January 5, 2016 — U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter wants the U.S. State Department to step in to assist American tuna boats — many with ties to San Diego — that are shut out of a large area of the Pacific Ocean for the first time in nearly 30 years.
In a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, given to The San Diego Union-Tribune on Monday, Hunter writes that the U.S. government must act fast to help the tuna fleet.
Last week, administrators of the South Pacific Tuna Treaty — a 27-year-old accord among 17 nations governing waters in the western Pacific — refused to issue 2016 licenses on Jan. 1. It said American boats must pay millions of dollars in fees, they agreed to in August, to fish international waters.
Some of the tuna boat operators in the 37-boat fleet say a bad 2015 fishing season has left them unable to pay the first quarterly payment of $17 million.
“An extended prohibition against the U.S.-flag tuna fleet fishing in the treaty area may well bankrupt the fleet and jeopardize the thousands of American jobs it supports,” wrote Hunter, R-Alpine.
Read the full story at The San Diego Union-Tribune