Fisheries in the Western Pacific; Precious Corals Fisheries

Black coral resources in the Au'au Channel, Hawaii, have declined, possibly due to fishing pressure and an alien invasive soft coral. Current fishing regulations require minimum sizes for the harvest of living black coral colonies of 48 inches (122 cm) in height or one inch (2.54 cm) in stem diameter. Current regulations also exempt certain fishermen from the minimum stem diameter requirement, allowing the harvest of black coral with a smaller \3/4\ inch (1.91 cm) stem diameter by anyone who had reported black coral harvests to the State of Hawaii within the five years prior to April 17, 2002. This final rule removes that exemption to reduce the impacts of fishing on Au'Au Channel black coral resources.