Characterization of the West Coast deep-set longline fishery operating outside of the U.S. exclusive economic zone: environmental assessment

A single deep-set longline fishing vessel based out of the U.S. west coast has been targeting tuna and conducting fishing operations on the high seas since 2005 under the authority of the High Seas Fishing Compliance Act and a Highly Migratory Species permit issued under the Pacific Fishery Management Council’s Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan. When the Fishery Management Plan for U.S. west coast fisheries for Highly Migratory Species (HMS FMP) was developed, the Pacific Council and the National Marine Fisheries Service did not anticipate the development of a deep-set longline fishery on the west coast due to the economic and vessel constraints associated with operating far from west coast ports, thus a thorough analysis of the possible impacts to the human environment was not conducted in the Environmental Impact Statement prepared for the HMS FMP. This environmental assessment provides a detailed characterization and analysis of the existing deep-set longline fishery operating on the high seas off the U.S. west coast, as well as an analysis of a potential minor expansion of the fishery. Two alternatives are analyzed in this environmental assessment: closing the fishery (action alternative), or allowing the fishery to remain open (no action alternative). Impacts to the human environment (e.g., effects of the proposed action on protected species, finfish, seabirds, and socioeconomics) were found to be insignificant. The preferred alternative for this environmental assessment is the no action alternative, which would allow the west coast deep-set longline fishery to continue operating on the high seas in accordance with the management measures established by the Council and NMFS in Section 6.2.2 of the HMS FMP (PFMC 2007a).