Ecological Characterization of the American Samoa Small-scale Albacore Longline Fishery
Client:
Pelagic
Fisheries Research
Program, JIMAR,
University of Hawaii and, National
Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA)
Location:
American Samoa
Industry:
Fisheries
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Project Summary: The project was designed to characterize the small-scale “alia” albacore longline fishery. The first objective was to determine the catch rates and composition, condition of the catch (live or dead) and to document interactions (if any) with protected species (marine mammals, birds and sea turtles). The second objective was to determine a better way to catch live albacore for future tagging studies.
Project
Outcome:
A community approach was taken
to collect and manage catch data
from fisherman contracted to
perform fishery data collection
at sea, retain the entire catch
for evaluation and to provide
information of the fishing
trip.
Fish must be landed alive and in
good healthy condition so that
when they are tagged and
released, they have a good
chance of survival. In order to
accomplish this, local
fishermen’s knowledge about
albacore behavior was used to
test alternative fishing methods
that could allow for tagging and
releasing albacore unharmed.
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