Tag Archives: Tri Marine International
Tri Marine: Tuna prices, supply concerns influenced its $70 million cannery cannery closure
Fluctuating tuna prices, supply issues and other factors outside of the control of Tri Marine International led to the commercial demise of its $70 million cannery in American Samoa, the company said. The Oct. 13 announcement that the plant will cease canning operations as of Dec. 11 putting several hundred jobs in jeopardy came as a result of a series of factors, Bellevue, Washington-based Tri Marine said in a statement to Undercurrent News. “In truth, there were a number of factors outside of our control that influenced this difficult decision — the cost and abundance of tuna raw material in American Samoa, changes in free trade agreements, access to fishing grounds, the appeal of US-produced canned tuna in the market, market demand for higher quality sustainable and traceable tuna products, etc,” the company said. “To point to any one thing over another would miss the complexity of a challenging situation.” Read the story here 16:08
US Tuna Treaty survives, new deal for 2017 – Tunaboat Association comments on fishing pact
The US Tuna Treaty has survived after 18 negotiation meetings over the last seven years, with the latest one just concluded in Auckland, New Zealand. The multilateral Treaty is important for American Samoa because it allows US puirse seiners that supply our two canneries to fish in the exclusive economic zones of island countries that are close by. Read the rest here Tunaboat Association comments on fishing pact – The President of the American Tunaboat Association, Brian Hallman, says the fishing agreement reached over the weekend in Zealand between the United States and Pacific Island countries is from the point of view of the US fleet, the best outcome they could have achieved under difficult circumstances. Read the rest here Tri Marine looks to build coalition – Tri Marine International, which operates the Samoa Tuna Processors cannery in Atuu, says it has been anticipating a change in how the US purse seiners would manage access to the tuna fishing grounds in the Western and Central Pacific for several years. Chief Operating Officer of Tri Marine, Joe Hamby, says now that the future of the US South Pacific Tuna Treaty has been resolved, “we will be able to focus on building a coalition of fishing companies and resource owners committed to supporting American Samoa as a regional tuna processing hub.” Read the rest here 19:55
American Samoa – Tri Marine says return of tuna boats good for everyone
Tri Marine International’s ten U.S. flag Cape fleet vessels and other U.S. flag boats based in American Samoa are once again allowed access to their historic fishing grounds in the Western and Central Pacific. This comes after nearly two months of being locked out by failed treaty negotiations.Don Binotto CEO of STP and the tuna Store says “This is welcome news not only for our fleet and our business, but to the many families in American Samoa that depend on a tuna-based economy, including the 2,000 employees we aim to have working when we are at capacity at Samoa Tuna Processors (STP).” Read the rest here Hallman: Fishing deal finalized, fees transmitted to FFA Read the rest here 09:42
Tri Marine International not surprised by US withdrawal from Tuna Treaty
Tri Marine International is not surprised by the US Government’s announcement its withdrawing from the South Pacific Tuna Treaty. In a statement issued this afternoon the owners of local cannery Samoa Tuna Processors say it remains focused on ensuring the long term stability of its operations in American Samoa. The cannery said the current Treaty is tied to a reality that no longer exists and needs to be rebuilt from the ground up to meet the needs of both the Pacific Island Parties and the U.S. boat owners as Asian interests continue to expand their reach into the region. Read the article here 15:00
Tri Marine says South Pacific Tuna Treaty is obsolete
The owners of American Samoa’s second cannery, Samoa Tuna Processors, say the Treaty which allows US fishing boats to fish in waters of Pacific island countries is obsolete and needs to be revised. Tri Marine International says in a statement that the tuna treaty in its current form fails to retain the most value for the resource owners because the Vessel Day Scheme places value on fishing days alone, rather than the tuna itself. According to Tri Marine, calculating value based on fishing days is a shortsighted economic equation that doesn’t necessarily represent the long-term best interests of island communities. Read the article here 09:02
American Samoa: It’s happening, purse seiners are tying up
At least 14 US purse seiners out of 37 that are licensed to fish under the US South Pacific Tuna Treaty are idling their operations following a directive from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) that all US vessels in the Western Pacific Ocean under the Treaty are to cease operations as of December 31st. That prohibition is to remain in effect until the Pacific Island Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA), issues licenses for 2016, which hinges on a new agreement with the Parties to the Nauru Agreement. Read the article here 10:29
Tri Marine reports drop in purse seiners calling into port
Tri Marine International says it has seen a dramatic decrease in the number of purse seiners calling into American Samoa since the high seas were closed to US flagged tuna boats in June of this year. Not only does this affect the supply of fish for StarKist Samoa and Samoa Tuna Processors it also means a loss in revenue for the government and many businesses that supply the purse seiners. Heidi Happonen, spokesperson for Tri Marine says a purse seiner typically spends between $300,000 and $400,000 when in port. Read the rest here 12:46
NOAA urged to expedite decision to allow the American Samoa purse seiner fleet to fish in the high seas.
Tri Marine International’s CEO, Mr. Renato Curto and Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Joe Hamby visited senior NOAA and Department of Commerce officials in Washington, D.C. this week urging them to expedite their decision on the petition to allow the American Samoa purse seiner fleet to fish in the high seas. NOAA’s public comment period on the petition ended on August 17th.Over 100 comments were received, only four of which were against the petition. Heidi Happonen, spokesperson for Tri Marine said with such broad support for restoring access to the high seas,,, Read the rest here 12:52
Tri Marine disappointed with outcome of tuna treaty talks
The Treaty governs access for US tuna boats to fish in the exclusive economic zones of Pacific island countries. Last year there was a drastic reduction in fishing days for the US fleet in waters around Kiribati while fishing fees shot up. He said without affordable fish supply, they will not be able to achieve their industry goals. To put it in a nutshell, Hamby said the American Samoa fishing fleet needs fishing grounds…fishing grounds that are not far away from American Samoa. For now Tri Marine’s new fish plant which was opened in January, Samoa Tuna Processors, Read the rest here 15:48
Tri Marine selling tuna seiner to Albacora amid ‘chronically oversupplied’ market
US-based tuna group Tri Marine International is in the process of selling one of two purse seiners close to being finished in a Spanish yard to Albacora Group, the owner of the largest fishing fleet in Europe. Both the vessels, Cape Ann and Cape Coral, which were launched at the Astilleros Armon Gijon shipyard on the northern coast of Spain in September, were set to operate from Pago Pago, American Samoa, where Tri Marine is inaugurating its long-awaited Samoa Tuna Processors cannery in January. Read the rest here 15:20
American Samoa: Loss of tuna treaty will hurt canneries
Tuna cannery owner wants to boost region’s processing capacity AMERICAN SAMOA
The owner of the Samoa Tuna Processors cannery wants the territory to become the regional hub for fish processing to grow its business Tri Marine International, which owns the cannery, wishes to advance its plans by helping Pacific island countries take greater ownership of the fish harvested from their territorial waters. Managing director Joe Hamby said that unlike American Samoa, many Pacific island countries do not have the land mass, population or infrastructure to have boats unload fish on their land and implement fish processing. Therefore, American Samoa is a logical choice for a processing hub.
