There were mixed concerns expressed by boat owners and operators to American Samoa Protection of Industry, Resources, and Employment (ASPIRE) Act, during a hearing on Wednesday before the U.S. House subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife.

The main concern by those who supported the measure was the fees and penalties cited in provisions of the ASPIRE and a call to eliminate them.

Opposition to the measure cited it as raising the cost of doing business- “making the fleet’s tuna harvests less competitive in the world market” and having far reaching international consequences.

CAPE FISHERIES

Renato Curto, president of Cape Fisheries Holdings, LLC- owner and operator of a fleet of eight large U.S. flagged purse seiner vessels based in the territory- told lawmakers he supports ASPIRE because it offers a concrete and meaningful way to guarantee the survival of that same tuna industry that has provided for many years the livelihood of thousands of families in American Samoa.

“I also support ASPIRE as I consider it a means for the United States of America to continue to participate and to maintain its leadership role in those international forums which deal with matters so important as the protection of the environment, the conservation of a well balanced marine eco-system and the sustainability of the fishing resources,” said Curto, a native of Italy.

Curto, who moved to California in 1979, after living for about six years in Mexico, helped start a tuna trading company, named Tri Marine International Inc., which is today one of the largest tuna trading companies in the world, according to a copy of his written statement to the subcommittee.

Curto, who has since became a U.S. citizen, is now a majority shareholder and Chairman of the Tri Marine Group of Companies.

He told the subcommittee that the closure of the COS Samoa Packing plant in American Samoa has been reason for serious concern for all the boats based in American Samoa.

The recent devastation caused by the tsunami has further demonstrated how difficult it is for the U.S. boats to operate efficiently if they do not have the possibility of a prompt unloading of their catch, he said.

He called on the subcommittee’s support of the bill, but he also indicated he is willing to work with Congress in order to find ways to eliminate the fees and penalties cited in provisions of the ASPIRE.

“I do not believe it is necessary to punish boat owners for choosing not to go to American Samoa to unload,” he said. “I believe that the U.S. boat owners should be free to decide where to go fishing, where to unload their catches, and in which markets to sell their fish.”

He says American Samoa-based vessels and canneries need an incentive in order to continue to operate in the territory, and “I believe that this incentive- in the form of a grant- should be made available to each and every one of the U.S.-flag tuna purse seiners operating in the Western Pacific under the South Pacific Tuna Treaty, and it should also be made available to each and every U.S. citizen who decides to own and/or operate a tuna cannery in American Samoa.”

“This incentive is not for Star Kist. The proposed ASPIRE Act provides for the grants to be available to anyone. For example, Chicken of the Sea could come back to Pago Pago if the ASPIRE legislation is adopted, and Bumble Bee could very well establish their own canning operation in American Samoa if they see that it is a convenient location and there is enough economic incentive to do so,” he said.

“Our hope is that, in any event, someone would come up and take over the Chicken of the Sea Cannery: we all need more than one buyer for our tuna,” said Curto.

He said boat owners based in American Samoa welcomed StarKist’s decision to remain in the territory “and we hope that the proposed ASPIRE legislation will be a sufficient incentive for Chicken of the Sea, Bumble Bee and/or others, to use American Samoa as their production headquarters, processing mainly raw tuna caught by U.S. flag purse seiners.”

“ASPIRE is the right step in the right direction…”Curto said, and urged the congressional panel for positive consideration of the ASPIRE bill.

SOUTH PACIFIC TUNA CORPORATION (SPTC)

Testifying on behalf of the San Diego-based South Pacific Tuna Corporation (SPTC)- which manages a fleet of 14 U.S. flag boats which operate in the Pacific- was James P. Walsh, an attorney, who also addressed the committee on behalf of Tradition Mariner LLC of Tampa, Florida that operates five U.S. flag vessels which support SPTC’s stand.

“The provisions of the proposed bill, if enacted in present form, would have a direct and profound effect on the SPTC fleet by increasing the cost of operations… making the fleet’s tuna harvests less competitive in the world market,” he said.

“In essence,” said Walsh, ASPIRE “attempts to legislate markets rather than letting cost, price and efficiency be the guide to where fish harvests are landed.”

At the same time, the bill lacks any real forward-looking incentive for landing the SPTC fleet’s catches in American Samoa, given the cost of “direct delivery” of tuna catches to American Samoa from distant fishing grounds where the vessels fish, he noted.

Additionally, the ASPIRE cannot provide any guarantee that SPTC vessels would realize the proposed subsidy because the price paid to SPTC vessels would likely be discounted by the processor, Walsh said. He also indicated that SPTC has no market in American Samoa.

He described ASPIRE as a “misguided public policy.”

“The bill lacks an understanding of fundamental market economics, the global nature of the tuna fishery, and the competitive realities in which U.S. companies and vessels must operate. The bill was written in a manner that unfairly favors one processor and one segment of the U.S. fleet over their competitors,” the attorney said.

While sympathetic to the current plight in American Samoa following the recent tsunami, SPTC “would like to do more to help” the territory, but “given the powerful economic forces of the world economy, with more changes on the horizon, SPTC has no choice but to strongly oppose” ASPIRE, Walsh stated.

“We believe there is a host of other legal problems with the proposal, in particular the possible treatment of the program by other countries under international trade laws,” he said.

“In conclusion, we urge the sponsor of the bill to look to other ways to assist American Samoa that would not be so deeply harmful to the U.S. tuna fleet,” Walsh stated.

TRI MARINE INTERNATIONAL

Joe Hamby, managing director of global tuna supply at Tri Marine International, says the bill provides an excellent opportunity for Congress to define public policy regarding the U.S. tuna industry and, should Congress choose to support it, to save American Samoa’s private sector economy as well as increase the relevance of the United States in the global tuna industry, particularly in regard to issues of sustainability and resource management.

The ASPIRE Act ensures that American Samoa will continue to be a large scale tuna processing center employing thousands of workers and a vibrant support base for U.S. flag tuna boats fishing in the world’s most abundant tuna fishing grounds- the tropical waters of the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, he says.

Headquartered in Bellevue, Wash., Tri Marine is one of the largest tuna supply companies in the world handling about 600,000 tons of tuna annually, about 20% of the global trade in tuna for the canning industry.

It owns, operates, and/or contracts fishing boats and processing plants to serve the global tuna industry including the major brands of tuna in the U.S.

Hamby says American Samoa competes not only with canned tuna, but also with tuna loins processed in countries where labor is much cheaper than the U.S.

“As long as there is negligible duty on cooked and cleaned tuna loins, this policy supports the export of the labor intensive part of the tuna canning process,” he added.

While supportive of the bill, Hamby, like the president of Cape Fisheries Holdings, LLC, said the company doesn’t “particularly favor the penalties provided in the Bill against those boats that do not directly deliver their catch to American Samoa.”

“I believe that the incentive provided in the ASPIRE legislation is a sufficient stimulus for the vessels to call at American Samoa for unloading. There should be no need to penalize boat owners in order to motivate them,” he said.

Hamby suspects that if the ASPIRE bill is enacted, Chicken of the Sea plant in American Samoa, which was officially closed Sept. 30, “will soon be back in operation and it will resume purchasing fish from the U.S. purse seiner fleet calling at Pago Pago.”

“Tuna is a global industry and is driven by the economics of the business. The economics, however, are determined by government policies,” he said. “I urge you to provide U.S. public policy that will make it economical for the tuna industry to remain a leading and vital part of the American Samoan economy and providing the U.S. with a strong position for future advocacy in the international debate regarding tuna conservation and management. Adopting the ASPIRE legislation will do just that.”

Source: Samoa News