Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga has appointed a committee to look at ways to assist, including possible federal funding, for the “up to 800 or possibly more,” employees who will lose their jobs when Samoa Tuna Processors (STP) Inc. cannery closes its operations next month, says Commerce Department director Keniseli Lafaele.

Bellevue, Washington based Tri Marine International announced last month the “indefinite closure” of the canning operation of its American Samoa plant effective Dec. 11. Tri Marine also said at the time that it has a workforce of about 800 but it remained unclear at that time how many employees would be affected by the indefinite closure.

At the time of the announcement, the Administration said it was seeking additional information from Tri Marine as to the number of employees to be affected and was looking at ways to help the cannery.

Responding to Samoa News inquiries, Lafaele says the Administration has been told that “up to 800 — and possibly more — [employees] would lose their jobs.” Regarding plans by the Lolo Administration to assist the affected employees, Lafaele said the governor has selected a committee to look into ways to assist the would-be unemployed.

He said the committee is composed of key staff of the Governor's office, Attorney General’s Office, Human Resources Department, the American Samoa Fishery Task Force and DOC.

“The needs of Tri Marine, like those of StarKist, are related to the question of whether or not the tuna industry in American Samoa is viable and can be sustained in the long run,” Lafaele points out. “Answer to this question in turn is a function of federal law and policies impacting fishery access, non-recognition of American Samoa as a Small Island Developing State (SIDS), minimum wage, and tariff protection of our tuna industry.”

He said the administration is collaborating with the Fono, Congresswoman Aumua Amata, and federal agencies “to save our tuna industry.”

Asked if ASG is looking at federal financial support to help the displaced workers, Lafaele said, one of these ways is “researching federal programs to finance temporary employment for the soon to be displaced STP employees, preparing and submitting applications for such federal funds, and seeking long terms solutions.”

Asked if the administration has received any off island interest to take over STP, Lafaele said there has been interest from a couple of companies from off-island — aside from AVM Bernardo — to establish a fish or seafood processing plant in the territory before the STP decision to halt fish processing in December indefinitely.

“We're now exploring these possibilities to see if the interest is still there,” he said, adding that Tri Marine has “not yet” provided any information to the governor as to a buyer for STP.

(AVM is the Philippine-based company currently working on setting up a multi food processing plant at the Tafuna Industrial Park. The company broke ground for its operations early this year.)

“The STP indefinite closure... goes to show just how vulnerable and fragile our economy is — an economy that has been sustained only by the two pillars of government and tuna industry,” Lafaele points out. “This unfortunate event accentuates the urgency to diversify our economic base — adding tourism, technology based industry and others into the mix.”

“We have been through this corridor before, in 2009 when COS Samoa Packing cannery closed shop,” and in the same year we got hit by a destructive tsunami, he said.

“Yet we endured and developed our economy since then, and it grew two years in a row in 2014 and 2015,” he said. “With the elections behind us now, the new administration for the next four years has its work cut out for them. With faith and self-belief, we shall overcome — again.”

Samoa Packing announced in the early part of 2009 it was shutting down local operations on Sept. 30 that year. And on Sept. 29,the tsunami hit American Samoa and the following day Samoa Packing officially closed its doors and relocated its local operations to Lyons, Georgia.