Congressman Faleomavaega announced today that he is issuing his final statement about the misleading information being put forth by Mr. Carlos Sanchez and Mr. Joe Finete who are opposing Faleomavaega’s efforts to keep American Samoa’s canneries strong. 

“On August 7 and July 22, Mr. Sanchez wrote guest editorials opposed to my efforts to keep American Samoa’s canneries strong and to protect the jobs of our cannery workers,” Faleomavaega said.  “While I gave Mr. Sanchez the benefit of the doubt believing that he had a sincere desire to understand the issue, it is clear that he has a personal agenda and is not interested in having a constructive dialogue.  Therefore, I will not be responding to any more statements put forth by him, or Mr. Finete, who is working with Mr. Fred Radewagen, husband of my opponent, Mrs. Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen, the Republican candidate who this year is running for the seventh time now for American Samoa’s Congressional seat.  Instead, I will issue a final statement and trust that our people will decide for themselves if my efforts are, in fact, in the best interest of our tuna industry, which is the Territory’s single most important private sector industry.”

“First, regarding the newest members of our US tuna fishing fleet, Mr. Sanchez and Mr. Finete have implied that the new tunaboats will not supply our canneries with the fish we need to protect the jobs of our workers.  However, as I have previously stated, by contractual agreement, the new US tunaboats must offer Chicken of the Sea/Samoa Packing and Bumble Bee the first right to buy the fish before it can be sold anywhere else.  On almost every occasion, Chicken of the Sea has exercised its right to buy first and has purchased almost all of the fish it has been offered.”

“As Chicken of the Sea/Samoa Packing states, ‘This fish, along with other purchases, forms a basis for a pool of fish that Chicken of the Sea and Thai Union draw upon.  The various sources in the pool are directed to various canning locations, including Chicken of the Sea/Samoa Packing, based on least cost.  For example, fish caught closer to Bangkok is offloaded in Bangkok, allowing the Chicken of the Sea plant in Pago Pago to receive fish caught closer to American Samoa.  This arrangement helps guarantee our canneries will receive the fish they need to continue operation.  Since we know we will receive the fish we need, this dependable source of fish helps stabilize our cannery operations and ensures our workers have jobs, especially in American Samoa, regardless of whether or not our fish is offloaded in port.’”  In other words, just because the boats may not directly ‘deliver’ their fish to our canneries, the new boats are still supplying our canneries with the fish we need, and it is wrong for Mr. Finete and Mr. Sanchez to suggest otherwise.”

“Regarding Mr. Sanchez and Mr. Finete’s complaints about the new US tunaboats having foreign officers and crews, they might want to get their facts straight before criticizing the work of US Senator Ted Stevens and US Senator Daniel Inouye, who as the co-chairs of the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, made it possible for US tunaboats to be manned by foreign officers.  Foreign officers and crews serve on both our old and new tunaboats.  And, as I previously announced, the new US tunaboats are fully committed to hiring Samoan officers and crews, if our people are interested.”

“Regarding Mr. Sanchez’s assertion that lightmeat tuna is of no concern to our canneries, he is absolutely wrong again.  Mr. Sanchez knows full well that our canneries process more lightmeat tuna than albacore.  He also knows that the US tuna fishing fleet, not our longliners, catch most of the lightmeat tuna that is used by our canneries.  This is why even Mr. Sanchez’s former employer, StarKist, states that ‘a strong United States tuna fishing fleet is critical for the US tuna industry and American Samoa’ meaning that lightmeat tuna is critical for its operations.  In other words, lightmeat tuna is just as important as albacore, if not more so, as the sheer volume of lightmeat tuna that our canneries process is what keeps our albacore business profitable.”

“In response to Mr. Sanchez’s question about what I am doing about albacore, for Mr. Sanchez’s information, I worked with my colleagues in the House and Senate and also with Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea/Samoa Packing to protect our albacore base by including a rules of origin provision during the Andean trade debate when Mr. Sanchez’s former employer, StarKist, tried to sell out American Samoa and its cannery workers to Ecuador and other Andean countries by lobbying the US Congress to allow the Andean countries to send canned tuna to the US duty-free, just like American Samoa.  Had StarKist been successful, in my opinion, American Samoa’s tuna industry would have been destroyed and more than 5,000 of our cannery workers would have lost their jobs.  Even Mr. Sanchez would have been out of work.  However, with the support of Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea, and our friends and colleagues in the House and Senate, we successfully fought off StarKist and saved American Samoa’s canned tuna industry.”

