4 Oct 2012

Cannery owner proposes American Samoa become regional fish processing hub

2:47 pm on 4 October 2012

The owner of one of American Samoa's tuna processing canneries has proposed that the territory become the regional hub for fish processing.

Tri Marine International, which owns the Samoa Tuna Processors cannery, says it's aiming to grow its business by helping Pacific island countries take more ownership of the fish caught in their waters.

Tri Marine's managing director, Joe Hamby, says unlike American Samoa, many Pacific island countries lack the land mass, population and infrastructure for fish processing.

"If the boats that fish in Tuvalu never unload in Tuvalu and they never have a chance to see what is happening, then they're not able to manage their fishery as well as they might otherwise. So by partnering with say, American Samoa, they can direct their fish to come here. They can say, you want to fish in American Samoa waters, the fish has to be unloaded in American Samoa. That's a very revolutionary idea but it's possible."

Joe Hamby