The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is considering more protections for the threatened oceanic whitetip shark. However, the changes are drawing concerns from the state and local fishers.
NOAA said the shark species was once the most common in the world, but its population has declined by 95% since 1995 — and it is most threatened by fishing.
Oceanic whitetips are both targeted and caught as bycatch.
The agency stated that due to the sharks' slow reproduction rate and the ongoing threat from fishing, it is proposing to grant them the same protections as endangered species.
“ This rule would also make take prohibited. So all of the activities that were included in the definition … harm, harass, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, all of those things that constitute take would become prohibited for the species. And that's whether take is intentional or not,” said Adrienne Lohe, a biologist with NOAA’s Office of Protected Resources.
But the state Department of Land and Natural Resources’s Division of Aquatic Resources said it’s worried about criminalizing fishers for even accidental shark catches.
Fishers are valuable sources of related data for government agencies.
“The department is concerned that criminalizing inadvertent interactions with (oceanic whitetips) may result in decreased willingness among fishers to collaborate with managers out of fear that self-reported information could be used to penalize them or restrict future fishing activity,” the DLNR said in written testimony.
The department also said the sharks are already heavily protected in Hawaiʻi's waters.
During a public hearing this week on the proposed ruling, fishers and members of the pro-fishing Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council also questioned the need for the rule.
Some said the sharks are so abundant they’re affecting catches.
The DLNR asked NOAA to extend the public comment period on the change.
It also asked the agency to engage more with local fishers to get more information about “fishers’ perceptions of shark populations, rates of interaction, and potential costs, benefits, and efficacy of the proposed regulations.”
The public can submit comments on the rule until Sept. 15.