“When it was determined that the Andean countries could send pouch tuna to the US duty-free, we also protected our US tunaboat owners like Mr. Finete and longliners like Mr. Sanchez by including a rules of origin provision which required that all pouch tuna entering the US from the Andean countries had to be caught by US or Andean boats in order to qualify for duty-free treatment.  Without this provision, foreign boats could have sold their fish to the Andean countries and flooded the US market with their lightmeat and albacore tuna.  But, as a result of our efforts, we protected the US market and evened the playing field for our US tuna fishing fleet, including our purse seiners and longliners.  To this day, future trade agreements are being modeled after our success even though Mr. Sanchez and Mr. Finete’s coalition were nowhere to be found when American Samoa faced one of its most critical challenges.”

“What was Mr. Sanchez doing about albacore during the Andean trade debate?  Where was he when the Thailand Free Trade agreement was proposed, or when the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands sought to increase the amount of tuna they could send to the US duty free?  Where was Mr. Sanchez or Mr. Finete’s tuna coalition when the rest of us were working to protect their livelihoods?  How do Mr. Sanchez and Mr. Finete repay those who have helped them?  They criticize the efforts of the vast majority of the tuna industry’s business leaders and tunaboat owners who care about American Samoa’s future.”

“Mr. Sanchez, for example, wants us to believe that Bumble Bee shouldn’t matter to the people of American Samoa simply because Bumble Bee doesn’t have a cannery in Pago Pago.  But I believe Bumble Bee should matter.  Like I said, at a time when Mr. Finete’s tuna coalition was nowhere to be found and when Mr. Sanchez’s former employer, StarKist, was trying to sell us out to Ecuador, Bumble Bee worked to protect the jobs of more than 5,000 cannery workers in American Samoa.  Because Bumble Bee stood with our cannery workers, I will always stand with Bumble Bee.”

“Regarding Mr. Sanchez and Mr. Finete’s complaints about foreigners working on the old and new US tunaboats and Chicken of the Sea/Samoa Packing being owned by Thai Union, the fact of the matter is all three of the branded US canned tuna companies are now owned by foreign corporations.  StarKist, previously owned by Del Monte, is now being sold for $363 million to Dongwon, a Korean enterprise.  Bumble Bee, which does not have operations in American Samoa, is owned by a Canadian company.  So, if Mr. Sanchez and Mr. Finete really want to sell their fish to our local canneries or elsewhere, they would do well to be less critical of the foreign investors who are now keeping them afloat.”

“Regarding Mr. Sanchez’s assertion that Southwest Marine isn’t around anymore, I would refer him to the US Department of the Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs (OIA).  According to OIA, the American Samoa Government (ASG) and Southwest Marine entered into a long-term lease agreement and privatized the shipyard, as I stated, during the Lutali Administration.  According to OIA, the agreement is still in effect, although Southwest Marine has been trying to get out of its contract with ASG by subleasing it to another company.  Governor Togiola and Southwest Marine still have not agreed to a proposed sublease agreement.  Considering that Governor Togiola and Southwest Marine have not agreed to a proposed sublease agreement, our shipyard is still privatized meaning that its operations and management are the responsibilities of Southwest Marine, not the federal or local government, and I would encourage Mr. Sanchez to look up the definition of ‘privatization’ if he has further questions.”

“Regarding the amount of fish Mr. Sanchez and our longliners contribute to our canneries, as I stated in my previous statement, I appreciate the contributions of our longliners.  In reporting their contributions, my staff, who are not career fisherman, made an error in forwarding information obtained from our canneries.  To clarify this matter, American Samoa’s longliners catch, on average, about 3,000 to 4,000 tons of albacore per year, out of a total of some 70,000 tons that is processed by our canneries, which means that American Samoa’s longliners only provide a little above 5% or so of our canneries’ albacore needs.  The majority of our albacore comes from foreign sources, mostly Taiwanese and Korean longliners.”

“Regarding Mr. Sanchez’s assertion that last year he and American Samoa’s longliners supplied approximately 9,100 tons of albacore to StarKist, his numbers just don’t add up with what our longliners have reported to the federal government and ASG.  According to the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), an agency of the federal government, last year American Samoa’s longliners supplied roughly 5,700 total tons of albacore.  On average, according to NOAA, they supply only about 3,000 to 4,000 tons per year, unless, of course, Mr. Sanchez is reporting a different amount of his catch to the federal government.”

