US intelligence agencies could be asked to use spy satellites to monitor illegal tuna fishing — especially by Taiwanese boats — in the South Pacific.
The request came on Thursday from Eni Faleomavaega, the Representative from American Samoa.
At a US Congress hearing on renegotiating the South Pacific tuna treaty, Faleomavaega asked witnesses from the State Department and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) if Washington could help island nations in the South Pacific catch tuna poachers.
The witnesses said they didn’t know, but would find out.
“Is our government providing some kind of service to these island nations about tracking poachers or ships that are illegally fishing on their grounds?” Faleomavaega asked.
“We have satellites over there that can pinpoint just about every ant or spider that goes around in the Pacific and I was wondering, as a real help to these island countries that don’t have airplanes, don’t have ships. If they do, it’s so bare that it’s very, very difficult for them to monitor illegal fishing, especially from the Taiwanese boats,” he said.
Clearly referring to “Taiwanese boats” Faleomavaega said: “They’re the biggest culprits in this poaching that’s going on and I imagine there are hundreds of millions of dollars worth of fish that’s been taken illegally because of this.”
“It would be such a tremendous help to these island nations to culture this resource that is so important to them. I always say the ocean is their farm,” he said.
Faleomavaega offered no evidence to support his allegations about Taiwanese boats being involved in tuna poaching.
William Gibbons-Fly, director of the Office of Marine Conservation at the State Department, and Russell Smith, deputy assistant secretary for International Fisheries at the NOAA, agreed following their testimony on the tuna treaty to seek further information on the possibility of providing spy satellite help for the Pacific island nations.
Faleomavaega, chairman of the Asia, Pacific and Global Environment subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called the hearing to determine what US President Barack Obama’s administration’s views were on the status of negotiations over the extension of the current South Pacific Tuna Treaty agreement which expires in 2013.
Gibbons-Fly said the US Coast Guard regularly patrols large areas of the Western and Central Pacific and it does takes action when it encounters a vessel that is fishing illegally.
He said that ships caught poaching were brought into port and the owners were subjected to substantial fines.
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