March 27, 2023 — U.S. Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata is raising urgent concerns about President Joe Biden’s initiation of an enormous new National Marine Sanctuary or NMS for 777,000 square miles around the Pacific Remote Islands. She questions why the administration made no effort to discuss this issue with the Pacific delegations or to notify them even at the recent IGIA forum that such a drastic change to our way of life was even being considered.
“What changed? Why were we not given the courtesy of a discussion or even advance notice of this policy?” she asked in a letter Thursday to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland. “I strongly oppose any new National Marine Sanctuary designations in the Pacific, especially ones that are implemented by executive order without consultation with native Samoans and other Pacific Islanders who have cared for and relied on these waters for millennia. This action would destroy American Samoa’s fishing industry, which makes up about 80 percent of our local economy, contribute to regional food insecurity, and do nothing to address the predatory IUU fishing practices of the Chinese Communist Party.”
Presidential proclamations created the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument or PRIMNM initially, then tripled it in size, placing over 495,000 square miles of the Pacific off limits. Now, President Biden is setting in motion yet another huge expansion or new NMS designation to 777,000 square miles, some four times the size of California, a detrimental action to American Samoa and U.S. food security, with the perverse effect of mainly benefiting China’s fishing fleet.
“I also cannot see how destroying the economy of the southern-most U.S. territory and declaring vast sections of the Pacific unfishable for our neighbors in a time of strategic competition with China will help our diplomatic efforts in the region. This action is especially more concerning given that our law enforcement efforts and U.S. Coast Guard presence in the region are limited. This action is tantamount to the federal government tying our hands while CCP fishing vessels rob our house,” Congresswoman Amata said.