How Politics And Lobbying Have Shaped Federal Fisheries Policies In The Pacific A Civil Beat investigation into the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council shows its longtime director and loyal council members have for decades used questionable strategies to help commercial fishermen.
Late on a Saturday afternoon in November 2010, a small group of Native Hawaiians gathered around Charles Ka‘ai‘ai near the end of a two-day conference at the Hawaii Convention Center.
The Indigenous coordinator of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, a federal body with jurisdiction over 1.5 million square miles of ocean, coached them through the process of writing what would soon become a foundational piece of state legislation.
