April 15, 2024 — In a letter to the U.S. Office of National Marine Sanctuaries in September, American Samoa’s Gov. Lemanu Mauga wrote that “fishing prohibitions not only weaken U.S. fisheries but also increase seafood imports and jeopardize U.S. food and national security.”
A proposal to expand fishing restrictions in the U.S. Pacific Remote Islands Area, referred to as PRIA, has sparked debate about conservation of Pacific fish populations, as well as an unlikely conversation about competition between the U.S. and China in the region.
Situated in the middle of Hawaii, Guam and American Samoa, PRIA encompasses Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Wake Island, Palmyra Atoll and Kingman Reef.
Parts of the region’s waters were blocked off from fishing through the establishment of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument by President George W. Bush in 2009, and it was expanded by President Barack Obama in 2014.
A new proposal from President Joe Biden in March 2023 would further expand it to protect 777, 000 square miles of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone, known as the EEZ—an area larger than Alaska—essentially blocking it all from fishing and making it the world’s largest marine protected area.
It’s based in part on proposals from environmental advocates in Hawaii, who have pushed for further protections. But officials in American Samoa have charged that the new restrictions would “destroy ” their fishing industry and potentially lead to the closure of the StarKist Samoa cannery. According to the territory’s government, the cannery makes up 85 % of American Samoa’s gross domestic product and is responsible for 99.5 % of its exports.