Seman: Deal on sale of tuna quota done

The CNMI government has “entered into an agreement” with the Hawaii Longliner Association regarding the Commonwealth’s tuna catch limits, according to Department of Lands and Natural Resources Secretary Richard Seman.

Seman told Saipan Tribune in an interview that the governor has entered into an agreement.

“I know that the governor had entered an agreement with the Hawaii Longliner Association, but I do not, at this point in time, know the details of it,” Seman said.

While Seman said he doesn’t know yet exactly how much the CNMI’s quota were sold, he said it was “a lot higher” than what was initially offered.

In February, the association wrote a letter to Gov. Ralph DLG Torres offering a three-year deal to pay $200,000 each year for 1,000 metric tons of bigeye tuna—or half of the Commonwealth’s catch limits—to allow their fishing vessels to catch “against the CNMI catch limit.”

The offer was made on the expectation that Hawaii longliners would exhaust their own catch quota. Similar agreements with the CNMI have been made in the last several years. The offered payment is not tied down to whether the longliners actually end up using the CNMI quota and payment will be made regardless of the amount of catch HLA has in any given year.

“I don’t know how much the amount is but it’s a lot higher than what was offered by Longliner Association,” Seman said.

Torres flew to Hawaii last week to discuss the sale of fishing quota, among other things and said that he is “trying to get as much as we can.”

“The governor managed to make it even better,” Seman said.

When asked how the CNMI will be paid, Seman said, “The funds will be available as per the agreement; however the expenditure of that agreement can only be used through the funding of projects that are submitted to the Marine Conservation Plan proposal.”

“It will be provided to the CNMI and the Department of Finance will set up an account for it,” he added.

The Marine Conservation Plan is a three-year plan developed by DLNR in concurrence with the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council. The plan provides details on uses for funds to be collected under the Pacific Insular Area Fishery Agreement. The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1996 requires that the MCP be consistent with the Council’s Fishery Ecosystem Plan (FEP) for the Mariana Archipelago and the Fishery Ecosystem Plan for Pacific Pelagic Fisheries.

Some of the main objectives of the CNMI’s MCP are focused on education, scientific research, and marine development, according to Seman.

“We ask for solicitation for proposal. Those proposals will have to be consistent with the content of the Marine Conservation Plan,” Seman said.

According to Seman, having an advisory council to manage the selection of project proposals is vital.

“It’s important for us to have an advisory council, hopefully we can put five people together, and they will be the one to review applications and decide whether that applicant should be approved or not for funding from the MCP,” Seman said.