South Pacific Tuna Treaty Act of 2025

Floor Speech

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Ms. HOYLE of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 531, the South Pacific Tuna Treaty Act of 2025, will help sustain American tuna fisheries and the conservation of marine resources in the South Pacific.

This legislation would implement the South Pacific Tuna Treaty, a multilateral treaty between the United States Government and the Pacific Island states.

This treaty authorizes the small U.S. purse seine vessel fleet to fish in specific and exclusive economic zones in the Pacific Island countries that are part of the treaty. These parties include Australia, the Cook Islands, Fiji, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, and many more island nations.

The exclusive economic zones of these nations are very close together and not far from American Samoa. There is little international water between them.

Purse seine fishing often uses fish aggregating devices, or FADs, which are large, circular nets that drift independently through the water for hundreds of miles until they catch fish. They have sonar and GPS, so the fishing boat knows where they are and when the net is full.

The nature of this fishing method, combined with the proximity of these countries, means that FADs can be released in international waters but float through other countries' EEZs while catching fish along the way. Without access to these EEZs, the U.S. purse seine fleet cannot retrieve the fish that they catch.

The South Pacific Tuna Treaty provides the U.S. fleet with access to these lucrative tuna fishing grounds and facilitates cooperation on various issues. It has been vital for almost three decades, fostering a mutually beneficial, strategic, and economic relationship between the United States and the Pacific Island countries.

The treaty was entered into force in 1988, was extended in 1993, and then again in 2002. Most recently, the parties began renegotiating the treaty and its annexes in 2009 and reached agreement in 2016.

The bill today proposes adjustments to the South Pacific Tuna Act of 1988 to implement the amended treaty, mainly providing more flexibility for U.S. vessels and the Pacific Island countries to negotiate access levels while ensuring a stable operating environment.

This legislation will enable the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to implement annual access and fee agreements and new operational requirements efficiently, provided we still have enough staff to operate NOAA efficiently.

It will allow the United States and its vessels operating under the treaty to better utilize these benefits. This bill will benefit U.S. fisheries and help maintain a strong U.S. presence in the South Pacific region.

Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``yes'' vote on this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Ms. HOYLE of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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