Saving Seafood

Processing Company: US Must Support American Samoa Tuna Industry

October 19, 2016 — PAGO PAGO, American Samoa — Tri Marine International chief operations officer Joe Hamby has brought up with the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council several issues concerning the tuna industry in American Samoa, pointing to the industry as the backbone of the territory’s economy and support must happen that “can be measured in economic terms.”

A letter discussing the issues by Hamby, who is also the acting chief executive officer of Tri Marine-owned Samoa Tuna Processors cannery, was distributed to members of the Council during it’s 168th meeting in Honolulu last week.

Tri Marine announced last week that canning operations at STP would be suspended indefinitely effective Dec. 11.

In his Oct. 14 letter to the Council, Hamby recalled that the local tuna industry consists of two large scale canneries, a number of purse seiners, longliners and alias. He noted purse seiners are mostly US flagged, while the longliners are foreign flagged, except for the locally based US flagged fleet.

“I understand that there are no alias currently targeting tuna,” he said. “The alias therefore represent potential participants in the American Samoa tuna industry.”

The local tuna industry also includes service providers like ship handlers, maintenance and repair companies, stevedores, net repair yards, a shipyard, transportation, agents, hotels, restaurants, etc.

“The tuna industry is the backbone of the American Samoa economy,” he declared and said the tuna canneries depend on the US market as tuna products from American Samoa are exempt from duty in the US.

“Without this duty exemption, the canneries are not competitive with lower cost sources of canned tuna. Free trade agreements, like TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership), are a serious threat to the American Samoa tuna industry,” Hamby said.

Read the full story at the Pacific Islands Report

Tuna cannery in American Samoa to halt production

October 14th, 2016 — One of the two tuna canning companies operating in American Samoa announced Thursday it plans to suspend production in December.

In a statement, Bellevue, Washington-based Tri Marine says it will end production indefinitely at its Samoa Tuna Processors cannery plant.

Tri Marine told its 800 employees of the plan Thursday. The company didn’t specify how many will be affected.

American Samoa does not have labor unions, and most employees are paid minimum wage. The company said economic difficulties spurred the decision.

“The challenging economics of canning tuna in American Samoa combined with external factors facing STP make Tri Marine’s private-label focused business model for operating the plant economically unsustainable,” the company said in a statement. The company is considering alternatives for the plant, including an outright sale. The company pumped $70 million into the plant before it opened in January 2015.

“This is an incredibly difficult decision and one we make with a great deal of reluctance,” said Tri Marine Chief Executive Officer Renato Curto in a statement. “Our hearts go out to STP’s employees, suppliers, service providers and everyone else who depends on STP’s operations.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The New Jersey Herald

American Samoa Cannery To Scale Back Operations Due To Fish Shortages

September 29, 2016 — PAGO PAGO, American Samoa — As a result of fish-supply shortages, StarKist Co. has confirmed that its StarKist Samoa operation in American Samoa will shut down for one week next month.

Samoa News learned Monday from some StarKist Samoa cannery workers of the shutdown starting Oct. 10 — right after the White Sunday holiday — but they weren’t sure as to the reason for it. The workers were a little pleased with the one week shutdown because it follows a holiday on Monday and they could spend a longer period of time with families in Samoa for White Sunday.

However, other workers say the weeklong shutdown will impact their paychecks. Additionally, any shut down of the cannery for a longer period of time will also have a financial impact on private aiga buses, which provide charter bus transportation for StarKist workers.

Responding to Samoa News’ request for comments on the shutdown, StarKist Co., spokesperson Michelle Faist provided a company statement, which confirmed the shutdown during the week of October 10 and the shutdown is due to “fish-supply shortages”.

This is the second time in the past twelve months the StarKist Samoa plant has temporarily shut down manufacturing due to fish-supply issues facing the facility, according to the statement.

Read the full story at the Pacific Islands Report

Congress passes fishing bill giving more say to American Samoa

September 19th, 2016 — The US House of Representatives has approved legislation giving American Samoa more say in fisheries management in the western Pacific.

Our correspondent says the Ensuring Access to Pacific Fisheries bill passed easily.

It had been sponsored by American Samoa’s Congresswoman, Aumua Amata Radewagen, who described it to the House.

