Press Releases
Press Release – US Pacific Island Fishery Scientists to Review 2015 Fishery Performance
HONOLULU (7 April 2016) Fishery scientists from American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and Hawaii will join NOAA scientists next week to review last year’s performance of federally managed fisheries in the Western Pacific Region....
Press Release – Fishery Management Council Addresses Fisheries of American Samoa, Hawaii, Guam (17 March 2016)
HONOLULU (17 March 2016) The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, this week in Honolulu, recommended a suite of management decisions and recommendations for the near and offshore fisheries of American Samoa, Hawaii and Guam. They include the following,...
Press Release – NOAA Fisheries Deputy Assistant Administrator Lauds US Fishery Management Councils (14 March 2016)
HONOLULU (15 March 2016) Samuel D. Rauch III, NOAA Fisheries Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, praised the U.S. Regional Fishery Management Councils as the "key for the success" of both "environmental and economic progress" in the nation's...
Press Release – Distinguished Fisheries Professor Ray Hilborn Discusses Sustainability of World Fisheries with Hawaii Fishing Community
HONOLULU (11 February 2016) Professor Ray Hilborn of the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, and author of Overfishing: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford University Press), yesterday in Honolulu addressed the topic of “Sustainability of...
Press Release – Feds Approve Exemption of US Longline Vessels in American Samoa Large Vessel Prohibited Area as Recommended by the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council
HONOLULU (29 January 2016) Effective today, US federally permitted longline vessels in American Samoa that are over 50 feet in length can fish for pelagic species in certain areas of the American Samoa Large Vessel Prohibited Area (LVPA). The National Marine Fisheries...
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...
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...