US to restrict fishing in western Pacific
Updated
The peak body for managing fishing in United States waters in the Western Pacific has voted to restrict fishing with giant nets in federal waters off Guam, the Northern Marianas and American Samoa.
The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council has raised concerns fishing by large boats with massive nets will deplete local fish stocks, particularly skipjack and yellowfin tuna.
The action will entirely prohibit so-called purse seine fishing off Guam and the Marianas, while off American Samoa, it will be banned within 75 nautical miles of the shore.
Vessels caught 1.3 million metric tons of skipjack tuna in the Western and Central Pacific in 2006, 85 percent of which was caught by purse seine vessels.