“I am proud to say that this bill does exactly what the title suggests. It ensures our fishermen’s access to fisheries in international waters where we set the example for the rest of the world on how to best manage and conserve the ocean’s resources,” she said.

Aumua said the Obama Administration had closed off large swathes of the Pacific that have been used by American Samoans for centuries, while imposing irresponsible wage hikes on industry.

The Congresswoman said people testified on the bill that science had taken a back seat to geopolitics in fisheries negotiations with American Samoan fishermen, especially those after big eye tuna, paying the price.

Read the full story from Radio New Zealand 

NOAA Training Aims To Stop Illegal Fishing within U.S. territories and International Waters

August 24, 2016 — In June the Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA) entered into force globally, marking a major milestone in the effort to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. To maximize the effectiveness of the PSMA, broad implementation is critical and international capacity building has become of the utmost importance. NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement (OLE) stepped up to ensure domestic implementation of the operational provisions went forward as quickly as possible. The Office of Law Enforcement has also begun the important task of working with international partners on training and implementation as well.

NOAA has responsibility for enforcing marine resource laws of the United States and is the lead agency for enforcement of the PSMA. The Office of Law Enforcement was also tasked with providing technical assistance to other countries for the PSMA, under the President’s Task Force. So, they went to work on an implementation plan, as well as creating training modules for state, territorial, and international partners. Before the training was initiated in the U.S. territories, there was a three-day conference with staff from OLE headquarters, national training team and Pacific Island Division. In this meeting, national level training materials were refined and tailored to the specific needs of the Pacific Island Region as well as reviewed to ensure the modules were comprehensive, but as simple as possible.

“We wanted to make sure that the training material is easy to understand, yet covers all areas necessary to meet PSMA requirements,” said Deputy Special Agent in Charge Martina Sagapolu of OLE-PID. “We knew the implementation of PSMA will directly impact American Samoa because this is the main U.S. port where the foreign fleet delivers its catch daily. The (Pago Pago) port sees all sizes of FFV and the inspection process under PSMA is arduous. Ensuring the training material was simple yet straightforward is critical for our partners.”

After the conference, training commenced — first with American Samoa, then Guam.

“The training was extremely beneficial to all involved,” said Special Agent Todd Dubois, Assistant Director of Operations for the Office of Law Enforcement. “The American Samoa Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources officers that participated in the workshop were very receptive to the implementation training. There were numerous discussions that highlighted the importance of information sharing, collaborative enforcement efforts and thorough vessel inspections to further promote PSMA compliance and combat IUU fishing.”

Read the full story at the U.S. State Department

American Samoa Key To Combatting ‘Illegal, Unreported, And Unregulated’ Fishing

August 18, 2016 — PAGO PAGO, American Samoa — With the United States a signatory to an international agreement to combat IUU — illegal, unreported, and unregulated — fishing, American Samoa, home to two canneries and many fishing vessels, is now part of the agreement, which went into force on June 5 this year.

According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Port State Measures Agreement does not solely focus on IUU fishing vessels, but also requires action against vessels that engage in supportive activities such as refueling or transshipping fish from IUU fishing vessels at sea.

Adopted in 2009 by the UN Fish and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Agreement identifies measures to block the entry from ports of IUU-caught fish into national and international markets.

For the US, the NOAA Office of Law Enforcement (NOAA-OLE) is charged with enforcing the Agreement, which according to the federal agency, applies to foreign flagged fishing vessels carrying fish that have not been previously landed in a port.

Under other U.S. law (Nicholson Act), foreign flagged vessels cannot land these fish/fish products in U.S. ports, with the exception of ports within U.S. territories. Because of this, the most significant impact will be seen in the US territories of American Samoa and Guam.

“The… Agreement is the most significant legislation passed in nearly 40 years and American Samoa is at the center of this effort,” NOAA-OLE special agent Murray Bauer told Samoa News yesterday.

Read the full story at the Pacific Islands Report

Pre-Proposals for SK Grants Program FY 2017

July 25, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA:

Today is the start of the fiscal year 2017 Saltonstall-Kennedy (SK) Grant Program application solicitation; now with a new, early “pre-proposal” process that will reduce the burden of preparing full proposals on projects that do not meet program criteria. Pre-proposals will be accepted for 60 days, July 22 through September 20, 2016.  To maximize time and familiarity, NOAA Fisheries will conduct at least two public webinars for interested stakeholders to walk through the process and answer any questions.

