For years, the Honolulu-based longline fishing fleet has been lobbying for an increase in the bigeye tuna allotment it has in that part of the ocean under the jurisdiction of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission. Finally, last month, the WCPFC granted the fleet its wish, increasing the fleet’s allocation by 3,000 metric tons for an annual allotment of 6,554 metric tons.
At the same time, the commission dropped a provision in its tropical tuna measures that had allowed the U.S.-flagged Pacific territories to sell a portion of their allowed catches to the Honolulu-based longliners. For years, the longliners had paid hundreds of thousands of dollars into the Sustainable Fisheries Fund to support marine conservation plans (MCPs) for each of the territorial governments, in return for increasing their haul of bigeye. Those payments allowed the Honolulu fleet to continue catching bigeye through the end of the calendar year, long after its WCPFC quota had been met.
During the meeting of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Wespac) last month, council members harshly criticized some members of the U.S. delegation to WCPFC for not including territorial representatives in discussions over tuna allocations. The council approved a measure directing staff to convey to the head of the National Marine Fisheries Service the “shortcomings” of the U.S. delegation on this matter.
In addition, the council voted to have its staff request from NMFS and “other federal agencies” funding to the territorial governments to make up for the income stream lost now that the Honolulu longliners no longer need to purchase part of the territorial bigeye quotas.
“Council members, the [Wespac] chair, the heads of delegation for American Samoa and [Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands], and the executive director [Kitty Simonds] were alarmed and frustrated about the lack of communications during the negotiations within the U.S. delegation,” according to a press release issued by Wespac following the council meeting. The council accused commissioners representing the U.S. government of being “highly restrictive on all communications with other delegations.”
“Hawaiʻi won, but the territories lost,” council chair Will Sword, of American Samoa, was quoted as saying. “We appreciate the funding received from the Hawaiʻi Longline Association over the past 10 years, but the funding gap needs to be filled immediately.”
Also fueling the council’s anger was the handling of a proposal that would have exempted some of the U.S.-flagged purse seine vessels from the limits on fishing efforts on the high seas. American Samoa pushed for this as a measure that would encourage more purse-seine visits to its sole cannery.
In her report to the council, Simonds said she regretted that this measure wasn’t adopted, but said that it had been brought up “late in the process.” One of the actions the council took was to urge the National Marine Fisheries Service to “proceed with rulemaking to recognize a distinct American Samoa purse seine fishery.” Also, the council directed staff to coordinate with the territorial governments, NMFS, and the general counsel of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on the “exploring the possibility of Pacific Insular Area Fishing Agreements.” PIAFAs, which allow foreign-flagged vessels to fish in U.S. waters, could be one way of the territories recouping the revenue lost now that the Honolulu longliners no longer need to purchase part of the territorial quotas.
— Patricia Tummons
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