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'Hey, here we are!' DMWR Director urges inclusion of American Samoa in NOAA Fisheries reports

AMERICAN SAMOA
Wednesday, October 09, 2024, 00:10 (GMT + 9)

Director of Marine and Wildlife Resources, Taotasi Archie Soliai, has requested the National Marine Fisheries Service to continue including American Samoa in NOAA’s Fisheries of the United States Annual Report.

This report provides critical fishery statistics for the United States, offering a comprehensive overview of data on U.S. recreational catch, commercial fisheries landings, and their respective values, primarily at the national level.

In a letter dated October 1 to Samuel D. Rauch III, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs at NOAA, Soliai expressed concern over the exclusion of the port of Pago Pago in recent editions of the report, stating that this omission undermines the significance of local fisheries on both regional and national scales.

“Historically, the port of Pago Pago has ranked highly in both landings and value,” Soliai noted. “In fact, a 1999 report by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council identified American Samoa as the leading port in the nation for both categories. At that time, there were two canneries operating in the territory, underscoring the critical role of our fisheries sector.”

Despite this distinction, Soliai emphasized that American Samoa has not received consistent recognition in NOAA’s National Fisheries Reports. He pointed out that in 2018 and 2019, representatives from American Samoa brought this oversight to the attention of the NOAA Pacific Islands Regional Office Administrator, which led to the inclusion of Pago Pago in the 2020 annual report. “Unfortunately, this was the only instance of acknowledgment, leaving the people and industries of American Samoa underrepresented in federal assessments. Our port ranks third among state and territorial jurisdictions, behind only Alaska and Massachusetts.”

Soliai expressed that the ongoing exclusion of American Samoa from NOAA’s annual report “perpetuates a longstanding pattern of marginalization for our community and highlights an alarming lack of equity for underserved Pacific island territories like ours.”

He urged NOAA to ensure that the port of Pago Pago is consistently included in future annual fisheries reports, emphasizing that “recognition of our contributions is not only a matter of accuracy but also an issue of fairness for the people and industries that depend on this vital sector.”

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