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Dan MacMeekin         Attorney at Law        Washington, DC, USA

Library … Documents …  Relations between dependent islands and the mother country … Control of natural resources … 

U.S. Pacific Insular Area Fisheries

Preface:  In 1996, the United States Congress recognized that fisheries resources in the exclusive economic zones adjacent to Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands should be managed, at least in part, for the benefit of the people of those islands.  In the Sustainable Fisheries Act of 1996 (U.S. Public Law 101-297),  Congress amended the principal United States fisheries law―the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (U.S. Public Law 94-265)―to allow the negotiation of Pacific Insular Area Fisheries Agreements (PIAFAs).  If a foreign nation enters into a PIAFA with the United States, its vessels may fish within the exclusive economic zone adjacent to the islands covered by the PIAFA.  A portion of the licensing revenues are to be directed to the treasury of the concerned island government.

The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act  covers many subjects other than Pacific Insular Area Fisheries.   The key provisions that deal with Pacific Insular Area Fisheries are set out here, as codified in Title 16 of the United States Code:

U.S. Fisheries Policy in the Pacific Insular Areas

Pacific Insular Areas defined

Pacific Insular Area Fisheries Agreements

Negotiation of Pacific Insular Area fishery agreements

Agreement terms and conditions

Permits for foreign fishing

Marine conservation plans

Reciprocal conditions

Use of payments by American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands

Western Pacific Sustainable Fisheries Fund

Use of fines and penalties

Western Pacific Community Development Programs

Western Pacific Demonstration Projects

Cooperative Enforcement Agreements in Pacific Insular Areas

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  Dan MacMeekin  2000 -2008            Disclaimer  - the fine print                February  24, 2008