Fishing
Guam Reels In Japanese Long-Line Fishing Vessels
New Deal Could Have Significant Economic Impact
Guam’s ailing economy received a shot in the arm December 14 when the Port Authority of Guam and Guam YTK Corp. inked a multi-million dollar deal to develop fisheries infrastructure at Hotel Wharf, Cabras Island.
After nearly a decade of negotiations, the $13 million, five-year deal—which could be bumped up to $23 million based on fisheries demands—still has hurdles to clear, including obtaining the requisite executive and legislative commitments and permits. When cleared, officials estimate the project will build out over five years.
Construction is expected to begin in 12 to 18 months. Additionally, YTK could realize a 45-year additional lease if the Guam Legislature approves the arrangement with the Port Authority.
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“It’s good for the port, and good for Guam,” says Port Authority Public Information Officer Mike Henderson. “We’re specifically targeting Japanese long-liners.” Henderson added that approximately 1,000 Japanese long-liners annually call on Guam; the Japanese Fisheries Agency guaranteed Port Authority officials future increases in long- liner visits.
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According to the deal, Guam YTK Corp. must meet certain minimum requirements including rebuilding the Hotel Wharf pier and building warehouses, cold storage facilities, offices, a restaurant, and the long-awaited auction house along its 12,000 square foot wharf. YTK officials said about 75 jobs will be created. While this number may seem small in Guam’s economy, a major benefit comes from the spin-offs that accrue from large numbers of fishing vessels being based in Guam. They buy fuel and provisions, and will need to get maintenance work done locally.
Henderson said the auction house, once completed, would keep needed revenue on Guam. According to Port Authority records, 20,000 tons of sashimi-grade tuna are off-loaded in Guam before it is transshipped to Japan auction houses. Guam gross receipts tax on sashimi auction sales—calculated at 4 percent—potentially could infuse $800,000 per year to government coffers.
Guam leaders have only recently begun to recognize the value of tuna to the island’s economy, says Carlotta Leon Guerrero, a Pew Oceans Commission board member and former three-term legislator. She estimates that 51 percent of the world’s tuna — worth in raw form an estimated $1.7 billion each year — is caught in the western Pacific, which makes Guam the natural transshipment point for the region.
“After years of advocating for fisheries development, it’s about time that a healthy private-public sector alliance has been realized,” Leon Guerrero says. “Pacific Islanders have been missing the boat about tuna. That’s because we don’t properly value this commodity.”
During her six-year stint as a legislator — two terms as chairperson on the Committee on Transportation, Telecommunications, and Micronesian Affairs — Leon Guerrero supported the idea of a Micronesia Tuna Cooperative, a policy direction entertained by the Association of Pacific Island Legislatures and the Council of Micronesian Chief Executives.
“Tuna is a finite, yet renewable resource,” she says. “The YTK deal with the government of Guam is a perfect example of cooperative relations.”
Photo: Bruce L. Campbell
