America Samoa leaders are urging United States officials to restore the ability of U.S. fishermen to fish in waters that have been closed due to marine national monument regulations, stressing that the closure continues to affect the territory and its people who rely on the fishing industry for their livelihood.
“Fisheries sustains our livelihoods in all aspects of our lives,” Lt. Gov. Lemanu Peleti Mauga said, in an address to open the 180th meeting of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council in Pago, American Samoa, in October.
U.S. Rep. Aumua Amata Radewagen (R-American Samoa), in the same meeting, said American Samoa depends on fishing, which is crucial to the economy of the U.S. territory.
“Fishing has sustained us for our entire history. Fishing forms the backbone of our local economy,” she said, according to a press release.
The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) earlier ordered the closure of the tuna purse seine fishery in the "Effort Limit Area for Purse Seine" (ELAPS), after vessels reached the 2019 limit.
While American Samoa has urged the NMFS to reconsider the decision, the area has remained closed.
NMFS said the action was required by the provisions of conservation and management measures adopted by the Commission for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean.
Radewagen said she will prioritize this issue and plans to alert U.S. President Donald Trump that the decision not only has an impact on the people, but has also resulted in Chinese gains in the region.
She noted that the Chinese longline fleet has soared to more than 500 vessels and now catches 45 percent of the South Pacific albacore catch, compared to the American Samoa longline fleet, which saw its total number drop from 60 to 13 active vessels.
“The U.S. must be alert to the actions of China, monitor how that affects our fleet, and be constantly active and engaged in the Pacific region,” Radewagen said.
She added that the people of American Samoa are losing important revenue from the decision, with the U.S. purse-seine fleet paying up to USD 2 million (EUR 1.8 million) annually per vessel in access fees to fish in the foreign exclusive economic zone (EEZ) waters.
The fear that tuna cannery StarKist could close its Pago Pago plant also added to American Samoa’s woes.
In the meeting, Mike McDonald, territorial manager for American Samoa with the U.S. Department of Commerce, said that if the cannery were to close, the territory would lose USD 200 million (EUR 182 million) annually.
StarKist is the biggest employer of American Samoa, providing 2,000 jobs. Its revenue represents one-third of the territory’s gross domestic product (GDP).
The report said the “cannery provides 25 percent of the territory’s jobs and effectively subsidizes the cost of freight and fuel to American Samoa, as the cost of both would be significantly more if that cannery were not in the Territory."
Image courtesy of Rainer Lesniewski/Shutterstock
