Hawaiʻi's longline fishers are facing record lows in profits, according to a recent report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
For years, NOAA's Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center has collected data on fishing trip costs and earnings for Hawaiʻi's commercial longline fishery, and surveyed 60 fishers to get data for 2022.
PIFSC found that the average fishing vessel made around $808,000 in gross revenue that year. Of that, 54% went to trip costs like fuel, ice and bait, and 22% went to labor. After other costs, boat owners took home an average of 5%.
Adjusted for inflation, that’s an average of about $44,000 in profit.
“If we look at profitability over time for the Hawaiʻi longline fishery using our past efforts, we find that, adjusted for inflation, average profit per vessel in 2022 was unfortunately at an all-time low,” said Justin Hospital, supervisory economist at PIFSC.
Hospital presented the preliminary findings to the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council meeting on Tuesday.
The data goes back to 1993, when the average adjusted profit per vessel was $79,000.
PIFSC also has data for 2000, 2005 and 2012, and the average profits for those years were $84,000, $56,000 and $72,000, respectively.
The report found that 38% of those who were surveyed lost money in 2022.
“So, very tight margins for the fishery during the survey year in 2022. Our trip cost monitoring would suggest that margins were likely even tighter in 2023,” Hospital said.
The data backs up what some longline fishers in Hawaiʻi have said — that inflation has driven up the cost of fishing trips, and foreign imports undercut locally landed fish.
At the same time, fishers are also struggling to sell fish at higher prices, primarily at the Honolulu Fish Auction, to make up for those shortfalls.
PIFSC’s report backs up that experience, and shows that it’s affecting the industry as a whole.
Some fishers want changes to the auction to bring up the price of fish, and industry leaders are hoping to tackle foreign imports at the state Legislature.
A state bill would require changes in ahi labeling so consumers are more aware if the food, namely ahi poke, they are being served has been landed locally or imported from another country.
Imported fish is cheaper, but according to officials, it can be frozen and treated with gases or dyes to look fresher than it actually is. But there are no rules in place that require markets to disclose to consumers the origins of the ahi poke.
Hawaiʻi’s commercial longliners bring in about $100 million in revenue every year, and are one of the state’s major producers of food.
