The management of the American Samoa albacore fishery will be a key topic when the Scientific and Statistical Committee that advises the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council meets in Honolulu from tomorrow.
The committee is to discuss management of federally managed fisheries in Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the remote US Pacific Island areas.
It will make recommendations to the Fishery Management Council, which meets next month.
The American Samoa longline fishery is based almost entirely on fishing for albacore for the territory's cannery.
Catches of South Pacific albacore by all fleets south of the equator have more than doubled in the past decade and are currently about 90 percent of maximum sustainable yield.
The committee and the wider council will examine options and scenarios to maintain the viability and continuity of the American Samoa longline fishery.
