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First Hawaiian fishery achieves MSC certification

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The Hawaii Longline Association’s (HLA) swordfish, bigeye, and yellowfin tuna fishery, has achieved Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification, making it the first fishery in the U.S. state of Hawaii to achieve MSC certification.

“HLA is proud to receive the certification as it is recognition of the fleet’s stringent management and monitoring regime. We believe our fleet produces the best-quality and highest level of monitored tuna in the world. We look forward to working with MSC, WPRFMC, NMFS and others on the continued and long-term production of sustainably and responsibly harvested fish landed by our fleet,” HLA Executive Director Eric Kingma said.

This achievement followed a 16-month review by third-party assessment body Control Union. The certification covers swordfish (Xiphias gladius), bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus), and yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) species, as well as the Hawaii shallow-set swordfish longline fishery and Hawaii deep-set tuna longline fishery. HLA is also monitored and follows regulations set by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (WPRFMC) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).

Established by Japanese immigrant fishermen in 1917, HLA now has a fleet of 142 locally owned vessels that have collectively become the largest food producing industry in Hawaii. Furthermore, the state capital, Honolulu, is one of the nation’s most-valuable commercial fishing ports, with landings are worth about USD 125 million (EUR 124.8 million) annually. Since Hawaii’s residents consume nearly twice as much seafood per capita as the rest of the United States, about 80 percent of those landings are consumed locally and nearly 100 percent stay in the United States. About 85 percent of the catch is found in the high seas adjacent to the Hawaii archipelago, while the remainder of the fishing efforts is in the United States’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

URL: The Hawaii Longline Association’s (HLA) swordfish, bigeye, and yellowfin tuna fishery, has achieved Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification, making it the first fishery in the U.S. state of Hawaii to achieve MSC certification. “HLA is proud to receive the certification as it is recognition of the fleet’s stringent management and monitoring regime. We believe our fleet produces the best-quality and highest level of monitored tuna in the world. We look forward to working with MSC, WPRFMC, NMFS and others on the continued and long-term production of sustainably and responsibly harvested fish landed by our fleet,” HLA Executive Director Eric Kingma said. This achievement followed a 16-month review by third-party assessment body Control Union. The certification covers swordfish (Xiphias gladius), bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus), and yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) species, as well as the Hawaii shallow-set swordfish longline fishery and Hawaii deep-set tuna longline fishery. HLA is also monitored and follows regulations set by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (WPRFMC) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). Established by Japanese immigrant fishermen in 1917, HLA now has a fleet of 142 locally owned vessels that have collectively become the largest food producing industry in Hawaii. Furthermore, the state capital, Honolulu, is one of the nation’s most-valuable commercial fishing ports, with landings are worth about USD 125 million (EUR 124.8 million) annually. Since Hawaii’s residents consume nearly twice as much seafood per capita as the rest of the United States, about 80 percent of those landings are consumed locally and nearly 100 percent stay in the United States. About 85 percent of the catch is found in the high seas adjacent to the Hawaii archipelago, while the remainder of the fishing efforts is in the United States’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ).