New Data Confirms Slaughter of False Killer Whales in Hawaiian Longlines

Fisheries Service finds whales killed at unsustainable levels

Honolulu, Hawai‘i – Yesterday, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) issued new data confirming that the Hawai‘i-based longline fisheries are killing false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens, a large dolphin species) at unsustainable rates. The new information highlights the need for NMFS promptly to finalize and implement a plan to protect false killer whales in Hawaiian waters, as required by the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act. In June 2012, Earthjustice, representing the Center for Biological Diversity and Turtle Island Restoration Network, sued NMFS in federal court over the agency’s failure to finalize the plan, which was due in December 2011. Click here for more information on the plan.

“The evidence is in, and the number of these beautiful animals dying from the longline fishery keeps going up. At this rate, we will lose Hawaiian false killer whales – another victim of unsustainable industrial longline fishing,” said Todd Steiner, biologist and executive director of the Turtle Island Restoration Network. “There is no excuse for inaction by NMFS. I imagine that President Obama wants his kids to see these magnificent toothed whales when they vacation in Hawai‘i as adults, but that can happen only if the federal government takes immediate action to protect these animals from destructive fishing practices.”

NMFS’s new survey data provide more accurate estimates of false killer whales in Hawaiian waters than previously available. The data revise upwards the minimum population estimate for false killer whales found more than 40 kilometers (22 nautical miles) from the main Hawaiian Islands (the “Hawai‘i Pelagic Stock”), from a prior estimate of 249 animals to a new estimate of 906 animals.

Based on the new estimate, NMFS concluded that the Pelagic Stock could sustain nine deaths each year from interactions with commercial fisheries. The agency’s latest observer data show that the Hawai‘i-based longline fisheries are killing an average of over 13 false killer whales each year, which is a dramatic increase from last year’s figure of nearly 11 whales per year and nearly half again what NMFS has said the population can sustain.

“For years, the fishing industry has been saying that new surveys would show there are plenty of false killer whales and that we shouldn’t be concerned about the animals that are hooked and drowned each year in longline gear,” said Brendan Cummings of the Center for Biological Diversity. “Well, the survey data are now in, and they back up what we’ve been saying all along. If we want to save Hawai‘i’s false killer whales, we need to take prompt action to stop these animals dying in the longline fisheries.”

NMFS’s latest report for the population of false killer whales found within 140 kilometers (76 nautical miles) of the main Hawaiian Islands (the “Hawai‘i Insular Stock”) slightly increased the minimum population estimate, from 110 animals to 129 animals. The new estimate does not change NMFS’s conclusion that the Insular Stock – which NMFS has proposed to list as “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act – has declined by 9 percent per year since 1989. Observer data show that the longline fisheries are killing false killer whales from the Insular Stock at nearly double the rate the population can sustain.

“If we are to have any hope of saving Hawai‘i’s false killer whales, it is time for NMFS to stop making excuses and to start complying with its legal obligation to protect these unique animals by promptly issuing and implementing a plan to reduce false killer whale deaths in the longline fisheries,” said Earthjustice attorney David Henkin.

View more false killer whale campaign information here: http://www.seaturtles.org/section.php?id=152

View more photos of the devastating toll that Hawai‘i-based longline fishing inflicts on Hawai‘i’s false killer whales here: http://earthjustice.org/fkw

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Turtle Island Restoration Network is a non-profit environmental organization committed to the study, protection, enhancement, conservation, and preservation of the marine environment and the wildlife that lives within it. TIRN has approximately 60,000 members and supporters, many of whom reside in the state of Hawai‘i, and has offices in the United State and Costa Rica. For more information, visit www.SeaTurtles.org.
Earthjustice is a non-profit, public-interest, environmental law firm. The Mid-Pacific office opened in Honolulu in 1988 as the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, and has represented dozens of environmental, native Hawaiian, and community organizations. Earthjustice is the only non-profit environmental law firm in Hawai‘i and the Mid-Pacific, and does not charge clients for its services. For more information, visit www.earthjustice.org.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 350,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. For more information, visit www.biologicaldiversity.org