It is expected that the Hawaii-based longline fishing fleet would hit its annual bigeye catch limit for waters west of the islands around the end of November. That threatened to deprive the Hawaii market of its favorite fresh- caught tuna just as demand peaks for the holiday. But the National Marine Fisheries Service now believes the boats will reach their limit sometime after Dec. 20, allowing the fleet to deliver bigeye through year’s end.
Michael Tosatto, deputy regional administrator for the fisheries service in Honolulu, informed that the market will still be receiving bigeye tuna through the end of the year. The custom of eating tuna at the beginning of the year dates to early Japanese immigrants, for whom eating sea bream at New Year’s was good luck. Because sea bream isn’t found in Hawaii waters, the new immigrants ate tuna instead.
It is said that this is the first year locals faced the possibility of a bigeye fishery closure. That’s because the international body governing the region’s migratory fish stocks — the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission — concluded last year that bigeye tuna was being overfished. The Hawaii longline fishery must do its part by cutting 10 percent from its 2004 harvest. That means fishermen will be allowed to bring in only 3,763 metric tons this year.
