The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged Hawaii and especially local commercial fisheries, an important component of the state and regional economy. The Hawaiian Longline fleet has been hit especially hard, given the reduced demand for fish from restaurants and markets in Hawaii as well as the US mainland and abroad. Mandatory quarantine and social distancing have also introduced uncertainty in how best to address crew safety and health, as well as that of Federal fisheries observers, who serve as guests aboard fishing vessels at sea to record catch and protected species interactions.
On March 25, 2020 NOAA Fisheries issued an emergency action to waive observer coverage on a case by case basis for the Pacific Islands Regional Observer Program (PIROP) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. For Lynker’s fisheries observers this meant an abrupt hiatus in work. Typically, Lynker has between 25-35 observer deployments at sea on any given day. With the fishery itself suddenly restricted to a few boats going out to sea, we were all, for about two months, ‘dead in the water’.
But where there is adversity there is innovation, and Lynker – the US Federal government’s provider of fisheries observers in the Pacific region under NOAA – has taken a proactive approach in putting into place protocols to address the Federal compliance requirement for observer coverage on longline fishing trips. The pandemic has also given us an opportunity to deepen our relationships with NOAA and the fleet, which includes collaborating with the Federal Pacific Islands Regional Observer Program (PIROP) and the Hawaii Longline Association (HLA) in the development of standard operating procedures, protocols, and best practices to allow our protected species observers to safely and confidently return to work. We continue to be proactive and forward-thinking in how we support the invaluable PIROP mission, ensuring NOAA has reliable, timely fisheries and protected species interaction data from the longline and shallow set commercial fishing fleet to support the scientific research and sustainable management of our nation’s living marine resources in the PIR.
Lynker has integrated rigorous actions to helping prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the fishery and protect the health of our observers returning to work. These include mandatory quarantine for employees returning to Hawaii from the Mainland or elsewhere, social distancing where possible, company-paid personal protective equipment (PPE), and 100% covered pre- and post-trip screening and testing – all in compliance with CDC and Hawaii State Department of Health guidance.
We are also working in conjunction with HLA to complement their ongoing efforts in monitoring the health and safety of vessel crews. We have incorporated social distancing guidelines and PPE into our pre-trip vessel safety inspections. Prior to placement, and upon return, observers are screened for elevated temperature and whether they have experienced covid-like symptoms or know anyone who has.
Our combined efforts will result help safeguard not only the health of observers and fishers, but enable the fishery to restore to full capacity – critical for the economic recovery of the region.
Lynker also developed a web-based application to enable our observer and port coordinators who assist in the vessel placement – to capture real-time data from the mandatory boat safety inspection using a tablet which leverages Google Apps (Forms, Sheets, Gmail) and facilitates the real-time transmission of data, photos, and video from the boat to Federal supervisors for instant review and approval. Our app has greatly improved the safety inspection process, improved consistency of the observer data captured, and provided a value-add in enabling the capture and association of visual information with the trip record. These images are invaluable in assessing the actual condition of safety equipment onboard while also facilitating the current need for social distancing.
In addition, Lynker is collaborating with the Federal government to deploy Garmin InReach devices with at-sea observers. The InReach technology significantly reduces the cost while also increasing the speed and reliability of daily communications (currently performed via satellite phone). InReach will not only facilitate the rapid reporting of potential health issues, it will also enhance the quality, consistency, and richness of at sea observation in real time.
Lynker values our employees, and is providing health coverage for our staff – including our observer workforce – affected by “Shelter In Place” orders. Our proactive approach will also expedite testing and rapid medical attention to any employee exhibiting coronavirus symptoms or have reason to believe they may be infected with COVID.
land of Hawaii. Her talk, titled “Characterizing the Soundscape in Deep Water Off Hawaii,” introduced the audience to the remote location, which still has notable anthropogenic impacts despite being located in the center of the vast North Pacific Ocean.