Tag: pri

Wespac Scientific Advisors to Meet Regarding Proposed Pacific Remote Islands Sanctuary

29Nov

By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments

Fishermen's News Online, News

Wespac Scientific Advisors to Meet Regarding Proposed Pacific Remote Islands Sanctuary

Scientific advisors to the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (WPRFMC, Wespac) are slated to wrap up a two-day meeting in Honolulu Nov. 29 regarding several topics, including the proposed Pacific Remote Islands (PRI) sanctuary. Also on the agenda is a call for advice on uku (blue-green snapper) essential fish habitat revision for the Hawai’i Fishery Ecosystem Plan, U.S. territorial bigeye tuna catch and allocation limits. The council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) meeting, scheduled for Nov. 28-29, is being held remotely via web conference. The full agenda and background documents and instructions for providing oral public comments are online at www.wpcouncil.org/event/150th-scientific-and-statistical-committee. The SSC was scheduled to review av...

WPFMC Voices Concerns Over Pacific Remote Islands Sanctuary

1Nov

By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments

Fishermen's News Online, News

WPFMC Voices Concerns Over Pacific Remote Islands Sanctuary

A proposed marine sanctuary in the Pacific Remote Islands (PRI) is being strongly criticized by the chairman of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (WPFMC) as potentially devastating to the economy of American Samoa. “This top-down approach to regulating fisheries is wrong,” Council Chair Will Sword told the Council Coordination Committee (CCC) during its Oct. 11-13 meeting in Alexandria, Va. “It is completely opposite of the [Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act] process where the bottom-up approach is mandatory.” Sword said the Biden administrations executive orders on equity and environmental justice goals “are rubbish if this sanctuary proposal becomes a reality, for there will be no commercial fishing.” The WPFMC, commenting in an Oct. 23 s...