Saving Seafood

StarKist, fleet lament US fishing restrictions amid surge in canned tuna demand

March 19, 2020 — US tuna canner StarKist & Co and the fleet that catches its tuna are lamenting fishing restrictions in the American Samoa region they say will make it difficult to continue to supply tuna at a time when shelf-stable product sales are up sharply due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

StarKist, according to a press release published by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, is seeing higher demand for its products, which is creating more work for its StarKist Samoa plant in American Samoa.

“The StarKist Samoa operation relies on the US tuna fishermen, and direct fish deliveries to the cannery are a major component of our business model,” the company said. “We have seen an increase in sales that has been attributed to the Covid-19 impact, and we are doing our best to keep up with the demand. It’s important to note that the global impact of Covid-19 highlights the importance of keeping US suppliers and producers in business to ensure we can sustain the tuna supply for US consumers.”

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

As Canned Tuna Fly Off Shelves, Operations of U.S. Boats Are Compromised

March 18, 2020 — HONOLULU — The following was released by the American Tunaboat Association, StarKist Samoa, and the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

Consumers bracing against Covid-19 have raised demands not only for health and safety products but also for many food staples, including tuna. According to an NPR report yesterday, tuna sales were up more than 31 percent last week compared to the same time last year.

StarKist Samoa, located in the US Territory of American Samoa, supplies tuna for the US market.

“The StarKist Samoa operation relies on the US tuna fishermen, and direct fish deliveries to the cannery are a major component of our business model,” said StarKist Samoa in a statement today. “We have seen an increase in sales that has been attributed to the Covid-19 impact, and we are doing our best to keep up with the demand. It’s important to note that the global impact of Covid-19 highlights the importance of keeping US suppliers and producers in business to ensure we can sustain the tuna supply for US consumers. It continues to be a struggle for the US tuna fisherman to stay in business. The Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, as well as the continued burdens of the international fishing restrictions, has had a detrimental impact on both our US tuna fishermen and the American Samoan economy. In addition, these measures have had little or no impact on tuna conservation or the protection of sensitive marine habitats. Any interruption to the StarKist Samoa supply chain impacts our company’s ability to provide healthy seafood products to our US customers.”

Under US law, American tuna purse-seiners are stringently managed under regulations and enforcement regimes that are far more robust than those of other nations. Among the regulations for US purse-seiners is the requirement for vessels to carry fishery observers.

“The current situation poses critical problems for the operation of the US tuna purse-seine fleet on almost every level,” notes Bill Gibbons-Fly, executive director of the American Tunaboat Association (ATA). The nonprofit organization, established in 1917, represents the owners and operators of the US Pacific tuna purse-seine fleet and is the last true distant-water fishing fleet operating under US flag. “Most Pacific Island countries that provide observers have pulled those observers off boats and called them home,” Gibbons-Fly adds. “We expect others to follow. The increasing travel constraints throughout the Pacific are complicating efforts to get crew, repair parts, technicians and supplies to boats in a timely fashion. And some ports where the boats would offload or transship fish are simply closed to them. This combination of factors not only puts the immediate operations of the fleet at risk, but also raises questions about the ability of this industry, along with many others, to overcome the broader economic and social disruption caused by the current pandemic.”

For further information contact Gibbons-Fly at (410) 940-9385 or wgibbons-fly@atatuna.com; Archie Soliai, government and community relations manager, StarKist Samoa, and chair of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (WPRFMC) at Archie.Soliai@StarKist.com; or Sylvia Spalding of the WPRFMC at (808) 383-1069 or sylvia.spalding@wpcouncil.org.

Western Pacific Council Recommends 2020 Bigeye Tuna Catch, Allocations for U.S. Pacific Territories

March 17, 2020 — The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council in Honolulu recommended that the federal catch limits for longline-caught bigeye tuna for the U.S. Territories of American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands for fishing year 2020 remain at 2,000 metric tons each and the allocation limits be up to 1,500 mt each with a cap of 3,000 mt overall.

Previously, the allocation limits were up to 1,000 mt for each Territory. The new allocation limits and cap ensure that the potential environmental impact remains the same while allowing the territories more flexibility in their allocation choices. The Council’s recommendation from last week’s meeting will be reviewed by the Secretary of Commerce for approval, according to a press release from the Council.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Meeting on Management of US Pacific Island Fisheries Next Week Allows Web Participation

March 9, 2020 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

Members of the public concerned about the coronavirus can participate in next week’s 181st meeting of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council by web conference. The public may also participate in person in the March 10 to 12 meeting 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the YWCA Atherton Hall, 1040 Richards St., Honolulu, and the associated Fishers Forum on Hawai’i fisheries from 6 to 9 p.m. in the upstairs ballroom at Aloha Tower Marketplace, 1 Aloha Tower, Honolulu.