“On the issue of lightmeat tuna, our US tuna purse seiners catch more than 130,000 tons of lightmeat tuna per year which they supply to our canneries.  Of this 130,000 tons, our longliners supply zero percent, and I stand by this fact.  For Mr. Sanchez’s information, our canneries purchase anywhere from 10 to 20% of lightmeat tuna from other sources, including American Samoa’s longliners.  Of this amount, our longliners supply very, very little of this lightmeat tuna.  In total, of the more than 200,000 tons of fish (albacore plus lightmeat tuna) that is processed by our canneries every year, the contribution of American Samoa’s longliners is barely above 4,000 tons, if that.  If Mr. Sanchez wants to quibble about these facts, so be it.  But, as for me, as much as I appreciate our longliners, I stand by the information I have been provided by two of the three branded US canned tuna companies, the American Tunaboat Association which represents almost the entire US tuna fishing fleet including new boats and old, and NOAA’s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, a federal agency which administers scientific research and monitoring programs that support the domestic and international conservation and management of living marine resources.”

“If Mr. Sanchez has information to the contrary, let him present it instead of making inaccurate statements that affect the US tuna industry and the livelihood of our cannery workers.  Also, let him be clear about the Western Pacific Fisheries Management Council (WPFMC).  My office is not represented in the Council, as this is not the way the Council operates.  ASG is represented in the Council by those who Governor Togiola appoints.  Therefore, if Mr. Sanchez is upset that his concerns about American Samoa’s local longliners not being allowed to fish in the South Pacific Tuna Treaty area were not forwarded by the Council or the Governor, he should take up the matter with them, not with me.  Also, at no time did Mr. Sanchez, the Council, or the Governor ever contact my office to request my assistance in supporting our local longliners in their effort to be included in the South Pacific Tuna Treaty.”

“Regarding Mr. Finete’s complaint that I didn’t respond to his letter of June 18 about President Bush’s proposal to establish marine conservation monuments around areas where our US tunaboats fish including Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Palmyra Atoll, and Wake Island, as a matter of record, my office was already involved in the issue long before Mr. Finete contacted my office.  Furthermore, one week after requesting my assistance in keeping these waters open for our old US tunaboat owners, Mr. Finete sent a confidential letter dated June 26 to Governor Togiola stating he was opposed to my efforts to allow the newest US tunaboat owners to also fish in these waters.  Which way does Mr. Finete want it?  Does Mr. Finete want our US tunaboat owners to be able to fish in these waters?  If so, why is he opposing my efforts to make this happen?  Mr. Finete cannot have it both ways.  On the one hand, he cannot ask me to ask the President to allow the old US tunaboat owners to continue to fish in these waters and, on the other hand, write letters to the Governor opposing my efforts to allow the newest US tunaboat owners to also fish in these waters.  Until Mr. Finete makes up his mind about what he wants and deals openly with my office and our people, I have no intention of responding to his letter.”

“Finally, regarding Mr. Sanchez’s request to meet with me, as I said before, the door to my office is always open.  However, as Mr. Sanchez said, when we put our facts on the table, it would be ‘like comparing bananas and coconuts.’   On this point we agree.  Without a doubt, Mr. Sanchez and Mr. Finete have made allegations that are simply not true concerning my efforts to keep our canneries strong and protect the jobs of our cannery workers.  Anyone who reviews my work will know that for the past 20 years I have always supported the old tunaboats, and continue to do so.  I will also continue to support the new tunaboats being added to our fleet because a strong fleet is critical for American Samoa’s canneries.  Above all, I will do everything I can to protect our workers and economy, especially since more than 80% of our private sector economy is dependent either directly or indirectly on our two canneries which employ more than 74% of our private sector workforce.”

“Despite whatever personal or political agenda they may have, if Mr. Sanchez, Mr. Finete, and Mr. Radewagen, husband of my opponent, Mrs. Amua Amata Coleman Radewagen, choose to continue to criticize me for putting the people of American Samoa first, let them.  As I said from the outset, it will be up to our people to decide for themselves if my efforts are, in fact, in their best interest.  Ultimately, the voters of American Samoa will make that decision on November 4 in this year’s Congressional election when they will choose either to accept or reject the false allegations being put forward,” Faleomavaega concluded.