized under Federal regulations, closed Hawaii's shallow-set longline fishery north of the Equator effective 9:33 a.m. HST on November 18, 2011, to stop sea turtle interactions. To read the Fishery Bulletin please click here. The closure affects all vessels registered with Hawaii longline limited access permits and using shallow-set longline gear to target swordfish. Federal regulations limit the number of sea turtle interactions allowed in this fishery during the calendar year at 17 loggerhead turtles and 16 leatherback turtles. Information reported by NOAA Fisheries scientific observers on board the fishing vessels indicated that the fishery had reached the annual limit of 16 interactions with leatherback sea turtles triggering its closure. The fishery re-opens on January 1, 2012. For more info about fishery closures due to turtle interactions, please click here.
• JIMAR is named NOAA's Pacific Islands Region Cooperative Institute
  The University of Hawai'i at Manoa was selected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to host the Cooperative Institute (CI) in the Pacific Islands Region as part of a five-year award with funding up to $95 million. The Pacific Islands Region CI, one of 18 NOAA CI's across the country, will be known as the Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research (JIMAR).
• NOAA proposes a Take Reduction Plan to reduce false killer whale interactions in the Hawaii-based longline fisheries. Public comments on the Proposed Rule and the Draft EA will be accepted through October 17, 2011. View the Federal Register Notice for more information.
• NOAA Fisheries is announcing six public hearings to be held for the proposed rule to revise critical habitat for the Hawaiian monk seal, which was published in the Federal Register on June 2, 2011. NMFS will be accepting oral and written comments on the proposed rule at each of the meeting locations. Please click here to view a schedule of upcoming meetings. For more information about critical habitat please click here.
• Please check out PIRO's new Hawaiian monk seal webpages! You can also find our Hawaiian Monk Seal Recovery Program Update and Accomplishments Report 2009-2010 here (under "What's New?).
• NOAA proposes a Take Reduction Plan to reduce false killer whale interactions in the Hawaii-based longline fisheries. Public comments will be accepted through October xx, 2011. View the _Federal Register Notice_ /(link to the PDF of the rule)/ for more information.
• NOAA announces a meeting of the False Killer Whale Take Reduction Team, July 27-29, 2011 at the Moana Surfrider hotel in Honolulu. See the Take Reduction Team webpage for more information.
• NMFS proposes the 2012 List of Fisheries with Marine Mammal Interactions; public comments will be accepted through July 28, 2011. For more information about the List of Fisheries, a copy of the proposed rule, and information about how to submit comments online, please click here.
• Federal Register Notice- New Proposed Rule regarding the revision of the current critical habitat for the Hawaiian monk seal. View the Federal Register Notice for more information.