Tagging, New FAD in town & More Sashimi for the Holidays

by admin kona | Nov 21, 2014 | Latest News

November brings much news to be Thankful for this Holiday Season. Researchers are launching a new tagging program for AHI in West Hawaii that will help them better understand the patterns of this highly migratory and elusive fish. With the help of area fisherman the $4000.00 devices will be tagged into five Big Eye Tuna that are 70 pounds or larger this winter. Designed to read water temperature and depth and to transmit location to a satellite, the tags will help researchers understand how fish behave and how environmental factors may influence their migratory pattern.

The research is a collaboration of the Pacific Island Fisheries Group, West Hawaii Fishermen and the Large Pelagics Research Center, and is sponsored by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council. The project was unveiled at a gathering of fisherman, researchers and fishery council staff in which Capt. McGrew Rice was present.

New FAD in Town…..Kona fishermen and the council are also collaborating on a device to attract fish, which has already been deployed about 20 miles off Kealakekua Bay. Numerous fish species congregate around the anchored floats, essentially creating offshore fishing holes. The fish aggregation device is designed to increase fishing opportunities and aide in data collection and research. This will also reduce the searching for fish and will help with fuel costs. The placement of the anchored 12-foot long skiff and GPS beacon is strategic according to captain McGrew Rice who is a member of the council. “It’s central where private FAD’s were put out there that have worked in the past very well and considered a proven area”

More Sashimi for the Holidays…..Hawaii fisherman got other good news. The state’s longline fleet can now contract with the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands for a portion of it’s AHI quota. The additional fish will help head off shortages of sashimi during the New Year’s holiday. For many years, the threat of a shortage during the holiday’s has caused higher prices for families and less productivity for our fishermen. We are pleased that NOAA and the Hawaii longliners…ensuring families won’t experience any shortage of sashimi when ringing in the New Year.

Aloha,

Your IHU NUI family

The IHU NUI II “Shake Down Voyage”

by admin kona | Nov 1, 2014 | Latest News

This week on the IHU NUI II our new 40′ Miller Marine was taken out for the first time to try everything out from the engines to the fishing equipment. We call this the “Shake Down” voyage to get the bugs out so to speak. Well this proved to be a good day to test it out as we had fishing veteran Louise Hawkins aboard along with  Captain McGrew’s wife Jennifer Rice, Tony Clark and Carlton Arai.  Louise is 95 years old and holds three Women’s IGFA world records on light tackle and just happens to be Jennifer’s grandmother. Louise and her husband Clifford have a long history in Kona with fishing on  their boats the Papa’s Keiki and the Papa’s Keiki II. They came to Kona in the early 1960’s and built their first home in Papa Bay.  They participated in many of the Kona Mauka Troller tournaments, the Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament, the Kona Gold Jackpot, Kona Gold and the Golden Goddess tournaments. Jennifer came over as a young child to visit her grandparents and fish with them over summer breaks and holidays and even in between her breaks from professional figure skating and Ice Capades World Tours.  However, Louise always took the Big Ones while Jennifer was trained to take the Ono’s and Mahi Mahi’s and became an excellent photographer capturing these exciting moments. Now the tables have tuned and history continues as Louise is happy to capture Jennifer catching the Big Ones! Today was no exception as good luck struck again with Jennifer catching her largest Mahi Mahi to date weighing in at 30 lbs. As many of you know this has been a long journey for the IHU NUI II. Starting off in Savannah, Georgia to be transported to Kona with some major detours that resulted in a year long journey to finally arrive here at it’s new home in Honokohau Harbor. This delay turned into a blessing as this situation helped us find the IHU NUI 45′ Monterey which is proudly docked next to the IHU NUI II. Today as we embark on our first official Charter on the IHU NUI II we look forward to many years of adventures fishing in Kona on this beautiful Kona Coast.