Fishery Management Council Supports Extending Samoan Tax Breakff

Governor Togiola appreciates the support from the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (WPRFMC) for the federal government to extend IRC Section 936 to protect the local canneries.

At the close of its conference in Pago Pago last June, WPRFC voted and approved several recommendations, including a move to urge the Dept. of Interior “to support the tax credit for the Pago Pago canneries, considering both the domestic and regional importance of the canneries to longline fisheries in the South Pacific.”

“I am grateful to Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council chairman Frank McCoy and the Council for their support of our efforts to gain an extension of section 936, and a program to help us keep our canneries, which account for approximately 80 percent of the our economy,” Togiola informed news sources.

“Their support means a lot to us, and it goes to show their support of the regional and local efforts to keep fisheries a very viable tool of development in our island territories,” the governor said. “With almost no other resources to develop, it is extremely important to me to receive this kind of support from an agency such as the Fisheries Council.”

Efforts to obtain comments from DOI on the council’s recommendation were unsuccessful. However, DOI had previously stated for the record their support for the territory on the Section 936 extension, which is currently pending in Congress.

Togiola spoke at the opening of the WPRFMC conference on June 13 held at the Convention Center in Utulei, where he encouraged the council to consider ways to assist American Samoa in diversifying its fisheries. He also noted the importance of holding the conference here at a time when the local tuna canneries' futures are uncertain.

Besides urging DOI to assist with tax credits, the WPRFC also recommended that a working group convene “to investigate the options for the American Samoa long-line fishery with respect to alternative markets, value added fish products and economic viability and efficiency given concerns over the long-term continuity of the Pago Pago canneries.”

At the conclusion of the conference WPRFC’s executive director Kitty M. Simonds was granted the title Seuta’atia of the Lauvao family of Aunu'u during a ceremony conducted by Lauvao Stephen Haleck and attended by Lt. Governor Ipulasi.