Posted on: Tuesday, July 31, 2001

Survey to examine fishing habits in Hawai'i

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Science Writer

Agencies concerned with marine life are considering regulations covering fishing around the Islands, but hard data is missing on who's catching what.

"There is no data to substantiate anybody's position," said Mike Nelson, who heads a new state-federal program that will try to get the facts.

The Hawai'i Marine Fisheries Survey is a project of the state Division of Aquatic Resources and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service.

Anglers, especially those who go out on commercial or recreational fishing excursions in boats, can expect phone calls and dockside visits from researchers.

The program has three parts.

One, under way since February, involves random calls to Hawai'i residents to try to determine how many times they go out shoreline fishing or boat fishing.

Another is a weekly telephone survey of 10 percent of Hawai'i's charter boat fleet to determine how many fishing trips they are taking.

And a third will involve meetings with private boaters and charter boat anglers to determine what they're catching.

Hawai'i has not done such a survey since 1981.

The new program is 20 percent financed by the state and 80 percent by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The information will be available online to the public when it is compiled.