This report presents documentation of the status and trends in the driftnet fleet (Asian fishing vessels carrying large driftnet fishing gear), a summary of the industry and governmental plans for the near future, and an assessment of possible fleet adaptations to the moratorium from a political/economic perspective.

From objectives and scope of work: The objective of this report is to provide a comprehensive review of the biology and population status of sea turtles potentially subject to entanglement in North Pacific high-seas driftnet fisheries. The report will assist National Marine Fisheries Service efforts to assess the impacts of the driftnet fisheries on threatened and endangered sea turtle populations.

This report is based on an observational study on the Hawaiian monk seal at Laysan Island, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, from May 4 to August 4 1986. Data includes population rates, reproductive rates, deaths, injuries, necropsies, and entanglements.

This report is based on the observational studies of the Hawaiian monk seal studied on Laysan Island in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands from 28 February to 20 June and from 24 October to 13 November 1988. The data collected covers haul-out patterns, population structure, reproductive patterns, and patterns affecting survival (primarily adult male aggression toward adult female and immature seals).

This manuscript describes features of an operational model designed to help evaluate the performance of stock assessment and fishery management procedures. This manuscript also describes the features of the model, its underlying hypotheses, limitations, and user interface, as well as the results of probing studies conducted.

This report provides quarterly and yearly summaries of Hawaii's pelagic longline catch (numbers of fish) and effort (hooks) reported by five-degree (latitude by longitude) squares based on the National Marine Fisheries Service longline logbook program. Species summarized include albacore, bigeye tuna, yellowfin tuna, striped marlin, blue marlin, black marlin, swordfish, mahimahi, and wahoo.

This report analyzes data collected on a study of age-length and somatic growth interrelationships for the Hawaiian pink snapper, or "opakapaka," Pristipomoides filamentosus.

The following report is the proceedings of a workshop convened at NOAA's Pacific Fisheries Environmental Group in Pacific Grove, California, on July 16-18 1996, to examine the uses of environmental data for fisheries.

From introduction: This report covers the Pacific Billfish Stock Assessment Workshop including brief summaries of the Pacific billfish stock appraisals and recommendations for improvement of fishery statistics, research, and management.

The following report provides the findings of a 1998 field study over the Hawaiian monk seal in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. These studies evaluate the status and trends of monk seal populations, natural history traits (survival, reproduction, growth, behavior, and feeding habits), and the success of various activities designed to facilitate population growth.

The following report is the results of a workshop held to determine the cause of fibropapilloma (lobulated tumors), thereby ultimately leading to solutions and effective strategies for containment. The urgent need to solve this problem arises from the unanimous belief among the workshop participants that this disease will continue to affect populations of turtles locally and worldwide, adding further to their survival difficulties. The workshop was held in December of 1990 and the research behind the workshop results from about 10 years of observing the species.

From introduction: This manual is designed to assist sea turtle biologists and other non-physologists in the identification of the food items contained in the gastrointestinal tract of green turtles (Chelonia mydas) sampled from the Hawaiian Islands. The manual contains many of the most common algal species found in crop/stomach samples taken from Hawaiian green turtles.

From introduction: The primary purpose of this report is to summarize available information on the nominal effort and the catch of tunas and billfishes by these foreign longline fleets in the U.S. FCZ (Fishery Conservation Zone) of the central and western Pacific during the period 1965-77.

This report provides a description of the findings that resulted from a workshop to develop guidelines for handling hooked and entangled turtles, hosted by the NMFS Honolulu Laboratory March 15-17, 1995.

The following document provides stock assessments that are required to record all stocks of marine mammals within the U.S. waters. This report will be updated as new information becomes available and as changes to marine mammal stocks and fisheries occur.

This report describes an observational research on the population of the Hawaiian monk seal at Kure Atoll taken from the March to October of 1982 to the April to June of 1983. The study focuses on deaths, injuries, reproduction rates, and data gathered during seal captivity.

From introduction and summary: This is a report that summarizes a 3-week workshop convened to assist fishery scientists from selected Pacific island countries in analyzing their research and commercial catch and effort data on deepwater snappers.The ultimate objective of the analyses were to estimate the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) and the fishing effort that achieves the MSY for deepwater snappers in each country.

Abstract: The Hawaii pelagic surface fisheries and more recently the longline fisheries have grown dramatically. As a result, competition between fisheries on the fishing grounds and in the marketplace has also increased. Physical conflicts between vessels and claims of decreased fishing success by surface (troll and handline) fishermen led to the enactment of Federal regulations limiting the number of domestic longline vessels and the areas in which they can operate. The scientific evidence of biological or economic fishery interaction between longline and small-vessel fishermen is limited but suggests that intense longline fishing near the Hawaiian Islands has the potential to affect catch rates in other Hawaii fisheries. Better data collection and more research are needed to document fishery interaction and to improve fishery management.

The following report provides extensive information on the Kewalo Research Facility of Oahu Island. The Kewalo Research Facility sits on Kewalo Basin and is the center for ongoing research programs designed to examine the most important environmental parameters on the behavior and physiology of tunas. Along with tuna the Kewalo Research facility is also a primary location to stage research activities associated with the studies and preservation of the Hawaiian monk seals, it also provides an important laboratory where research on and resuscitation of several threatened and endangered species of sea turtles found in the Pacific Ocean can be carried out.

This report provides guidelines for planning experiments to determine how many fish should be double-tagged, the run-time of the experiment, and how the recovery data should be regrouped.

The following document provides the findings on the field studies over the endangered Hawaiian monk seal in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands during 1997. The information covered evaluates the status and trends of monk seal populations, natural history traits (survival, reproduction, growth, behavior, and feeding habits), and the success of various activities designed to facilitate population growths.

Abstract: Statistical guidelines are described for the development of a pilot scientific observer sampling program to collect turtle interactions data from the Hawaii longline fishery. The best available data are presented and potential sources of variability in longline turtle take rates are discussed. A stratified sampling design for a pilot survey is developed based on time and target species. An array of sample size choices for the pilot program is presented covering a range of tolerance levels and confidence levels for estimation of total turtle take.

From introduction: This report presents data on ichthyoplankton distribution over and near Southeast Hancock Seamount in the central North Pacific during summer 1984 and winter 1985. Described here is the sampling program and sample handling and provide only data summaries of the distributional patterns; analyses of this data base will be presented in detail elsewhere.

The following document is a report on an observational study around the Hawaiian monk seal on Lisianski Island in Northwestern Hawaiian Islands between 16-18 of May to 29th of August and the 10th of June to the 11th of August 1990. The data collected is based around reproduction and factors affecting survival as well ashaul-out patterns and population structure.