Column: Whitetip sharks need protection from commercial fishing

The relationship between humans and the natural world is reciprocal, particularly in Native Hawaiian culture. For me, the mano (shark) is my family ‘aumakua, giving spiritual protection and guidance. Reciprocally, my family traditionally served as kahu mano (shark protectors) tasked with protecting this sacred animal from unnecessary killing.

So it’s not only as a fisherman and waterman, but also as a cultural practitioner, that I’ve mourned the senseless deaths of thousands of oceanic whitetip sharks that are killed on longline fishing gear every year. Fisheries officials call it “bycatch” — meaning that the fishermen are only catching the sharks as they fish for other species, such as tuna and swordfish.

Whatever we call it, the truth is that we must stop the killing before these top ocean predators go extinct by human hands. Sharks are not only majestic animals; they are key to keeping our Pacific Ocean ecosystems intact.

For all these reasons, I sued the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in April, along with Conservation Council for Hawaii, to force the agency to do what the law required it do years ago: Declare that the population of oceanic whitetip sharks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean is “overfished” and experien- cing overfishing.

I am glad to report that our lawsuit worked. In May, just a month after our attorneys at the nonprofit national environmental law firm Earthjustice filed the lawsuit, NOAA finally took action. As a result, the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council must develop strategies to stop the carnage and help the whitetip shark population recover.

It’s a big task, because the situation for these sharks is dire.

Oceanic whitetips are long-lived, slow-growing creatures that can take nine years to reach sexual maturity. Because of the drastic decline in its population numbers, the species was declared threatened under the Endangered Species Act back in 2018. Between 2013 and 2017 alone, domestic and international longliners and purse seiners in the Pacific captured nearly 300,000 oceanic whitetip sharks as bycatch. Scientists estimate that Pacific oceanic whitetip populations have declined 80-95% since the mid-1990s, in large part as a result of this bycatch.

We have the power to reverse this. I pledge to work to make sure the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council stays accountable and carries through with a plan. I hope others will join me.

A fisherman is responsible for his makau (hook), line and net, and has an obligation to be a lawai’a pono, or a responsible righteous, fisherman. As a fisherman, a waterman and a Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner, I know sustainable fisheries are possible. Now is the time to save this sacred animal, and all marine life, for future generations.