It is said that NMI’s conservation plan will open the seas surrounding the islands to foreign commercial fishing to generate income that will finance programs related to the three-year plan. The National Marine Fisheries Service, the federal agency that promotes sustainable fisheries, recovery of protected species, and the health of coastal marine habitats in the U.S., recently approved the Marine Conservation Plan for the CNMI.
It is informed that the plan will run for a three-year period from Oct. 6, 2008, to Oct. 6, 2011. Under the federal Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation Management Act, the marine conservation plan is required before the CNMI governor can ask the Secretary of State-with the concurrence of the Secretary of Commerce and the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council-to negotiate and enter into a Pacific Insular Area Fishery Agreement.
Under this agreement foreign commercial fishing will be allowed operation within waters adjacent to the CNMI in the federally controlled Exclusive Economic Zone. Department of Lands and Natural Resources Secretary Ignacio De la Cruz said the plan contains a provision which provides that funds raised from foreign commercial fishing will be used to pay for the closure of the Puerto Rico dump and the operations of a park to be built on the dumpsite.
