PRESS RELEASE NO. 63-2025

Mr. Kingma shows Consul General Talbo a sample of a cutting from a tuna fish at the auction. 

4 June 2025, Honolulu – Personnel of the Philippine Consulate General in Honolulu visited the Honolulu fish auction for a comprehensive educational tour of the facility.  Consulate personnel observed how the actual auction was conducted and broadened their knowledge on Hawaii’s longline fishing industry.  Overall, the tour of the auction and the adjacent fishing dock was a great opportunity to learn about the connections of industry, the economy and sustainability.   

Mr. Eric Kingma, Executive Director of Hawaii’s Longline Association (HLA), toured Consulate personnel at the auction, and explained how the longline industry, the largest food producing industry in the state, contributes to the state’s economy, generating approximately $120 million in revenue annually.  Eighty percent of the catch, made up mostly of bigeye tuna, is sold locally to restaurants, food establishments and supermarkets, while 18 percent is sold to the US mainland and 2 percent is exported.   The longline industry prides itself on produce which is ice-chilled and not frozen, guaranteeing freshness for fish-lovers.   

Consulate personnel also toured the Honolulu dock, where Mr. Kingma apprised them of how fishermen do their work, from preparing to go out on a three-week journey out to sea to the labor-intensive tasks of laying down the lines, bringing them in, catching and storing the fish.  

Mr. Kingma emphasized that Hawaii’s longline fishery is a model fishery that is environmentally responsible, comprehensively managed and strictly monitored.  

Hawaii’s longline fleet has 150 boats, all owned and operated by US employers, and manned by a five or six-member foreign crew.  Most of the fishermen are foreign workers, with about 60 percent of them Filipinos.  

The Consulate works closely with HLA, the Department of Migrant Workers, represented by the Migrant Workers Office in Los Angeles, and other community supporters, in monitoring the situation of Filipino fishermen employed by Hawaii’s longline industry and ensuring that their rights and welfare are promoted and protected.  (END)

Consulate personnel, led by Consul General Talbo (fourth from left), and Mr. Kingma (second from left) at the Honolulu fish auction. 

Mr. Kingma explains the life of a longline fisherman, majority of whom are Filipino nationals.