Innholdsfortegnelse for March 1988 i Hawaii Fishing News

■ HAWAII FISHING NEWS reader Steve Jenison of Lahaina wrote to ask whether discoloration of the ocean and a coinciding drop in fishing productivity a few years back could be associated with a sediment dump made during maganese crust mining tests. Yes, it very well could have been. Research efforts on mining viability have been conducted in island waters for years. Many Maui residents remember when the GLOMAR EXPLORER (the massive deep-sea mining ship built by Howard Hughes for the CIA) was parked in the Maui triangle off MacGregor Point. Surface siltation was clearly evident during equipment testing. And that’s why it is important that there be stringent regulations and daily monitoring (by impartial observers) of any activity that disturbs the benthic (ocean bottom) community, even in the name of…

■ The residents or Maui, Moioka’i and Lana I have enjoyed tor the past several years the annual visits of the migratory humpback whales from the cold waters of the North Pacific. However, for one reason or another, there has been a drastic drop in sightings of whales this year between the three islands. I, personally, am disappointed for not seeing any kohola (whales) this year. Whales have been part of Hawaiian history since the time of the Kumulipo (Hawaii’s creation chant). Sadly, there are no significant writings from ancient times to learn about the kohola from the natives in Hawaii. However, the composer of the Kumulipo chant developed 29 pairs of fish and matched each pair with a corresponding land plant to act as guardian. The land plant guardian…

■ A San Diego reader, a former commercial fisherman, wrote to protest proposed increases in fees for Hawai’i commercial fishermen. Attached to his note was an article from the November issue of The Fisherman’s News a Seattle, Washington, publication. The article, headlined “Commercial Fishermen, Prepare for a Showdown,” claimed that the National Marine Fisheries Service is planning a drastic increase in fees that will make commercial fishermen “an extinct species.” Author Don Crouch asked, “Can you afford to pay $10,000, $50,000, $100,000 or more for the right to catch a designated number of pounds of fish? “That’s what the NMFS has in mind for all commercial fishermen come next year, 1988, and the reinactment of the Fishery Conservation and Management Act,” Crouch said. Crouch said the NMFS wants to borrow…

■ Hawai’i and Australia anglers are fishing cousins. They can find much in common through their sport: their climates are generally warm, and the waters surrounding their “islands” teem with many similar if not the same species of fish. And anglers of both places pursue their pasttime with a heartiness that some say cannot be matched by fishermen of colder climes. Those are just some of the reasons why Em Grant’s newest book, Fishes of Australia, is fascinating reading for Hawai’i anglers, as well as those wetting lines “down under.” This comprehensive guide describes nearly a thousand fish commonly found in Australia waters. It is handsomely illustrated with 840 color photographs, most taken by the author himself. In fact, Grant caught most of the fish he photographed so that he…

■ An irresistible array of colors lit up the arid landscape as the blue-green uhu (parrotfish) frolicked in the frothy white water. My Tre-Bark camouflage T-shirt blended well with the a’a shoreline as I knelt in a crevice. I was perched on a cliff about 8 feet above the water’s surface, and my wary prey was feeding in about 4 feet of water. I resisted the urge to take too deep of a shot; I held my ground until the uhu’s dorsal fin broke the surface as a wave swelled and brought the fish within bow-and-arrow range. I steadily drew back my 80-lb Pro Hunter compound bow and then released. The white fiberglass fishing arrow flew the distance in a blink of an eye. It penetrated the parrotfish’s armorlike scales…

All in a Day’s Work for Monster Fishermen ■ Monster sharks are the stuff of nightmares and moneymaking movies. But for one Australian commercial fisherman, a 22-foot-long, 5,000-lb great white was just a big dead fish and a huge transportation problem. South Australian netter Peter Riseley found the seagoing horror entangled in his net off Kangaroo Island. But the intimidating part was trying to bring the big fish back to port. (Come now. If you caught the biggest shark in history, you’d want to show it to the gang, too. Even if it took four hours, as it did Riseley, to cut it in half and get the head aboard your boat.) The jaws, reputed to be the largest in the world, are being mounted. If a 22-foot-long fish doesn’t…

Printed here are Dr. Shornura’s comments on the Couch article and the Honolulu Lab’s opinion of ITQs. We hope the combination of views will inform the discussion for HFN readers. By the way, the letter included a postscript on gillnetting, a subject on which HFN has commented many times. This commercial fisherman said: “Gillnetting does not decimate; it kills everything, so continue to fight it.” (Note: that’s a nice use of “decimate” from the classical meaning of the word. Ancient armies used to punish enemy populations by killing off every tenth person, drawn by lot. “Decimate” literally means “to kill 10 percent,” a very different situation from the havoc this reader feels gill-netting causes.) … Jim U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE Southwest…

