{"id":407375,"date":"2024-03-27T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-27T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=407375"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Gov-t-policies-threaten-way-of-life-in-US-Pacific","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Gov-t-policies-threaten-way-of-life-in-US-Pacific\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Gov\u2019t policies threaten way of life in US Pacific\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

HONOLULU\u2014Amid mounting concerns and resounding frustration, the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council convened its 198th meeting last week, where the voices of the fishing community advisors echoed with urgency. Their impassioned pleas highlighted the dire challenges facing the industry, including escalating anxieties over fishing area closures and the destabilizing impact of foreign seafood imports on market dynamics.<\/p>\n

Hawai\u2018i Advisory Panel member and Kaua\u2018i fisherman Abraham Apilado, Jr. said, \u201cIf the goal is to sustain fisheries, major changes need to be made today. If the goal is to kill off the fishermen and resources, then keep doing what you\u2019re doing, because you\u2019re doing an amazing job.\u201d<\/p>\n

The United States is proposing to overlay and extend the Papah\u0101naumoku\u0101kea Marine National Monument and potentially the Pacific Remote Islands MNM with sanctuary regulations, compounding current fishing closures.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tuna industry is the only industry we have, the government relies on the canneries,\u201d said Gene Pan, American Samoa AP member and Fono representative. \u201cYou are stopping us from fishing but not the Chinese. Without the people, there is no Samoa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Council Chair Will Sword stressed, \u201cWithout the StarKist cannery, we cannot continue to sustain our cultural heritage and keep it vibrant. Further disadvantaging our remaining 12 purse seine vessels in American Samoa affects our cannery.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur purse seine boats can\u2019t compete because it\u2019s not a level playing field,\u201d said American Samoa AP member and Cape Fisheries CEO Joe Hamby. \u201cThe Seafood Import Monitoring Program is not working. U.S. fishers and processors should be protected by a duty on fish imports\u2014seafood security is important. Fishing or processing, it\u2019s a matter of having the political will to defend against negative impacts to domestic producers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eric Kingma, Hawaii Longline Association executive director, said, \u201cWe are facing unprecedented market conditions. There is a large supply of fish coming in, driven by El Ni\u00f1o conditions. The market isn\u2019t there because of the huge amount of imported, subsidized, gassed tuna being \u2018dumped\u2019 into the market and retailers are not adjusting downward during periods of high local supply of fresh tuna. Not only is this bad for the local consumer, but it\u2019s unfair to the Hawai\u2018i fishing industry. The subsidized foreign imports and retail price gouging on fresh landed \u2018ahi is really hurting the Hawai\u2018i longline fleet. Recently, vessels are averaging $2-3 per lb for high quality \u2018ahi, but it\u2019s over $30 per lb at the store. It\u2019s not fair to consumers or fishermen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Council executive director Kitty Simonds said, \u201cIf you were the President of the United States, which would you choose\u2014the people of the U.S. or your legacy?\u201d<\/p>\n

Fish stock assessment limitations in the Western Pacific<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n

Hawai\u2018i Council Member Matt Ramsey questioned how NOAA can develop strategies to promote seafood and equity and environmental justice, while at the same time limiting fishing opportunities. Sam Rauch, NOAA deputy assistant administrator for regulatory programs, stated, \u201cThe goal of NMFS is not to limit fishing opportunities in general. In fact, NMFS is supposed to promote optimum yield, and that is the task that both the Council and NMFS are tasked with under the Magnuson-Stevens Act.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Council endorsed the Hawai\u2018i and Guam bottomfish stock assessments to update catch limits. The previous Guam assessment, which found the bottomfish stock complex was overfished, used a model likely not suited for data-limited fisheries. The latest assessment, which used the same model with updated catch data, showed an improved stock condition, but not enough to rebuild the stock.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is one of the things we have learned particularly in the Western Pacific,\u201d Rauch said. \u201cModels that we apply to manage fisheries for [optimum yield] elsewhere in the country sometimes break down when they are applied to artisanal, cultural or subsistence fishing, much like the type of fishing that happens in the territories.\u201d (PR)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘We are affected by decisions today\u2014we lose our fishery, culture, way of life.’<\/strong><\/p>\n


WPMC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HONOLULU\u2014Amid mounting concerns and resounding frustration, the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council convened its…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-407375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407375\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}