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U.S. Fisheries to Tri-Marine: No authority for fishing exemption in Nat’l Monument

The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service says it doesn’t have authority under provision of federal law to provide a permit exception, as requested by Tri Marine International, to allow certain commercial fishing exemptions around waters of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument expansion.

 

The proposed rule for the prohibition regarding commercial fishing in the expanded PRIMNM was first released early last year and NMFS sought public comments, with a deadline of February this year.

 

In a notice issued yesterday on the federal portal, regulations.gov, the NMFS says the final rule — which is effective Apr. 24 — prohibits commercial fishing, and allows for managed non-commercial fishing, in the Monument expansion area.

 

NMFS noted that Tri Marine, with a U.S. flagged tuna purse seine fleet based in American Samoa, had responded in the comment period, which ended last month. NMFS didn’t cite any other comments in its notice.

 

As previously reported by Samoa News, Tri Marine, whose local operations include the Samoa Tuna Processors Inc. cannery, requested that 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 month to NMFS.

 

Tri Marine argued that expansion of the Monument would be harmful to the economic future of the U.S. purse seine fleet and to American Samoa because it unnecessarily restricts access to fishing areas that are already heavily restricted, and would further concentrate tuna fishing pressure into a smaller geographic area. (See Samoa News edition Feb. 6, 2015 for details)

 

In its reply published in the notice, NMFS acknowledged that the Monument expansion will have an impact on the U.S. purse seine fishery. NMFS says the purse seine fishing effort in the Monument over the past several decades has ranged from less than one percent to about a fifth of the total U.S. purse seine fishing effort in the Pacific.

 

Additionally, the purse seine catch from the Monument area has ranged from none to a quarter of the total U.S. Pacific purse seine catch. The average catch from all the PRIAs combined have averaged about five percent of the total U.S. Pacific purse seine catch.

 

Further, the EEZ around Howland and Baker Islands — not affected by this final rule — has received the most effort (about eight fishing days per vessel per year), followed by Jarvis (two days) and Kingman and Palmyra (0.3 days). No purse seine fishing has occurred at Wake Island.

 

Despite these impacts, NMFS says the Presidential proclamation to expand the Monument calls for, among other things, prohibition of commercial fishing within the boundaries of the monument.

 

Further, the Proclamation expands the boundaries of the Monument to the seaward limit of the U.S. EEZ at Jarvis and Wake Islands and Johnston Atoll, and directs the Secretaries of the Commerce and the Interior to continue to manage the expanded monument as directed.

 

The Proclamation also directs the Secretary of Commerce to extend the ban on commercial fishing to the seaward limit of the U.S. EEZ at Jarvis and Wake Islands and Johnston Atoll.

 

“NMFS, under authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, may not take action inconsistent with other applicable laws; here, the Proclamations are clear regarding the prohibition on commercial fishing within the PRI Monument and Monument Expansion,” the agency said. “NMFS, therefore, does not have authority under the Magnuson-Stevens Act to provide a permit exception to this prohibition.”

 

The final rule calls for, among other things, prohibition of commercial fishing, and permit and reporting requirements for non-commercial and recreational fishing. Details of the final rule are available on regulations.gov

 

Tri Marine’s call for exemption in the Monument expansion 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.