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Bumble Bee weighs in on Tri-Marine petition

Bumble Bee Seafoods president Christopher D. Lischewski has expressed the company’s “strong opposition” to a petition for an emergency rule exemption which would allow the US purse seiner fleet which offload at least 50% of their catch at the local canneries to fish in the US EEZ and on the high seas.

 

Tri Marine International’s petition is the result of the federal government closing US purse seine fishing in these fishing grounds for the rest of 2015 because the number of allowable fishing days has been reached. Yesterday was the last day to accept public comments on the petition.

 

In his letter of opposition, Lischewski says the petition suggests that without NOAA taking action, the lack of raw material will jeopardize the ability of canneries in American Samoa to compete in the world market.

 

“As someone who has worked in the tuna industry for decades I can tell you that is blatantly untrue,” he said and pointed out that both local canneries are owned and operated by large international corporations with operations around the world.

 

Additionally, both companies are capable of securing raw product to process in American Samoa, either from their own fleet of boats or from other boats they work with.

 

“Based on my decades of work within the tuna industry, I am confident both processing facilities will continue to operate whether the petition is successful or not,” he pointed out.

 

The Bumble Bee president also says that Tri Marine petition would give its fleet of vessels and a few other vessels — that have markets in American Samoa — unlimited fishing opportunities on the high seas and in the U.S. EEZ.

 

He believes such an action by the U.S. would violate paragraph 23 of the Conservation and Management Measures (CMM) adopted at last year’s Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC). He explained that paragraph 23 requires all coastal states to establish effort limits or catch limits for purse seine fishing vessels within their EEZs.

 

Since 2009 the U.S. has complied with WCPFC CMM’s by limiting purse seine fishing effort to 558 days within the U.S. EEZ, Lischewski said, and noted that under paragraph 23, this limit is applicable from 2015 through 2017.

 

“The Tri Marine request for an exemption from limits on fishing days within the U.S. EEZ would clearly violate the WCPFC limits agreed to by the U.S. while also providing a small group of vessels with a dramatic economic advantage over the rest of the U.S. fleet,” he said.

 

“Bumble Bee cannot support any action by our government that would constitute a violation of RFMO’s (regional fisheries management organization) conservation and management measures,” Lischewski stated, adding that such action is contrary to US commitment to sustainability and “would make it much more difficult for the U.S. to secure sorely needed conservation gains in the WCPFC.”

 

“The petition is also designed to provide an economic benefit to our vertically integrated competitors, StarKist and Tri Marine, operating in American Samoa by lowering their production cost,” he said.

 

“Because U.S. purse seine vessels delivering to those processing facilities, including the vessels owned by our competitors, would not be required to purchase fishing days, the cost to their vessels harvesting tuna would be significantly lower,” Lischewski said. “Because the majority of vessels are processor owned, this savings would be realized by our competitors, thus reducing their production cost.”

 

He says the canneries in American Samoa are already exempt from local taxes, receive federal tax credits (Sec. 30A) and pay a very low minimum wage — currently $4.76 per hour.

 

He said providing the processors in the territory with an opportunity to avoid purchasing fishing days or paying less for raw material would only harm Bumble Bee and other tuna processors — like Chicken of the Sea International — that have made major investments in U.S. facilities.

 

Lischewski said StarKist and Tri Marine control all of the tuna processing facilities based in American Samoa, and it is clear that they would have significant discretion in determining which vessels would be able to deliver to American Samoa and benefit from these exemptions.

 

The petition asks NOAA to exempt “any U.S. flag purse seine vessel which, pursuant to contract or declaration of intent, delivers or will deliver at least 50% of its catch to tuna processing facilities based in American Samoa”.

 

However, the petition fails to specify who will determine, whether a declaration or contract is valid, how the 50 percent threshold will be determined, and who would be responsible for enforcement of this criteria, he said.

 

“Obviously the petition is designed to benefit a small group of vessels owned by vertically integrated international conglomerates doing business in American Samoa,” he said. “At the same time, it would create division among the U.S. distant water tuna fleet at a critical time when the U.S. government is working to extend the successful South Pacific Tuna Treaty.”

 

In closing, Lischewski said Bumble Bee requests that “NOAA summarily dismiss the petition”.

 

BACKGROUND

 

As previously reported by Samoa News, Thailand based Thai Union owns Chicken of the Sea International cannery, and has announced its acquisition of Bumble Bee. However, that is on hold at this point while the US Justice Department conducts an investigation for any violation of Antitrust laws. Bumble Bee is also looking at setting up operations in neighboring Samoa, but because of the USDOJ probe, that project is on hold for now.

 

It should also be noted that COS closed operations in the territory in 2009, opening a loin processing facility in Georgia instead. Tri-Marine’s local cannery — Samoa Tuna Processors (STP) — is located where the COS cannery used to be.

 

According to Lischewski’s letter, Bumble Bee has provided shelf stable seafood products to U.S. consumers for more than 110 years. The company is currently the largest branded seafood company in the U.S. and North America with annual revenues over $1 billion and it employs more than 1,000 people.

 

The company owns and operates a canned tuna production facility in Santa Fe Springs, California and owns one of the last domestic canned clam facilities in Cape May, New Jersey. While canned and ready-to-eat tuna products represents a large percentage of their business, Lischewski says it also offers sardines, anchovies, oysters, crab, and shrimp and is the largest buyer of Alaska salmon marketed under the Bumble Bee label.