Due to the limited space available and the large number of fish caught, catch reports are limited to tuna over 100 lbs and billfish of any size, any species. (S) = Striped marlin, (B) = Black marlin and (T) = Tag and release, weight estimated. ■ Lahaina Town was off to a great start for 1988 with 11 blue marlin, 26 stripers and eight spearfish weighed in during the month. The first blue marlin for ’88 was caught from aboard the ISLANDER II. That day, Capt. Tim Putnam and his crewman Mark Shultz had a Japanese couple who spoke very little English, and Tim and Mark knew very little Japanese. The gentleman had never been fishing before, so crewman Shultz tried to show him how to reel in the fish.…

Kailua-Kona Catch Report Due to the limited space available and the large number of fish caught, catch reports are limited to tuna over 100 lbs and billfish of any size, any species. (S) = Striped marlin, (B) = Black marlin and (T) = Tag and release, weight estimated.…

SEND PHOTO ANP LETTER ABOUT YOUR CATCH. AND WE WILL MAIL YOU A FREE GIFT… OUR WAY OF SAYING THANKS FOR SHARING SOUR CATCH! … Chuck SEND TO: P. O. BOX 25413, HONOLULU, HAWAII 96825 Dear Chuck, On Nouember 2 the east side had good conditions, so I thought’ maybe 1 had a chance. We planned to fish a half-night. We headed to the pineapple dump. It turned out the gate was closed. While deciding where to go, my friend Randy showed up. He suggested we go to a spot where he surfs a lot: many times he’d seen ulua there. The tide was low and slack, the perfect time to slide bait (fresh tako on a #50 hook). My partner Daniel Silver warned me to set my drag tight…

■ Amid Hilo Bay on the Big Island lies the Hilo breakwall. Off this wall of stone and conciete thrives an abundance of game tor the novice and the experienced fisherman. The waters along lhe “Gi eat Wall of I Hlo” teem with a variety of iish sue h as uhu. kala. papio. paiani, and il you’re lucky, kumu and tako. The Hilo breakwall stt etches oui for approximately 2 miles into the middle ot the haw. This gives the pionnsing bowfisherman a fine oppor t unite to shoot a nice bagful of fish if his aim is true. My most memorable experience at Hiio’s breakwaii was when I found a rock ih it housed a “nest” of palau: in the 16 to 17 meh lange. I settled myself in…

Mr. Chuck Johnston January 28, 1988 c/o Hawaii Fishing News Honolulu, Hawaii 96825 Dear Chuck: In reference to your February 1988 issue and column SPLASH by Jim Rizzuto under the subheading “Miniature Mullet,” I would like to express my sincerest apologies to the public for airing the use of the moi-li‘i/mullet for bait. After the airing of the Fishing Tales show on catching papio in Kaneohe Bay on December 19, Saturday, a person approached me and called it to my attention that our possession of the moi-li‘i/mullet was “illegal.” Upon hearing this, I checked it out and found that he was entirely correct. But the damage was already done Presently I received a call from the state Department of Fish and Game and was told that they had gotten a…

Soft-Cooler Backpacks ■ On a recent light-tackle fishing trip I was stopped by a beach-goer who asked me about my Kool-A-Pak backpack. Being from the mainland, he had never seen a “soft-cooler” before and wondered why I preferred it over a regular ice chest. As you may know, a soft cooler backpack is similar in appearance to a regular backpack. However, there is one feature that sets a soft-cooler backpack apart. That is, of course, its ability to keep beverages, bait and freshly caught fish, ice-cold. This is made possible through the “sandwiching” of nylon insulating material that, when the pack is filled with ice, keeps the contents cold from anywhere up to 12 hours. The original Kool-A-Pak was one of the first soft-coolers designed to allow the light-tackle angler…

■ Hawaii’s Board of Land and Natural Resources is concerned about apparent declines in catches of nearshore fish. In response, the Department of Land and Natural Resources has joined with other agencies to plan research projects to address the factors that may be responsible for the declines. Public input has been solicited through a questionnaire sent to recreational and commercial fishermen. That questionnaire is reprinted here. William W. Paty, chairperson of the BLNR, says declining catches may be the result of “pollution, fewer fish, habitat destruction, nearshore activities and natural environmental changes.” These factors may be acting singly or in combination, depending on the area and species affected. Working with the National Marine Fisheries Service and the University of Hawaii Sea Grant Program, the BLNR wants to study the causes…

Honokohau Catch Report Due to the limited space available and the large number of fish caught, catch reports are limited to tuna over 100 lbs and billfish of any size, any species. (S) Striped marlin. (B) Black marlin and (T) = Tag and release, weight estimated.…

Volume 2 of the most extensive collection of saltwater fishing tips that’s ever been published. Volume 1 has sold more than 20,000 copies. Volume 3 will be released in 1988! Volume 1 Fishing knowledge is a common legacy. Even so, all of us have our own secret methods which we like to think make us different and better than anybody else. You’ll find comprehensive and detailed descriptions of surfcasting for ulua (slide-baiting and dunking), drifting sand bars for ‘o‘io, locating and catching deep-water snapper, fighting big game fish on light and heavy tackle, catching tuna at night under lights (the ika-shibi fishery), trolling green sticks, making and using popping plugs for whipping, fishing from boards powered by sails and small motors, jigging with flies for akule and live-baiting amberjack and…