Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata’s long push for a permanent Coast Guard Cutter in Pago Pago Harbor just got a big boost from a Rhode Island Senator. KHJ News Washington DC correspondent Matt Kaye reports…
The unlikely connection between Rhode Island and American Samoa quickly became clear. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse told Trump’s pick for trade ambassador Jamieson Greer that Whitehouse (D) hails from the “Ocean State”—
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(Transc.) Whitehouse: “There are ‘pirate fleets’ out there who answer to no one, whose crews are essentially modern-day slaves. There is a Chinese, a predatory Chinese fishing fleet…and I would put the words ‘fishing fleet’ in quotes, because very often they’re doing other business for Chinese intelligence services and the military.”
Whitehouse argued for tariffs to sanction the illegal fleets, companies and countries of origin…
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(Transc.) Whitehouse: “It would protect American fisheries against illegal and brutal foreign competition, and with the side benefit that the rapacious behavior that’s happening in our seas, is causing massive, massive environmental damage and crushing fisheries. Many of the top-level fish are down 90-percent from their previous numbers.”
Whitehouse’s call for action was ‘music to the ears’ of Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata…
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(Transc.) Amata: “I was so pleased to hear Senator Whitehouse’s strong statements in the Senate Finance’s hearing. He very clearly expressed that China’s fishing fleet is not a mere fishing rival. They are, in his words, ‘a predatory extension of Chinese power.’ And he called for a robust response. And for me, this dovetails with my ‘drumbeat,’ that the Coast Guard should operate out of our harbor and be stationed here in Pago Pago as a sign of US commitment on this issue.”
President Trump signed an Executive Order recently to surge Coast Guard vessels to protect US maritime borders, with American Samoa and all the territories included in a follow-up list of protection coasts.