Key agenda items for the meeting include annual catch limits for the bottomfish fisheries of Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) for fishing years 2020-2023; revisions to the list of federally managed bottomfish species in American Samoa, Guam and the CNMI; catch and allocation limits for longline-caught bigeye tuna in the US Pacific Island territories for fishing year 2020; and marine conservation plans for Guam, CNMI and the Pacific Remote Island Areas.

To participate by web conference: Go to https://wprfmc.webex.com/join/info.wpcouncilnoaa.gov. You may connect to the audio via the computer or telephone. If you use the telephone for the audio, sign into Webex via your computer first and look for the “call in” prompt to obtain the call-in instructions and a participant number.

Instructions for making public comment via Webex: Public comments will be taken at the end of each agenda section for items relevant to the applicable agenda section only. Comments on non-agenda items will be taken at 4 p.m. on March 10. To make a public comment, send a private chat message via Webex to the “host (Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council)” prior to the start of the public comment period of the applicable agenda section. Your name will be added to the public comment queue. Keep your audio connection muted until you are acknowledged by the chair to speak.

For more information on the meeting and Fishers Forum, go to www.wpcouncil.org/meetings-calendars/ or contact the Council at info@wpcouncil.org or (808) 522-8220.

Scientists Set Acceptable Biological Catches for Mariana Archipelago Bottomfish, Recommend New Stock Assessment for Mariana and American Samoa Bottomfish

March 6, 2020 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

The Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council concluded its three-day 135th meeting today in Honolulu. Key outcomes addressed the Mariana and American Samoa Archipelago bottomfish fisheries. The Council will consider and may take action on the SSC outcomes and other issues when it meets March 10 to 12 at the YWCA Atherton Hall, 1040 Richards St., Honolulu. For more information on these meetings, including a Fishers Forum on Hawai’i fisheries the evening of March 10, go to http://www.wpcouncil.org/meetings-calendars/ or contact the Council at info@wpcouncil.org or (808) 522-8220.

Mariana Archipelago Bottomfish Fisheries: The SSC set annual acceptable biological catches of bottomfish at 27,000 pounds in Guam and 84,000 pounds in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) for fishing years 2020-2023. The specifications are based on a 2019 stock assessment by the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), which found bottomfish to be overfished on Guam but not in the CNMI and the fisheries in both areas to be operating at sustainable levels of catch and effort. Previous stock assessments had determined that the stocks in both areas were healthy. The acceptable biological catches reflect what can be removed while allowing the stock to reproduce at levels of maximum sustainable yield. Based on creel survey estimates, Guam’s commercial and noncommercial bottomfish fisheries landed 27,781 pounds in 2016; 22,962 pounds in 2017; and 32,751 pounds in 2018; and CNMI landed 49,570 pounds in 2016; 46,290 pounds in 2017; and 858 pounds in 2018. Next week, the Council will develop annual catch limits for the fisheries based on the acceptable biological catch levels and management uncertainties. Catch limits may be equal to or less than the acceptable biological catch specifications.

American Samoa and Mariana Archipelago Managed Bottomfish Species: The SSC considered potential alternative groupings for managed bottomfish species caught in federal waters (i.e., seaward of state waters, which are 0 to 3 miles from shore) based on available biological and fishery data and the feasibility of conducting stock assessments. Currently, the bottomfish species in each island area are grouped together as a single bottomfish complex. During discussions, it was noted that the American Samoa stock assessment focused on the heavily exploited area around Tutuila and less around the more lightly exploited areas around the offshore seamounts and the Manu’a islands due to the way the data was collected. It was also noted that careful attention should be given to the definition of a bottomfishing trip, which currently is having bottomfishing gear onboard, because hand crank and electric reels are used for bottomfishing and for trolling. The SSC recommended that the Council request PIFSC to initiate a new benchmark stock assessment and to explore other modeling approaches and data sets aside from the creel surveys and commercial receipt books. An SSC member designee will work with PIFSC and Council staff to explore the deep and shallow species groupings, trip and gear definitions, and available data sources.

Sea of obstacles imperil American Samoa’s tuna industry

February 18, 2020 — Locally based fishermen who supply the lone Starkist tuna cannery in American Samoa are facing a perfect storm of obstacles that are threatening their economic survival. A battle is now on in the U.S. territory to fend off those looming challenges, from rising fuel costs to international competition. Special correspondent Mike Taibbi reports with support from Pacific Islanders in Communications.

Mike Taibbi:

Morning prayers at the start of the old cannery’s 6 AM shift. Charlie Tuna’s cannery: Starkist. Some 2,400 workers troop to this 56-year old operation every day.

‘Let us celebrate,’ they sing in unison. ‘Bless our workers,’ implores a supervisor, adding ‘as well as our leaders, and management.’ Those leaders of an iconic American brand serve a company that’s now owned and managed by a South Korean conglomerate Dongwon.

Inside the cannery, trays are loaded with several types of thawed, cooked, cooled and ready to process tuna.

