The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is granting an experimental fishing permit to the Hawaii Longline Association (HLA). This permit allows them to use tori lines, which are bird scaring devices, in their deep-set longline fishing operations in Hawaii to see if these can help with conservation and management without using other bird-deterrent methods usually required. The permit is valid from January 27, 2021, to January 26, 2022, unless changed or canceled sooner. This experiment is part of a broader effort to understand better how these particular fishing practices affect seabirds.
Simple Explanation
The National Marine Fisheries Service gave permission to the Hawaii Longline Association to test some new bird-scaring strings while fishing, to see if they can help keep birds safe without needing other special tricks. The test runs for a year and aims to figure out how these strings might affect seabirds.