NOAA’s Sanctuary Expansion Proposal: ‘The nail in the coffin’ of American Samoa’s tuna industry
A regional fishery council warned that the Biden administration’s plan to block off the U.S territorial waters in the Pacific would be the end of American Samoa’s tuna canning industry and quash the culture which the federal government claims to protect. While commercial fishing is currently allowed within 50 to 200 miles of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Agency’ssanctuary expansion proposal would completely cover the U.S exclusive economic zone, prohibiting commercial fishing by U.S fishermen in U.S waters. “For more than 30 years, American Samoa-based purse seiners and Honolulu-based longliners operated in the waters of the Pacific Remote Islands Area until the establishment of the PRIMNM in 2006,” the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council said. “This new action will force U.S purse seiners to fish farther away from Pago Pago Harbor and transport their catch to Mexico and Ecuador instead of the StarKist Samoa cannery, which serves as the backbone of American Samoa’s economy,” the council added.>click to read< 15:45
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