End May Be Near for Swordfish Fleet

The proposed regulations by the National Marine Fisheries Service come as a federal judge in San Francisco is considering closing down the same San Pedro-based fleet under a lawsuit by conservationists aimed at avoiding the projected extinction of the leatherback sea turtle and arresting the decline of other turtles.

Most of the two dozen remaining long line fishing boats were pushed out of Hawaii a few years ago by similar restrictions adopted to protect sea turtles. Now, this group of mostly Vietnamese American fishermen face the loss of their livelihood if the restrictions are adopted in a 1,200-mile swath of Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and the coast of California, Oregon and Washington.

"I will lose everything I have," said Alan Duong, who earlier this year bought a new $1.2-million fishing boat. "I put everything I had into the boat. I borrowed money from everyone I know, all my relatives, and we still owe the bank."

The proposed regulations, which could go into effect in March, focus exclusively on "long lining," a fishing practice of unfurling lines of baited hooks that stretch as far as 50 miles off the stern of boats.

Specifically, the regulations would ban setting these lines in waters near the surface, usually within the top 100 feet, which tend to lead to more encounters with air-breathing sea turtles.

Commercial fishermen catch nearly all of their swordfish by setting lines near the surface, using squid as bait and marking the lines with submergible light sticks that attract their prey. Unfortunately, this form of fishing also catches more turtles than lines set at greater depths, as is done by fishermen looking for tuna and other types of fish.

Using data collected by observers on board the fishing boats, federal officials estimate that in a typical year the West Coast fleet generally sets about 1.5 million hooks a year, and inadvertently snags or entangles 174 loggerhead turtles and 52 leatherbacks.

Federal officials expect that all of these turtles would be released alive. But based on federal calculations, 61 loggerheads and 15 leatherbacks would die later because of related injuries, sometimes inflicted when a turtle that has swallowed a hook is hauled on board.