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Tri-Marine, ATA register shock over loss of fishing grounds

The American Tunaboat Association and Tri Marine International say they are both “shocked” by the major loss of fishing grounds in the Kiribati exclusive economic zone (EEZ) under the tuna treaty negotiated between the U.S. and 17 Pacific Island nations.

 

And Tri Maine says such a loss of fishing grounds means a reduction of fishing by American Samoa purse seiners, while ATA says the deal is not good for US vessels.

 

Under the agreement, reached last week in Honolulu, the member countries of the Pacific Island Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) will receive the $90 million from the U.S. government and its tuna industry in return for 8,300 fishing days in 2015 for U.S. flagged purse seiner vessels. (See Samoa News edition of Oct. 10 for details).

 

While the treaty is being touted as a big win for Pacific nations, concerns have been raised by San Diego-based  American Tunaboat Association as well as Tri Marine, whose operations in American Samoa include an 11-vessel fishing fleet and the Samoa Tuna Processors Inc. - to be opened soon in Atu’u.

 

TRI MARINE REPLY

 

In a statement to Samoa News over the weekend on the new treaty, Tri Maine said, “We were shocked to learn that the US Tuna Treaty negotiations resulted in the loss of almost all fishing access to the Kiribati EEZ.  American Samoan purse seine vessels will have to reduce their fishing effort in Kiribati waters by more than 95%.”

 

Tri Marine says it has been a part of the American Samoan community for many years and the company is just completing a huge investment in a state of the art tuna processing facility in American Samoa.

 

“We are highly concerned about the potentially devastating impact that this loss of fishing grounds for the American Samoa based tuna fleet will have on the families who rely upon the territory’s tuna industry for their livelihoods. This decision, coming on the heels of the expansion of the Monument protected areas, makes it that much more concerning,” Tri Marine said.

 

The monument referred to by Tri Marine is President Obama’s revised expansion of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM) that will affect only three of the five main components of PRIMNM:  Wake Island, Jarvis Island, and Johnston Atoll, and will extend the current 50 nautical-mile boundary to the 200 nautical-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). All commercial fishing as well as deep-sea mining of seabed minerals will be prohibited in the expanded zones, while recreational and traditional fishing methods will be permitted.

 

Tri Marine officials told Samoa News last month that while they are appreciative of being given a voice during the expansion discussion, “We still have some concerns that the loss of traditional fishing grounds will negatively impact the availability of fish supply for the American Samoa tuna industry.”

 

ATA REPLY

 

ATA executive director Brian Hallman said the association knows all about the new treaty because ATA was part of the US delegation to the meeting, along with a number of boat owner representatives.

 

“We are glad to have some fishing access, via this Interim Agreement, for 2015,” he told Samoa News yesterday. “However, it is not a good deal for the US fleet. The high license fees are not viable with the low price of tuna that has been prevalent for most of the past year and  US vessels will be losing money with these high license fees.”

 

However, the fleet believed it had no choice at this stage, other than to accept these payments,” he said.

 

Hallman also said that the “lack of access to Kiribati waters, which we learned about at the Honolulu negotiating session, is a shock and a heavy blow to the US fleet and to the Treaty itself.”

 

“The Treaty has been in effect for 26 years, but it may not survive into the future. The US fleet simply cannot continue as we have for the past few years, with continuously higher license fees and reduced access to important fishing grounds,” he noted.