Longlines

Pelagic longlines (longlines set near the surface) have been banned off the West Coast of the United States for more than four decades. Researchers estimate that 200,000 loggerhead and 50,000 leatherback sea turtles were caught worldwide by pelagic longline fishing gear in 2000 alone. The last time pelagic longlines were tested off California in 2011, more than 40 sharks were caught for every swordfish and over three quarters of the fish caught were unmarketable species. Despite being banned in California for decades, the federal government has approved experimental vessels to actively operate offshore today—and with planned expansion. Additionally, the Hawai’i longline fleet catches millions of non-target sharks and other fish. In one year alone, the Hawai’i longline fishery set 45.4 million baited hooks to target swordfish and tuna but also captured, killed and/or injured at least 11 species of whales and dolphins, several species of protected seabirds, and four species of threatened and endangered sea turtles. The United States government categorizes the Hawai’i longline fishery as a “Category One” fishery, which it defines as having “frequent incidental mortality or serious injury of marine mammals.” Victims of this fishery include humpback, sperm and false killer whales, as well as bottlenose, spinner and common dolphins. In 2012, the Hawai’i longline fleet caught 64,481 sharks, but kept only 2% of them—the remaining bycatch was thrown back in the ocean, injured or dead.

Tuna, marlin, shark, sailfish, and swordfish commercially caught in Hawai’i are likely caught by foreign fisherfolk facing squalid living and working conditions without basic labor protections or the ability to seek legal recourse. In some instances, workers are enduring slavery enabled by the U.S. government via a loophole for foreign fisherfolk targeting the aforementioned species to be exempted from basic labor protections. In 2016, an in-depth investigation by the Associated Press concluded that rampant conditions existed in the Hawaii commercial longline fishing fleet, likened to human trafficking, slavery and human rights abuses. Legislators vowed reform. In 2018, Turtle Island Restoration Network filed a case for this issue with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Last year, Georgetown University’s Human Rights Institute released an extensive and gripping report on the subject—and lack of meaningful change—aptly named “The Price of Paradise: Vulnerabilities to Forced Labor in the Hawaiian Longline Fishing Industry.”