To protect American Samoa's economy and its tuna industry, Tri Marine International has urged the federal government to allow fishing within certain fishing grounds surrounding the yet to be finalized expansion of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM).

Washington based Tri Marine’s request would allow only U.S. flagged fishing vessels based in American Samoa, which supply the local canneries to benefit from such an exemption — to ensure the prosperity of the territory’s economy, which depends on the tuna canning industry.

The company’s move comes at a time when Pacific island nations have put many fishing restrictions in their exclusive economic zones (EEZ), while China’s highly subsidized fishing fleet has increased its presence in the South Pacific, the world’s most lucrative fishing grounds, giving the U.S. fleet stiff competition.

Tri Marine’s operations in the territory include a locally based U.S. flagged fishing fleet and Samoa Tuna Processors Inc., their cannery operations.

President Obama’s initial planned expansion included certain parts of the PRIMNM up to 200 nautical miles, the outer limit of the U.S. EEZ. However, the president decided not to include such an expansion with respect to Baker and Howland Islands and Kingman Reef/Palmyra Atoll.

When the Monument was first created several years ago, commercial fishing was not allowed within the PRIMNM. The government proposed rule would expand the boundaries, and the no-commercial-fishing ban out to 200 miles for Jarvis Island, Wake Island, and Johnston Atoll, the limit of the U.S. EEZ. The government is seeking comments before the final rule is issued.

As part of the final rule, Tri Marine requested that the U.S. National Marine Fishery Service (NMFS) adopt a regulatory permit exception that would allow U.S. fishery endorsed and documented purse seine vessels to fish in the expanded Monument area between the existing boundaries and the outer limit of the U.S. EEZ.

“It is clear that, in the future, access to island nations’ waters will become increasingly problematic and access may be denied without notice, or for reasons unrelated to conservation, despite existing treaty arrangements, our compliance with international conservation measures, or the willingness to pay reasonable access fees,” wrote Tri Marine general counsel James P. Walsh in a letter last Thursday to Michael D. Tosatto, regional administrator of the NMFS Pacific Islands Region in Honolulu.

“Consequently, access for U.S. vessels to the U.S. EEZ, the high seas, as well as the waters of those nations with whom we have firm access agreements is essential,” Walsh explained. “Therefore, access to the fishing areas that would be curtailed by the proposed expansion of the Monument to 200 miles would be harmful to the economic future of the fleet and American Samoa, in particular.”

He claims that the likelihood of any measurable harm to the monument from allowing a small number of vessels to fish for tuna in certain years in this area is very small. “In fact, a complete closure will only shift fishing for tuna to other ocean areas and concentrate fishing unnecessarily,” he argued.

“The purse seine fishery does not interact with the benthos or disrupt near-shore habitat, the parts of the Monument best suited to protection within a marine protected area. Therefore, considering the type of fishing gear and the limited number of candidate vessels, overall, we believe the proposed permit exception would result in no measurable impact on the Monument,” he said.

Tri Marine envisions a permit provision that would: require an application; apply only to U.S. vessels operating in and out of American Samoa under U.S. flags with a fishery endorsement, and delivering any fish caught under the permit to a cannery located in American Samoa; as well as require any permitted fishing to be governed by the conservation requirements adopted by the U.S. pursuant to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Convention Implementation Act.

“Tri Marine submits that the exception is predicated on the important need to protect American Samoa and its economy from possible reduction in tuna resource availability in the future,” Walsh wrote. The tuna resources will continue to be adequately managed through existing regulatory programs to ensure sustainability into the future.”

Tri Marine also believes that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has inherent legal authority under the Magnuson-Stevens Act to create and implement such a regulatory permit program exception when implementing Obama’s planned monument expansion.

Tri Marine Group has a fleet of U.S. flag tuna purse seine vessels based in American Samoa and the fleet has fishery endorsements licensed to fish pursuant to the South Pacific Tuna Treaty and in the U.S. 200-mile EEZ, said Walsh adding that the company’s vessels  intend to deliver their catch to its cannery operations in the territory.

He explained that the highly migratory tuna resources in the region, including in the U . S. EEZ, are extremely important to the continued success of the U.S. tuna fleet and the tuna processing operations in American Samoa, which are vital to that island community.

Additionally, harvest of the internationally shared tuna resources in the region is governed by the South Pacific Tuna Treaty and the conservation measures adopted by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.

Further, the best available scientific information confirms that proper management of highly migratory species of fish can only be effectively accomplished through international management measures that cover their range of movement.