Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources Director Dr. Ruth Matagi-Tofiga told delegates at the 13th Western and Central Pacific Fishery Commission meeting in Fiji that American Samoa’s economy is highly dependent on fishing and sustainable fisheries in the Western and Central Pacific ocean areas.

American Samoa is also vulnerable to decisions of the commission, she told the meeting, which convened this week since Monday, in Nadi, Fiji, according to a copy of Matagi-Tofiga’s speech.

HIGH SEAS

On the issue of purse seiner access to fishing in the “high seas”, which is one of the issues on the meeting agenda, Matagi-Tofiga told the gathering that American Samoa’s economy “is highly dependent on our tuna canneries that support thousands of direct and indirect jobs.”  Furthermore, American Samoa is a developing Participating Territory, and like other SIDS (Small Island Developing State) “we have our own fisheries aspirations and face unique economic issues.”

She told the gathering that American Samoa has a small and vulnerable economy that is highly dependent on the tuna fisheries. “We have our own longliner and purse seine fisheries that supply our canneries,” the DMWR director said. “A part of our purse seine fishery is integral to our economy, and it needs to be recognized accordingly.”

Additionally, those purse seiners have their own Marine Stewardship Council and MCS MSC certification and the territory’s canneries depend on them for supply of raw material.

She stressed that the local purse seine fishing on the high seas “has always been the important and traditional fishing grounds, so appropriately managed, we ask that their access must be maintained.”

SOUTH PACIFIC ALBACORE

Matagi-Tofiga also presented American Samoa’s perspective on the proposed Target Reference Point for South Pacific Albacore, saying that the territory’s longline fishery is almost entirely dependent on the South Pacific albacore stock.

She explained that the local longline fishery has gone through great changes in the last ten years. For example, in the early to mid-2000s, the fishery was profitable. “In 2014, the economics of the fishery became so bad that it was better to tie up vessels in our fleet than to go fishing,” she said.

“Over this same time period we have also lost our small scale artisanal longline fleet due to the poor returns from longline fishing,” she said. “We know that our South Pacific neighbors have also experienced similar developments in their fisheries and like our South Pacific brothers and sisters we are interested in measures that result in increased albacore catch rates and improved economic conditions for our domestic fleets.”

“We want our fleets to return to levels we once experienced and we continue to have aspirations to develop our domestic fleets in a sustainable and responsible manner,” she pointed out. “At the same time, we are also aware of the rate at which economic circumstances can outpace management initiatives.”

“In this regard, we would support an interim target reference point that ultimately achieves increased catch rates,” she said during yesterday’s meeting sessions.

Before she left for the Fiji meeting, Matagi-Tofiga said, “Our main goal [at the meeting] is supporting our local canneries, and all fishing vessels that are home ported in American Samoa.”

In an email message, which included a copy of her presentation at the meeting, yesterday the DMWR director expressed gratitude to the American Samoa delegation to Fiji and this includes Commerce Department director Keniseli Lafaele, Tri Marine International chief operation officer Joe Hamby, American Samoa Fishery Task Force chairman Solip Hong; Fishery Council Scientist Eric Kingman; DMWR Chief Fishery Biologist Dr Domingo Ochavillo; and DMWR supervisor on boat base, Tepora Lavata’i.