Vessel seized for alleged illegal longline fishing in state territorial sea off Big Island

Officers from the Hawai‘i Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement Hawai‘i Branch Marine Unit on Thursday seized a fishing vessel and cited a Big Island man for illegal longline fishing after receiving multiple complaints.

Cited for violating state code relating to longline fishing pohibition, which is a petty misdemeanor, was 52-year-old Konane Zager of Kona.

Zager had caught three ahi. One live fish was released, and the other two weighed in at 95 pounds and 103 pounds, with an estimated market value of $1,251.

Zager is scheduled to appear June 19 in Kona District Court.

Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement officers on the morning of May 7 boarded the fishing vessel Wai‘aka in state waters about 7 miles offshore of Kailua-Kona on the Big Island after observing it fishing with about 4 miles of line deployed.

It is illegal to longline fish in state waters within the Hawai‘i State Territorial Sea, which comprises 3,069 square miles of water extending 12 nautical miles from shore around the state.