Marianas Trench fishing access could open new opportunities for Guam fleets

By Ron Rocky Coloma

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council is preparing to work with Northern Islands officials on possible regulatory changes following the federal government’s move to reopen parts of the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument to commercial fishing.

At an Aug. 8 meeting of the council’s Guam Advisory Panel, council staff said the next phase will focus on the monument’s Islands Unit, where commercial fishing prohibitions have applied around the northernmost islands of the CNMI.

“We will be working with the Northern Islands mayors to figure out what some of the potential regulatory changes are going to be put in place,” council fishery analyst Zach Yamada said.

Council staff hopes to meet with Northern Islands officials by the end of the year, Yamada said.

The discussion comes after the council took final action earlier this year to recommend lifting commercial fishing restrictions in the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument and several other federally protected Pacific areas.

The changes are part of a broader federal effort to expand access for U.S. commercial fishing. Council members previously recommended reopening waters around the Marianas Trench Islands Unit while maintaining other monument protections.

During the Guam panel meeting, members questioned how reopening the waters could affect fishing activity and who would be eligible to operate there.

Yamada said access would remain limited to eligible U.S. fishing operations.

“In terms of people who can access that area, it is still only U.S.-flag or U.S. fisheries,” Yamada said. “So, in terms of foreign fisheries, that’s not going to happen.”

Mark Mitsuyasu of the fishery council said foreign fishing interests could potentially seek access through a Pacific Insular Area Fishery Agreement, a process that would involve additional negotiations and federal requirements.

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“There is an opportunity if a foreign entity wanted to fish within the EEZ, they could negotiate that with the governor and the State Department,” Mitsuyasu said. “Yeah, but that hasn’t happened.”

Mitsuyasu said domestic fishing operations from the CNMI previously traveled into the northern waters, including long-range bottomfishing vessels, but those operations are no longer active.

For Guam, opening additional waters could give future commercial fishing operations more room to operate, said Michael Duenas, chairman of the Guam advisory panel.

Dueñas recalled work on the Guam Fishermen’s Cooperative Association’s longline feasibility efforts and said fishing opportunities south of Guam are constrained by international boundaries and other closed areas.

“So, going up north and just having the north available, you know, if anyone in the future is looking at expanding and venturing into that, you know, that, I think, definitely will help make a decision, seeing that there are some more available real estate up there,” Dueñas said.

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He also said Guam officials have received inquiries from outside interests about the possibility of establishing commercial longline operations on the island.

Dueñas said questions have come from interests in the United Arab Emirates about Guam’s regulations and infrastructure, including ice, cold storage and shipping capacity. He said he was not aware of any firm plans.

The panel also clarified that the federal action does not eliminate the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument itself.

“The monument still exists,” Mitsuyasu said during the discussion. The fishing

changes primarily concern the Islands Unit surrounding the northernmost islands, panel members said. Areas farther south in the CNMI were not subject to the same commercial fishing prohibition.

Panel member Cecilio Raiukiulipiy noted that commercial fishing restrictions historically applied only to the monument waters surrounding the three northern islands, rather than to the broader waters farther south. His comments prompted additional discussion about how the monument’s different units are managed and where fishing restrictions apply.

The Guam panel also discussed whether reopening the waters would immediately attract more fishing vessels. Yamada said there are currently only a small number of vessels that regularly travel into the Northern Islands area, suggesting that expanded access may create opportunities without necessarily producing an immediate increase in fishing activity.

The Guam panel’s discussion follows the council’s March decision to recommend reopening portions of several Pacific marine monuments to commercial fishing under existing federal fishery regulations.

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