Marine Resources Assessment for the Marianas Operating ... - SPREP

AUGUST 2005 FINAL REPORT
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Pelagic Bottom Other Fish
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Years
Figure 4-4. Annual boat-based total landings (1,000 pounds) of pelagic, bottom, and other fish for
Guam from 1980 through 2003. Source: PIFSC (2004).
The level of fishing activity varies throughout the year within the Marianas MRA study area, and there are
few regulations which govern these activities except fishing restrictions in marine preserves. These
fisheries as a whole ignore conservation and lack restrictions on the size, number, species, or seasons of
fish takes. The dominant fisheries are described below.
4.3.2 Pelagic Fishery
The Marianas MRA study area is located in an area of immense pelagic fishery resources which provide
more than 40% of the world tuna catch, totaling over 1 million metric tons and $1.5 billion annually
(WPRFMC 1999). Major pelagic fish species harvested in the study area include skipjack and yellowfin
tuna, marlin, dolphinfish, and wahoo (NMFS 2004e).
Guam—Pelagic fisheries based on Guam are broken into two broad categories: 1) distant-water purse
seiners and foreign longliners that fish primarily outside the EEZ and transship through Guam, and 2)
small recreational boats that troll for fish in local waters within and adjacent to the EEZ of the Northern
Marianas Islands (PIFSC 2004). The domestic commercial pelagic fishing fleet on Guam is small, but by
providing tuna processing facilities, transshipment and home-port industries, they have developed an
alternative method to take advantage of the commercial fishing that occurs in the western Pacific. This
has resulted in Guam gaining an economic advantage over other areas with the study area. Other
advantages include proximity to fishing grounds, shipping routes, and markets; the availability and
relatively low cost of fuel and other goods and services that support tuna fishing operations; tariff-free
market access to the U.S.; and significant tax incentives (WPRFMC 1999). Guam has been one of the
largest tuna transshipment centers in the Pacific over the last decade. Apra Harbor on Guam is home to
several hundred longline and purse seine vessels (WPRFMC 1999). Fleet expenditures for fuel,
provisions, and repairs enhance the island economy by boosting the job market and investment
opportunities (WPRFMC 1999). Annual transshipment of tuna, and non-tuna species varied from 1990 to
2003 (Figures 4-5, 4-6 and 4-7) with a dramatic decrease in all pelagic species in 1997.
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