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Historic meeting set for Tuna Treaty renegotiation

Fresh negotiations will be underway next week in Brisbane, Australia to hopefully reach a new agreement on the South Pacific Tuna Treaty, which was first implemented in 1987 between the U.S. government and Pacific island countries.

 

As previously reported by Samoa News, an interim agreement was signed last October between the U.S. government and 17 Pacific Island nations — as members of the Pacific Island Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) — which allowed the US purse seiner fleet to fish in the exclusive economic zones of FFA members.

 

The interim agreement, which is only valid for 2015, links US aid to access to Pacific Island Parties (PIP) fishing grounds. Currently the U.S. pays $90 million in aid and rent. The federal government pays $21 million and the industry — mainly boat owners — pay $69 million, according to an ASG report in April this year.

 

In a statement Monday night, San Diego-based South Pacific Tuna Corporation says the Treaty meeting is set for Aug. 3-5 and it will be historic as members of the U.S. distant water tuna fleet, and representatives from the U.S. Departments of State and Commerce will meet with fishery officials from the 17 member Pacific Island Parties (PIP’s), and representatives of the FFA in an effort to work towards solutions to extending the 26-year partnership.

 

Although the financial challenge continues to escalate for all fishing vessels in the global fishery community, South Pacific Tuna Corp executives say it is critical that the industry continue to address and support the U.S. government in these efforts.

 

“In providing economic assistance to all participating PIP’s, the Treaty is a visible demonstration of the ongoing commitment to the region,” said J. Douglas Hines, executive director of South Pacific Tuna Corp., which represents 14 purse seine vessels under the Treaty.

 

Hines says the company has considered comments of the parties; including those of Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) along with many members of the PIP’s, the US government and Industry after the latest round of meetings in Fiji and “will work towards maintaining our decades long commitment.”

 

“We are not ready to give it up as some would hope, and as the largest member of the US fleet we retain our dedication to long term fishery conservation and partnership with our Island partners,” Hines said, adding that it’s critical to solidify a 2016 agreement. “Now is not the time to be short sighted; it is the time to commit to the Treaty and to our Island partners in the Pacific.”

 

San Diego-based American Tunaboat Association executive director Brian Hallman confirmed to Samoa News that he will be attending the Brisbane meeting, along with 8- 10 other boat owner representatives — including those from the South Pacific Tuna Corporation.

 

“The highest priority for ATA will be negotiating 2016 access arrangements for the U.S fleet for waters of the Pacific island countries that are parties to the tuna Treaty,” he said yesterday.

 

Responding to Samoa News inquiries, Tri Marine International said they usually attend these meetings as part of the American Tunaboat Owners Association, which represents all US flagged purse seiners fishing in the Western and Central Pacific under the Treaty.

 

“We don’t have any specific message to share at this time or any details about who, if anyone, may be attending on our behalf,” said Tri Marine, which operates a locally based US flagged purse seiner fleet and the Samoa Tuna Processors Inc., cannery.

 

Perhaps the biggest concern for Tri Marine pertaining to the Treaty, as cited in its petition to the federal government requesting an exemption to allow the US purse seiner fleet to fish in high seas, is that the South Pacific nation of Kiribati — whose EEZ contains prime fishing grounds north of American Samoa — has refused to allow US vessels access to its waters for more than 300 fishing days for 2015, after allowing 4,313 fishing days the year before (60 percent of all US flag fishing days in the region).

 

“US purse seine vessels based in American Samoa are now denied access to much of their traditional fishing grounds because of this breakdown in prior Treaty arrangements,” says Tri Marine.

 

At the conclusion of its meeting last month in Honolulu, the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council says it recognized that the combination of the US high seas purse-seine effort limits by the international Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) and the removal of historic levels of fishing days in Kiribati waters available under the Treaty may result in a reduced supply of tuna offloaded directly to the Pago Pago canneries by US purse-seine vessels.

 

The Council has recommended that U.S. National Marine Fishery Services and the State Department improve the current terms of the Treaty with regards to Pago Pago-based US purse seine vessels.

 

U.S. State Department official Judith G. Garber told the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs in May that their department leads U.S. efforts to revise and extend the terms of the Treaty and explore other ways to ensure economically viable fishing access to waters under the jurisdiction of Pacific Island parties.

 

She says the parties met most recently in March 2015 to discuss renegotiation of the Treaty, as well as fishing access opportunities for the U.S. purse seine fleet in 2016. “We remain committed to working with the Pacific Island parties to achieve an outcome that meets the economic objectives of both sides and contributes to an effective and transparent conservation and management regime,” she said, according to a copy of her testimony on the U.S. Senate website.

 

The March meeting was led by the State Department and American Samoa was included as part of the federal delegation. Representing American Samoa were Commerce director Keniseli Lafaele and Attorney General Talauega Eleasalo Ale - and the trio provided the governor with a report in April this year from the renegotiation meeting. (See Samoa News edition of Apr. 17 and 21 for details).

 

Samoa News wasn’t able to confirm at press time if ASG will again join the federal delegation at the Brisbane meeting.

 

In its fiscal year 2016 budget submission to the U.S. Congress, the State Department says it will use $21 million to meet an annual commitment under the Treaty and the associated Economic Assistance Agreement (EAA).

 

The Treaty is an important regional agreement in the Pacific, where the US is working to continue to strengthen relationships, according to the State Department’s budget justification document, which also says that the U.S. commitment under the Treaty and EAA is fulfilled through funding support to the South Pacific Forum Fisheries Agency, which distributes the assistance to countries in the South Pacific.

 

This assistance supports sustainable use of fisheries’ resources, increased food security, and enhanced relations with Pacific Island states. It also benefits the U.S. economy by promoting access for U.S. vessels to some of the most lucrative fishing grounds in the world, which in turn support employment opportunities for Americans.

 

“Failure to make this payment could remove the primary source of U.S. economic assistance to most of these small island states and result in Pacific Island nations denying fishing licenses to U.S. vessels,” it says.