Feds accused of dragging feet on threatened whitetip shark review

(CN) — The National Marine Fisheries Service has for years failed to complete its legally required consultation regarding the effects authorized fisheries in Hawaii and Samoa have on the threatened whitetip shark population, according to a new lawsuit.

The oceanic whitetip shark has suffered a precipitous population decline of up to 88% in recent decades, the Conservation Council for Hawaii says in a complaint filed Tuesday in Honolulu. The decline is due primarily to the sharks ending up as "bycatch" of longline fishing fleets in the Pacific Ocean that target tuna and swordfish.

The fisheries service has recognized the whitetip shark as a threatened species but so far has failed to complete the so-called consultation it is required to conduct under the Environmental Species Act to determine the impact the fisheries the agency authorizes have on the sharks.

“Oceanic whitetip sharks were listed as a threatened species in 2018, and back then the National Marine Fisheries Service cited fishing as the shark’s biggest threat,” Grace Bauer, an attorney with Earthjustice, which represents the plaintiffs, said in a statement. “It’s now been four years. Unbelievably, the agency still hasn’t completed the science to make sure these large-scale fishing fleets aren’t killing too many sharks and endangering the species even further.”

The agency in effect does the required consultation with itself: its Office of Sustainable Fisheries authorizes and manages the two longline fisheries in Hawaii and Samoa, whereas its Office of Protected Resources is the consulting agency that needs to issue a biological opinion whether the fisheries' operations are detrimental to the shark population.

The agency initiated the consultation process for the two fisheries in 2018 and 2019, respectively, but it hasn't completed the review yet continues to authorize the fisheries, according to the complaint. Meanwhile, more than 6,500 oceanic whitetip sharks have been caught by these fisheries since 2018.

Representatives of the agency, also known as NOAA Fisheries, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.

The lawsuit is also brought by Michael Nakachi, a Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner and a small business owner.

Nakachi’s family goes back to a direct line of shark guardians, or shark keepers, from the island of Maui. Traditionally, these are important spiritual leaders and residents had to ask permission from them before taking a shark.

“We are out on the water in Hawaii all the time, and in our native tradition, we consider the sharks our sacred protectors,” Nakachi said in the statement. “We know that too many oceanic whitetip sharks are getting caught and killed, and that upsets the whole marine ecosystem.”

Nakachi and the Conservation Council for Hawaii want a federal judge to find the continued authorization of the fisheries without proper review violates the Endangered Species Act and order the agency to complete the consultations and issue a proper biological opinion within 90 days.

Follow @edpettersson

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