Department of Marine of Wildlife Resources director Dr. Ruth Matagi-Tofiga shared with a regional fisheries meeting the impact of climate change on American Samoa, and she has called for adopting limitations of South Pacific albacore catch covering the entire range of the stock.

Matagi-Tofiga made the call at the Mar. 6-12 Heads of Fisheries meeting at the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) headquarters in Noumea, New Caledonia, where she represented American Samoa.

The regional meeting, which brings together heads of fisheries of SPC member countries and territories, provides strategic guidance to SPC Director’s Office, the Coastal and Oceanic programs under the Fisheries Aquaculture and Marine Ecosystem (FAME).

The meeting was chaired by Joyce Ah-Leong, assistant chief Executive officer, Fisheries Division, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Samoa. Matagi-Tofiga says Ah-Leong did an excellent job in chairing this important meeting, where a wide range of issues affecting fisheries in the region were discussed.

At the meeting, Matagi-Tofiga expressed concern about the effects of climate change on coastal fisheries and informed the meeting that American Samoa is facing extensive coral bleaching. She also told the gathering that outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns starfish are another major threat to the reefs of American Samoa.

Matagi-Tofiga also explained that sea cucumber fishery exploitation continues to be an issue, and Samoa expressed similar concerns over the harvesting of sea cucumbers for overseas markets.

Both American Samoa and Samoa requested assistance from SPC with regard to sea cucumber aquaculture and management, and sought advice from other member countries and the SPC on the sea cucumber issue, according to the meeting outcomes document.

Furthermore, American Samoa requested support from SPC in aquaculture development, particularly for clams and seaweed.

SOUTH PACIFIC ALBACORE

Matagi-Tofiga went on to call for the need to adopt a South Pacific Albacore measure — e.g. catch rate limits proposed by the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) — to cover the entire range of stock, something which was also expressed at the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) meeting last year in Apia, Samoa.

The SPC Oceanic Fisheries Program recommended that catches of albacore be set at a level that allows profitable domestic longline fisheries; and catch of big-eye should be reduced to rebuild the stock, as there is no expansion of skipjack or yellowfin catches, she said.

A summary of the final outcome of the meeting states that Samoa called for further review on status of albacore stocks and urged member countries to sign the Tokelau Arrangement in the interests of the region.

On the other hand, Niue requested a review of stock status for albacore, and encouraged members to adopt management approaches for the South Pacific Albacore, and to see it through forums such as the WCPFC.

During the three-day 162nd meeting of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, which opened Monday in Honolulu, the Council will consider amending the Pelagic Fishery Ecosystem Plan to establish a longline South Pacific albacore annual catch limit for American Samoa’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) consistent with the regional approach proposed by the FFA.

According to the Council, the FFA has proposed that the WCPFC endorse EEZ-based annual catch limits and set flag-based high seas annual catch limits and a total annual catch limit of South Pacific albacore with the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO).

Options to be considered for American Samoa by the Council include: no action; establish an annual catch limit of 5,425 metric tons (mt) of albacore for the EEZ around American Samoa — the highest level of South Pacific albacore catch reported from the EEZ; and establish an annual catch limit of 2,658 mt, which is the recent five-year average catch of South Pacific albacore within the EEZ around American Samoa.

At the WCFPC meeting last December, Matagi-Tofiga told the gathering that the large increase in South Pacific albacore catch in recent years is affecting the territory’s domestic fishery.

“Our Pago Pago based longline fleet, which has been subject to limited entry since 2005, and principally fishes in the EEZ around American Samoa, is essentially economically unviable at this time. Catch rates are now at their lowest in our fishery’s history,” she said.

She also says that American Samoa welcomes the FFA proposal and supports the establishment of firm catch limits for albacore everywhere south of the equator in the Convention Area, “and we have already initiated the domestic process to establish a catch limit for the EEZ around American Samoa.” (See Samoa News edition Dec. 4, 2014 for details)

Samoa News should point out that American Samoa members on the Council are Matagi-Tofiga, Port Administration director Taimalelagi Dr. Claire Poumele, and Taulapapa Willie Sword, who is one of the two vice chairs.

OTHER ISSUES

Durning the SPC fisheries meeting, Matagi-Tofiga expressed gratitude to SPC for providing technical support in DMWR’s fishing aggregating device (FAD) program. She shared that American Samoa has a well established Monitoring Program — a creel survey program for inshore and boat based which estimates participation of fishing efforts, and to provide catch rate, species composition and size frequency for each fishing method.

She also highlighted the importance of standardized monitoring across the region and called for greater assistance from SPC to support standardized data collection.

DMWR is part of WPacFin- Western Pacific Fisheries Information Network — in NOAA’s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) and Matagi-Tofiga encouraged other countries to establish these programs, and for SPC to support these activities in other countries.

“The goal is data which will provide information to assist us in managing and preserving our marine resources,” she said. (A summary outcomes document of the SPC fishery meeting is found on www.spc.int)

PIFSC administers scientific research and monitoring programs that support the domestic and international conservation and management of living marine resources, according to the agency’s website.