Lemanu tells U.S. Senators how illegal fishing impacts the territory’s economy

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Gov. Lemanu Peleti Mauga told the U.S Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources that American Samoa lacks resources to enforce illegal fishing — which seriously impacts the canneries —  outside of the 200-miles territorial waters.

The governor participated virtually from the territory during the committee hearing on the state of the territories, which lasted more than an-hour. Governors from other territories also participated.

The U.S Coast Guard’s “Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing Strategic Outlook” report in September 2020 states that, “IUU fishing has replaced piracy as the leading global maritime security threat. If IUU continues unchecked we can expect deterioration of fragile coastal States and increased tension among foreign-fishing Nations, threatening geo-political stability around the world.”

It also says that IUU exploitation erodes both regional and national security, undermines maritime rules-based order, jeopardizes food access and availability, and destroys legitimate economies.

U.S. Sen. Roger ‘Doc’ Marshall, during the committee hearing, read out the quote from the Coast Guard report on IUU fishing and asked Lemanu how “Chinese illegal fishing around American Samoa impacted your economy...” to which Lemanu responded that “it does impact our economy with the canneries in American Samoa.”

“ The problem with us in American Samoa is the enforcement part of that process. We don’t have the resources to enforce the over-200 miles of American Samoa ocean,” he said.

“We’ve been working hard with the Coast Guard in trying to implement ways to make sure that such policy and laws are enforced,” the governor said and reiterated that illegal fishing outside of territorial waters, “does affect us seriously.”

Leaders of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands were also asked similar questions on Chinese illegal fishing in their waters.

In the IUU Fishing Strategic Outlook report, the Coast Guard announced its commitment to leading a global effort to combat illegal exploitation of the ocean’s fish stocks “and protect our national interests”. [Details of the report online at: https://www.uscg.mil/iuufishing/]

The Coast Guard announced in a statement last October that its Cutter Juniper completed a 45-day patrol in Oceania in support of Operation ‘Aiga’ - Samoan word for “Family” - in which the crew conducted operations to counter IUU and strengthened relations with foreign allies while promoting the collective maritime sovereignty and resource security of partner nations in the Indo-Pacific.