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WestPac says territories also need help with fishing management

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council recommends that federal resources should also be directed to the U.S. Pacific territories to “enhance their fishing management capacity.”

 

This is one of the Council’s suggestions outlined its a 4-page response, submitted by executive director Kitty Simonds, to the U.S. Presidential task force on illegal fishing, which sought public comments on several recommendations, to combat illegal fishing and seafood fraud.

 

According to the task force, increased national-level capacity building is needed in developing nations to  — among other things — strengthen fisheries governance and transparency, enforce fisheries laws, and prosecute fisheries violations and related criminal activities.

 

It recommends to direct five top U.S. officials — including the Secretaries of Commerce, Homeland Security, and State - to coordinate with donors, multilateral institutions and foreign governments.

 

Simonds pointed out that there are several Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the Western and Central Pacific that could benefit from capacity building efforts.

 

The Council also recognizes that American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands “also could benefit from federal resources to enhance their fisheries management capacity,” she said.

 

“Like other SIDS in our region,” Simonds said the three U.S Pacific territories “often lack the resources to effectively manage and monitor fisheries that occur within their jurisdictions, and resources should also be directed at enhancing their fisheries management capacity.”

 

The Council also supports another recommendation, which directs the Secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security to include illegal fishing threat analysis and monitoring as a component of U.S. and international efforts to increase overall maritime domain awareness.

 

And this is especially important for remote areas within the jurisdiction of the Council, says Simonds, adding that there needs to be consideration for the increase in enforcement burden from the recent expansion of the Pacific Remote Marine National Monument and the exclusion of U.S. fishing vessels therefore, making it easier for foreigner vessels to engage in illegal fishing in these U.S. waters.

 

“This needs to be countered by additional patrol and other non-conventional assets being deployed into the Western Pacific to ensure that such [illegal] fishing is not conducted by foreign vessels across our region,” Simonds argued.

 

Another task force recommendation supported by the Council directs the U.S. Trade Representative to use existing Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and future FTAs to combat illegal fishing and seafood fraud, including “through enhanced cooperation with our trading partners and commitments to enforce environmental and labor laws.”

 

However, the Council suggests that the U.S. Trade Representative “consult with the fishery management councils and U.S. fishing industry” prior to using FTAs for this purpose, Simonds said.