American Samoa Commercial Purchases

In 1990 the local government made it mandatory for local vendors to participate in this monitoring program and it is continuing. The Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources (DMWR) issues numbered books of Fish and Shellfish Receipt forms to all wholesale buyers of fish who resell fish to the retail market, either whole or prepared. This receipt has evolved over time to include fish sales imported by local businesses from other islands such as Tonga or Western Samoa. Vendors are required to complete an invoice for each purchase and record the fisher (or boat) selling the fish, along with the species category, method used, weight, and price for the fish purchased. Invoices are submitted to DMWR staff who enter the data into the data processing system. Generally speaking the fishing activities occur fairly close to the island of Tutuila as most of the boats that sell fish locally are small. There are some local sales of longline caught fish and these catches could have been made hundreds of miles from Tutuila as the longline vessels have a greater range of operation. These data are considered highly confidential.