Division of Aquatic Resources

Uku at Lanai Lookout, O‘ahu

Do you target uku (green jobfish) when you go holoholo?  Are you aware that uku have an annual catch target (ACT) and annual catch limit (ACL)?  Maybe you’ve heard about ACLs but aren’t totally sure what they are?  Because uku is a federally-managed species, there are harvest limits for both commercial and non-commercial take of uku in federal waters (3-200 miles from shore).  For the years 2022-2025, the ACT is 291,010 pounds and the ACL is 295,419 pounds.  If the combined harvest of uku by both commercial and non-noncommercial fishers is projected to exceed the ACT (291,010 pounds) anytime within a given year, the uku fishery would close for the remainder of that year in federal waters.  Furthermore, if the three-year total average catch exceeds the ACL in a given year, both the ACT and ACL would be reduced the following year by the number of pounds that exceeded the ACL.  These accountability measures are taken to prevent overfishing and ensure the uku fishery remains productive and healthy.

So how are the ACT and ACL calculated?  The commercial harvest is closely monitored based on the monthly catch reports submitted by Commercial Marine License holders.  The non-commercial harvest, however, is much harder to determine.  Currently, an annual statewide estimate of the total pounds landed for uku by non-commercial fishers is used in the calculation of the ACT and ACL.  These estimates are first calculated by NOAA Fisheries’ Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP), then modified by NOAA Fisheries staff based in Hawaiʻi and subsequently used in an uku stock assessment.  Catch information such as the numbers caught, length, weight and catch disposition is recorded by Hawaiʻi Marine Recreational Fishing Survey (HMRFS) field staff who interview fishers at public boat ramps and shoreline fishing areas.  Effort information such as the number of trips taken is recorded by the Fishing Effort Survey (FES), a mail survey that is sent to random households in Hawaiʻi, which is managed by MRIP. 

Due to the lack of a non-commercial fishing license for Hawaiʻi residents, a sampling frame or “telephone book” of non-commercial fishers in the state is also absent.  Thus, the surveys are sent to random households in an attempt to estimate the total statewide number of fishing trips taken in the past two months and the past year.  Many of the surveys are sent to households with no fishers and those that do reach fishers are often not returned.  As a result of limited response rates, the estimates of total non-commercial landings of uku can be highly variable.

This fall or early winter, a year-long pilot mail survey will begin alongside the regular FES that will use the Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR) vessel registry and the Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) bottomfish vessel registry as a targeted sampling frame rather than the random sampling approach.  The uku survey also differs from the FES as it asks more specific questions about trip-based fishing specifically for uku.  Though some uku are landed by shore-based fishers and kayak fishers and are thus likely not included in either of these registries, most uku are landed by registered boat fishers which should result in a higher response rate than the FES.  If the results of this pilot mail survey prove to be more precise than the FES in terms of uku fishing effort, then the next step will be to work with MRIP to certify the specialized mail survey for uku and potentially for the Deep-7 species as well.

If you receive either the FES or uku survey in the mail, please fill them out and return them even if you don’t fish for uku or haven’t caught uku in a while.  Your responses are crucial to a better understanding of our fisheries as well as more effective management strategies in the future!