The US House, late Tuesday, passed Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata’s South Pacific Tuna Treaty Act to modernize operating conditions for American Samoa’s purse seine fleet. KHJ News Washington DC correspondent Matt Kaye reports…
M.K. Amata told the House, her bill co-sponsored by Hawaii’s Ed Case, puts into statute 2016 negotiated changes to the 1988 South Pacific Tuna Treaty ratified by the Senate…
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The earlier treaty allowed US tuna purse-seine vessels to fish in the exclusive economic zones of 16 Pacific Island nations.
Amata stressed that was key to ongoing operations of America’s South Pacific tuna fleet—including America Samoa’s 11 purse seiners.
But the 2016 improvements NOAA negotiated with the signatory countries were not self-executing, thus the need for HR 1792, allowing the agency to implement them with regulations.
Amata—
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Amata’s bill had bipartisan support and passed in full committee by a unanimous vote last October.
Ranking Insular Affairs subcommittee Democrat Teresa Leger Fernandez, on the House floor, stressed the measure’s benefits…
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The bill will also ensure American Samoa’s tuna fleet has access to the high seas, crucial for American Samoa’s cannery and the local economy.
The South Pacific Tuna Treaty Act passed by voice vote under rules for expedited House action, but will likely still require Senate ok since it’s needed to implement the ratified Treaty.