Read the full story at PBS

NTSB: Poor crew training, oversight led to tuna seiner fire

February 14, 2020 — On 6 December, 2018, the 228-foot tuna seiner Jeanette sank off Tutuila Island, a part of American Samoa, after being on fire for nearly 23 hours. The estimated damage exceeded USD 15 million (EUR 13.8 million). There was no loss of life.

The Jeanette, which was built in 1975 and owned by C & F Fishing LTD in San Diego, California, but home ported in America Samoa, caught fire and sank as a result of inadequate crew training and oversight, according to the National Transportation Safety Board’s marine accident brief.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Fishery Council clarifies local bottom fishery data

November 18, 2019 — “There is currently no reliable measure of individual number of fishermen in the American Samoa bottom fish fishery,” wrote Kitty M. Simonds, executive director of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).

“The Council is working with the American Samoa Government to improve the quality of fishery data,” wrote Simonds in a Nov. 12th letter providing the Council’s comment on the NMFS proposed List of Fisheries (LOF) for 2020. (The proposed list was published recently on federal portal www.regulations.gov seeking comments)

“Specifically, the Council provides clarification on the source of information used to revise the number of vessels/persons for the American Samoa bottomfish handline fishery from 1,092 to 2,095,” Simonds explained.

She noted that NMFS cites the Council’s Annual Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation (SAFE) report for the fishery participation data in the 2019 LOF, which resulted in the number of vessels/persons revised from the previous 17 to 1,092 in the 2019 LOF, and the subsequent revision to 2,095 in the proposed 2020 LOF.

Read the full story at Samoa News

Congresswoman Pushes US To Support Its Seiners

November 18, 2019 — “Fishing forms the backbone of our local economy,” said Republican Congresswoman, Aumua Amata Radewagen, speaking at the opening of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council’s (WPRFMC) 180th meeting in Pago Pago, American Samoa. Radewagen is a delegate for the U.S. House of Representatives from American Samoa. The sustainable future of the nations purse seine fishery was also the issue in Lt. Governor Lemanu Peleti Mauga’s speech in which he referred to the importance of fishing for the livelihood of the island.

Radewagen mentioned that US purse seiners pay annually up to USD 2 million per vessel to have access to foreign EEZ’s for fishing. Due to marine national monument regulations, these parts of US EEZ’s are now closed for purse seiners.

The seiner fleet provides skipjack and yellowfin tuna for the American Samoa-based cannery owned by StarKist Samoa Co. The fleet has exceeded the limit of fishing days in 2018 and therefore by US regulations, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announced the closure on October 1, whereby US-flagged vessels have no access to the fishing grounds within the nations’ EEZ which also includes the waters around American Samoa.

The Congresswoman finds it her priority to get the lifting of the fishing closure within the Marine parks – which is still recommended by the US Interior Department – onto President Trump’s agenda. From her perspective, the latest negotiations for the South Pacific Tuna Treaty between the US and the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) nations went backward when 700 fewer fishing days were agreed.

According to a report by the American Samoa Department of Commerce, the Pago Pago cannery provides 25 percent of the territory’s jobs and effectively subsidizes the cost of freight and fuel to American Samoa. If it should shut down, it would be a USD 200 million loss annually to the local economy.

Actually, most employees of StarKist’s American Samoa processing plant are inhabitants of the neighboring country, Samoa, located 137 miles away from American Samoa.

US-flagged purse seiners are owned by US entities and a minority by foreign companies. Only the South Pacific albacore longlining fleet is in American Samoan hands. The reduction of that fleet – that targets albacore – to 13 vessels while China enlarged its fleet is something Radewagen is concerned about. In her view, the US should constantly be active and engaged in the Pacific region and monitor foreign actions that affect the domestic fleet.

Read the full story at Atuna

Survival of StarKist cannery at the forefront of 180th Council Meeting

October 28, 2019 — “The long-term survivability of the cannery is a key motivation for the positions that we take” during “difficult negotiation” for fishing days at the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC).

This is according to NOAA fisheries deputy assistant for regulatory programs, Samuel Rauch III, who served in the last two years as one of the commissioners for the US government on the WCPFC, during a news briefing with local reporters on Tuesday, following the opening of the 180th Meeting of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council at the Gov. Tauese P.F. Sunia Ocean Center.

In his remarks at the opening of the meeting, Lt. Gov. Lemanu Palepoi Sialega Mauga pointed to the critical issue — that NOAA reconsider its decision to close off fishing by the US purse seiner fleet in the US-EEZ and on the high seas — referred to as Effort Limit Area for Purse Seine (ELAPS) — for the rest of calendar year 2019, effective Oct. 9th.

Lemanu reminded the Council that the closure “will affect our fish cannery, and have a major negative economic impact on our tuna-dependent American Samoa.”

Read the full story at Samoa News