July 3, 2019 — The South Pacific Tuna Corporation (SPTC), a major player in the US-flagged tuna fleet based in the US territory of American Samoa, will sell eight purse seiners and lay off a dozen captains by year-end, the company said.
The company will also make cuts at its corporate office in San Diego, California, as it cuts its fleet to six vessels.
Doug Hines, SPTC’s executive director, cited a lack of US government interest and support as the major drivers behind the decision.
“Our fleet reduction is due in part to the US government’s continued lack of support and the lack of interest in ratifying the 1988 South Pacific Tuna Treaty, renegotiated in 2016,” said Hines said. “Despite our efforts to work with the Trump Administration, the National Marine Fisheries Service has not reciprocated and continues its overly aggressive compliance and enforcement actions.”
SPTC suggested in a press release that the diminishing of the US fleet in the western Pacific will mean a decline in US influence in the region during a time when China, Korea, and Russia take a larger role.
“In the global priorities of the US Government, the Western Pacific has become an afterthought,” said Hines. “But as president Ronald Reagan recognized in 1988, the South Pacific Tuna Treaty is a critical step to ensuring American vessels and commerce continue to lead in the region and the world. The reduction of the U.S. fleet will be a devastating blow for the international policy community as well as the Western Pacific sustainable fishery ecosystem.”