5 Feb 2015

Regional body looks at dock space in American Samoa

10:13 am on 5 February 2015

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council is working with Port Administration on dock space for longline vessels in American Samoa.

The east coast of Tutuila in American Samoa

The east coast of Tutuila in American Samoa Photo: AFP

For many years, longliner owners have expressed concerns about having no dock space.

Officials of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council visited the territory and met with Port officials to discuss having a dedicated space.

The Council's Eric Kingma says the problem needs to be addressed.

"These vessels have to tie up at the main dock or anywhere they can and at the main dock you have cruise ships, you have container vessels, purse-seiners. You name it and the vessels have to move and when it's the low time of the season when it's not economical to go fishing, they're tied up for several months."

Mr Kingma says he hopes to have a request for proposals out for the dock space soon.