Senators heard testimony from an official of a federally-mandated fisheries group that the American Samoa based longliner fleet provides fish for the local canneries and China is contributing to the over supply of tuna fish stock with its fleet being heavily subsidized by the Chinese government.

The statement came from Eric Kingma with the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council, whose executive director Kitty Simmonds, along with American Samoa’s members on the Council appeared last Friday before a Senate Marine and Wildlife Resources hearing to explain a federal proposal for a one-year suspension of a regulation that would allow the longline fleet to fish in the current Large Vessel Prohibit Area (LVPA) of territorial waters. (See Samoa News later in the week regarding the LVPA issues.)

Kingma explained that data shows longliners target albacore for the local canneries and 80% of all their albacore catch goes to the local cannery. “So they are providing a domestic supply of albacore to these canneries,” he said, adding that longliners also catch yellow fin and big eye mahi.

While on island last week, Kingma explained that “we did get a chance to talk to StarKist officials, just to get the full extent of the importance of the local domestic longliners fishery to their operations.”

“And what we’ve learned is that the local longliners provide a niche product that Starkist uses - the U.S. cut albacore for military MRE - Meals-ready-to Eat - packs—and you can only use U.S. domestic landings from U.S. vessels for these products,” he said and emphasized that long liners provide that product to StarKist, which then provides it to the military.

He then shared with senators one of biggest threats now faced by the U.S. fishing fleet - China’s fleet in the region, harvesting a large number of albacore tuna.

“We also understand now that based on the increase in Chinese vessels throughout the South Pacific, there are thousands and thousands of more tons of albacore being harvested by Chinese in the high-seas and in neighboring EEZs to American Samoa - in the Cook islands, in Fiji, in Tonga, in neighboring Samoa,” he said.

For example, he said that China’s albacore harvests ware about 3,000 metric tons ten years ago compared to the current catch of nearly 30,000 metric tons of albacore.

“And these [Chinese] fleets are highly subsidized. China is providing subsidies to their fishing vessels — for vessel construction, labor [and] fuel. And when they catch the fish, they also provide subsidies to send that fish to China,” he said, adding that the canneries, in order to get their fish stock, may have to get the product sourced from China.

“So, albacore that might have been caught 300 miles from the Cook Islands EEZ, or on the high seas somewhere, had to be procured from China…frozen… and shipped to the canneries. This not an ideal situation for the local canneries and suppliers,” he explained.

In his written State of the Territory Address last month, Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga voiced his public concern over the increased presence of Chinese vessels in the region, saying that the territory’s future economic outlook will continue to be extremely challenging due to uncertainties caused by the fast changing dynamics of the fishing industry, as Pacific countries attempt to maximize economic and financial returns from their Economic Exclusive Zone ocean assets.

“China’s monopolistic driven policies, in its attempt to dominate the fishing industry, using its financial muscle, exacerbate existing uncertainties threatening the economic and financial stability of American Samoa,” he said.

During the Senate hearing, Kingma made clear, in response to a question by senators, that no foreign vessels are allowed to fish in the EEZs of the U.S. including American Samoa, whose EEZ is small compared to neighboring Pacific countries, where governments there have sold licenses to foreign vessels to fish in their EEZ, thus providing stiff competition to American Samoa’s fishing industry.

He also emphasized that based on collected data, the longline fishing industry “is facing potentially an economic collapse... and the economic collapse is due to low catch rates, low ex-vessel prices, or low prices... at the canneries, and high operation costs.”

The low prices are due to high supply, he said and reiterated that China has entered the albacore supply market and they are driving prices down due to over-supply.

For example, he said catch rate throughout the entire South Pacific for albacore has decreased, not only in American Samoa's EEZ but also on the high seas, as well as in neighboring countries.

He informed senators that in  2001— at the height of fisheries—annual profits on average per vessel were around $170,000 in earnings, but by 2009 those profits were reduced drastically —by 96%— so that on average, vessel owners were receiving only $6,000 per year in profit.