News + Announcements
Winter 2016 Pacific Islands Fishery News
http://issuu.com/wpcouncil/docs/wprfmc_pifn-winter2016_final1?e=7174896/32144406 Click here for printable PDF
Western Pacific U.S. Territories Provide Interventions at WCPFC 12
The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) held its 12th Meeting in Bali, Indonesia, in December 2016. At this meeting, the U.S. Pacific Territories provided interventions, or statements, on various fisheries that note the concerns expressed by the...
Press Release – Fishery Managers Agree on Catch Limits for US Pacific Territories Bottomfish, Bigeye Tuna
UTULEI, AMERICAN SAMOA (23 October 2015) The bottomfish annual catch limits (ACLs) in American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) should be equal to their acceptable biological catch (ABC), the Council deemed yesterday as it...
Press Release – Frustrations Voiced Over Impacts of US Fishing Quotas in the Western and Central Pacific
UTULEI, AMERICAN SAMOA (22 October 2015) Members of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, meeting yesterday in Utulei, American Samoa, questioned the high road the United States has taken in international Pacific tuna management and the unfair...
Press Release – Fishery Advisors Focus on Mounting Tuna Management Concerns
UTULEI, AMERICAN SAMOA (21 October 2015) Meetings leading up to the convening of the 164th Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council continued yesterday in Utulei, American Samoa. The Pelagic and International Standing Committee began the day supporting...
Radio Interviews from the Oct. 17, 2015, Fishers Forum on A.S. Fisheries now available
Come and listen to interviewed persons at the October 17, 2015, Fishers Forum on American Samoa Fisheries, at the Port Administration main dock, Fagatogo, American Samoa, hosted by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council and American Samoa Department...
Press Release – NMFS to Deny Tri Marine Petition, Fishery Council Asked to Expedite Analysis of the Cost to American Samoa
UTULEI, AMERICAN SAMOA (20 October 2015) The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) will not undertake an emergency rulemaking to exempt U.S. purse seine vessels that deliver at least half of their catch to tuna processing facilities in American Samoa from the...
Press Release – Bottomfish Catch Limits Could Increase for American Samoa, Decrease for Guam
HONOLULU (14 October 2015) The Scientific and Statistical Committee, a group of renowned fishery scientists who advise the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, concluded its two-day meeting in Honolulu today by setting the 2016 and 2017 acceptable...
Press Release – Hawaii’s $100 Million Fishery Reopens in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean
HONOLULU (13 Oct. 2015) After a closure that lasted more than two months, Hawaii's longline vessels can fish again for bigeye tuna in the waters surrounding the Hawaiian Islands. Since Aug. 5th, the 145 active vessels in the Hawaii longline fleet have been prohibited...
Press Release – Hawaii Bigeye Tuna Industry Reels Two Months after Reaching Its Quotas
HONOLULU (08 Oct. 2015) For the past two months, since early August, about a quarter of the 145 active vessels in the Hawaii longline fleet have been prohibited from catching their target species, bigeye tuna. Arbitrary quotas not linked to conservation objectives are...