Briefly, the “pre-proposal” process is a required step that will provide applicants with early clarification from NOAA as to the technical merits and relevancy of their project. This new step provides applicants an early indication of their project’s eligibility before going through the more intensive process of developing a full project proposal.

In addition to the new “pre-proposal” process, NOAA Fisheries made a number of modifications to the proposal review process in 2016 to improve transparency and participation by external expertise. Starting in 2016, the eight fishery management councils and three state marine fishery commissions selected external parties to assist in identifying priority focus areas for funding, as well as serve on the review panel process. Also in 2016, NOAA gave broader consideration to projects focused on sustainable economies, business innovations and opportunities as well as science and research.

The 2017 priority focus areas remain the same as 2016 with the additional focus area aimed at improving the quality and quantity of fishery information from the U.S. territories, including American Samoa, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealths of Northern Mariana Islands and Puerto Rico.

HAWAII: Longliners Have Nearly Pulled In Their 2016 Limit Of Bigeye Tuna

July 14, 2016 — Hawaii’s longline fleet is about to hit its 3,554-ton limit for bigeye tuna in the Western and Central Pacific, prompting a closure date for the fishery of July 22, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The longliners had caught an estimated 98 percent of their annual quota by Wednesday, NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service reported. The feds had been predicting longliners would hit their bigeye tuna limit by Aug. 14.

But the closure will likely be short-lived thanks to a federal rule that proposes, like in years past, allowing U.S. Pacific Island territories — American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands — to each allocate up to 1,000 tons of their 2,000-ton quotas to U.S. longliners under a “specified fishing agreement.”

In April, the Hawaii Longline Association reached such an agreement with the Marianas that involves paying the territory $250,000 in each of the next three years for up to half of its quota. That’s $50,000 more than the association paid the territory last year.

The money is deposited into the Western Pacific Sustainable Fisheries Fund, which the territories use for fishery development projects approved by their respective governors, according to Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council spokeswoman Sylvia Spalding. These includes boat ramps, fish markets, processing facilities, training programs and loan programs.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

Why U.S. Fisheries Are A Global Model Of Sustainability

May 5, 2016 — In the 40 years since passage of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, we’ve been on a journey that has made U.S. fisheries management a global model of sustainability. In the Pacific Islands, we see the wisdom of this act on our dinner plates and in our local fisheries every day.

In our region, much credit goes to the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council, which is responsible for recommending conservation and management measures to NOAA Fisheries in the Pacific Islands. Comprised of commercial and non-commercial fishermen, and environmental, academic and government interests, the council has a proud track record of achieving its goal of sustainable fisheries.

Within the Councils’ expansive jurisdiction – extending from the Hawaiian Islands through the Western Pacific including American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam – only a small number of stocks are subject to overfishing or overfished.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

US Justice Department asks federal court to dismiss American Samoa lawsuit

May 3, 2016 — The U.S. Justice Department has asked the federal court in Honolulu to dismiss with prejudice the Territory of American Samoa’s lawsuit, which seeks to overturn a ruling made in February this year by the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service or NMFS that reduces the Large Vessel Protected Area or from 50 miles to 12 miles in the waters of American Samoa.

A dismissal “with prejudice” would mean the plaintiff — in this case, American Samoa — will be barred from bringing action on the same claim again.

The Large Vessel Protected Area or LVPA, implemented in 2002, was reserved for the locally based alia or fishing boat, but the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council had argued that the number of local alias has declined over the years, to number less than 10 in 2014. The council then recommended that the NMFS issued its final rule on Feb. 3, 2016 to allow U.S. longline vessels to fish in portions of the LVPA.

According to NMFS, the intent of the rule is to “improve the viability of the American Samoa longline fishery and achieve optimum yield from the fishery while preventing overfishing….”

However, American Samoa said the NMFS — in promulgating the final LVPA — “acted arbitrarily by asserting a rationale to support the new rule that is contrary to the evidence in the record.”

It asked the court to vacate the NMFS rule and declare that, among other things, the final LVPA rule is inconsistent with the Deeds of Cession, and therefore violates the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and the Administrative Procedure Act.

Read the full story from the Marinas Variety