Governor Togiola supports idea of
establishing fishing co-op
Governor Togiola Tulafono strongly believes that because the territory has a high number of local fishermen, exporting fish to Hawaii is something that should be taken seriously as part of local economic development.
The comments were made during the Governor’s weekend radio program.
In earlier remarks, Togiola made known the fact that a weekly charter flight to Niue picks up fish exported to Hawaii but nothing is exported from American Samoa or Samoa.
He said that ASG is working on a plan to develop local fisheries where the public can sell their catch to a cooperative, which in turn will export the fish or sell them to local businesses.
According to Togiola, if and when the canneries shut down operations in the territory, locals can still fish and sell their catch to a co-op similar to those in other countries around the world.
(Some local fishermen are known to sell part of their catch to the local canneries that only purchase certain kinds of fish, leaving the fishermen no choice but to sell the remainder of the catch to local stores).
Togiola said that local fishermen have expressed concern with the difficulty in finding places to sell their catch, as the market competition has become tough.
When a caller on his weekend radio program voiced a request to have the American Samoa Government set aside $500,000 for a local program to establish an alia fishing fleet, Togiola replied that everyone has their own opinion about alias, which is popular but whose life span is questionable compared to other types of fishing vessels.
The caller suggested that funds for the proposed plan be overseen by the Development Bank of American Samoa (DBAS), while the American Samoa Community College provides classes that deal with fisheries.
Togiola explained that a similar fund to what the caller was proposing was established a few years ago for the purpose of building wooden fishing vessels but the program was unsuccessful because of safety concerns.
Nonetheless, the Governor said that he would look into the program again.
Togiola reported that a Korean based company is looking at establishing a local facility to build fishing vessels, with the goal of constructing affordable ones that will not only be sold locally - perhaps at discounted prices – but in other countries in the Pacific region as well.
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