August 25, 2014 — Top leaders of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council board of directors say continuity of American Samoa as a major fishery port and fishing hub continues to be uncertain while China’s domination of Papua New Guinea’s canning industry is in direct competition with American Samoa.
This according to a five-page Aug.15th letter addressed to President Barack Obama and signed by Council chairman Arnold Palacio, as well as vice chairman William Sword of American Samoa, Edwin Ebisui of Hawai’i, Michael Duenas of Guam and Richard Seman of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
The letter officially requests the Obama Administration “to abandon its plan to expand” the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monuments (PRIMNM) “or, if expansion is inevitable, that commercial fishing be allowed to continue within the PRIMNM beyond the existing 50 nautical miles boundary.”
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