Ads by Google Ads by Google

Companies cry foul at Tri- Marine’s exemption request

Claims by Tri Marine International and others in the territory that American Samoa has been designated a Small Island Developing (SID) Territory are being disputed and dismissed by the owner of two U.S. companies, which own and manage 14 US purse seiner vessels.

 

Tri Marine has petitioned the National Oceania and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for emergency exemption on the 2015 limit on fishing efforts by U.S. purse seine vessels. If granted, the exemption would allow US flagged purse seiners that offload 50% of their catch at the local canneries to fish in the US EZZ and on the high seas.

 

Tri Marine, whose local operations include a new cannery and US purse seiner fleet, pointed out that American Samoa is considered a SID territory under the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (or Convention) and NOAA policy (See Samoa News edition July 21 for details)

 

J. Douglas Hines, partner and owner of Ocean Global LLC and Sea Global LLC, wrote in June to the regional administrator of NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service in Honolulu, objecting to Tri Marine’s claim of American Samoa’s SID status. 

 

He said Tri Marine’s petition “is fundamentally flawed because it incorrectly presumes that American Samoa has the same legal rights” as a SID under the Convention, in which Article 43 entitled “participation of territories” identifies America Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, French Polynesia and others as participating territories, but only to the extent authorized by the Contracting Party having responsibility for its international affairs, which in this case is the United States.

 

While the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries (WCFC) Commission allows the participation of American Samoa, Guam and Northern Mariana Islands, it does not confer upon them special recognition as an SID, he argued.

 

Furthermore  legislation implementing the Convention identifies American Samoa, as well as all other U.S. possessions and territories, as a “State” meaning that they have the same rights and privileges as each of the States of the United States.

 

“Again, U.S. law does not confer on American Samoa any special treatment or recognition beyond that given to all other States,” he stated, adding that the United Nations maintained a list of SIDs around the world, and the list does not include American Samoa.

 

Tri Marine has attempted to justify their request for special SID status for American Samoa by citing that NOAA has already recognized American Samoa as a SID with respect to the U.S. longline quota allocation for 2014, he said.

 

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said, adding that the distinction in this case is that NOAA had specific legal authority, originally provided for in the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act (CFCAA) of 2012, to allow for the full use of the U.S. big eye allocation under the WCPFC but it did not allow U.S. long line vessels to exceed the total U.S. allocation.

 

What was not stated in the two Tri Marine requests, said Hines, is the fact that vessels fishing on the high seas or in the U.S. EEZ are not required to purchase fishing days.

 

“Today U.S. purse seine vessels are being forced to purchase fishing days — in excess of $12,000 per day — for the opportunity to fish within the EEZs of certain island nations under the vessel day scheme,” he explained.

 

“Collectively the U.S. distant water tuna fleet is currently paying more than $60 million annually to fish in these EEZs,” he said. “Under Tri Marine’s request, their vessels would pay nothing for unlimited fishing opportunities on the high seas and in the U.S. EEZ while all other U.S. vessel owners would be placed at a severe economic disadvantage.”

 

Hines also raised several questions, including: “What authority does NOAA have to provide a commercial advantage to a subset of the U.S. distant water tuna fleet?”

 

Hines says it’s his understanding that Tri Marine’s request “would also violate” paragraph 23 of the Conservation and Management Measures (CMM) adopted at last December’s WCFPC meeting. That paragraph requires all coastal states to establish effort limits or catch limits for purse seine fishing vessels within their EEZs.

 

Since 2009 the U.S. has complied with WCPFC CMM’s by limiting purse seine fishing effort to 558 days within the U.S. EEZ, he said and noted that under paragraph 23, this limit is applicable from 2015 through 2017.

 

“The Tri Marine request for an exemption from limits on fishing days within the U.S. EEZ would clearly violate the WCPFC limits agreed to by the U.S. and provide a small group of U.S. vessels with a dramatic economic advantage over the rest of the fleet,” he argued.

 

Hines asked NMFS to “quickly dismiss” Tri Marine’s request so that the entire U.S. distant water tuna fleet can resume working together to extend the current South Pacific Tuna Treaty. He said negotiations on a Treaty extension are not progressing satisfactorily and without the full engagement of NMFS and all vessel owners the outlook is very dim.”

 

“If NMFS decided to seriously consider the Tri Marine requests, it would clearly pit a small segment of the industry against a larger majority of vessel owners,” he said.

 

HInes who is also the executive director of the San Diego based South Pacific Tuna Corporation, attended last week’s three-day meeting in Brisbane, Australia for a new Tuna Treaty as the current one covers only the year 2015.

 

However, the negotiations failed to reach a long term agreement, and only an interim agreement has been reached for 2016 (See Samoa News edition Aug. 6, 2015 for details).

 

OTHER

 

Samoa News will report later this week on the official response of the American Samoa Fisheries Task Force to HIne’s letter written in June to the regional administrator of NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service in Honolulu, objecting to Tri Marine’s request for an emergency exemption for vessels that off load 50% of their catch in American Samoa from the 2015 limit on fishing efforts by U.S. purse seine vessels.