American Samoan job hopes as cannery opens

Transcript

The American Samoan economy has received a boost with the opening of a 70 million US dollar a high tech tuna cannery.

Samoa Tuna Processors is fully air conditioned and its hoped the factory will create over 1500 jobs.

Our correspondent Fili Sagapolutele told Jenny Meyer about the investment by parent company Tri Marine International.

FILI SAGAPOLUTELE: They're anticipating once the cannery is in full operation, which is expected to be sometime next year, they're looking at employing some 1500 people. And that's a lot of employment opportunities for the government, for the people, for the economy, coming in. The only set back at this point for the company to get the cannery up and running, is that there's a delay of shipment of supplies out of the West Coast of the United States. But looking in another two weeks, they should have the should have the cannery all up and running and ready to go. And again people are still happy because this is a big investment for American Samoa for the last several years, ever since the cannery, Samoa Packing, closed down in 2009.

JENNY MEYER: Traditionally they've been quite smelly places to work canneries but apparently there's a new ventilation system that's going to help minimise the smell of working with fish all day?

FS: Tri Marine itself, when the first visited American Samoa some three years ago, they told us there's a system that will make the whole facility and the whole island, especially the surroundings (better). It's called a filter facility where the company use husk coconuts which will be imported in from neighbouring Samoa to put inside this filter location so that the smell that comes in from inside the cannery does come out it doesn't bring that bad odour, that bad smell. Instead it's going to be the smell of coconut. So that is going to help a lot for the environment itself.

Another plus for the new cannery is that the production line, the tuna cleaning work place and the other areas where you pack the canned tuna is actually air-conditioned. The entire facility is air conditioned.

JM: Do you think there'll be a lot of competition for those jobs when they finally come on stream?

FS: That's for sure, there's already a lot of applications, so we were told, that are already pending at Samoa Tuna Processors, for people wanting to apply for those positions inside the new cannery for the fact that they have these changes of modern technologies  according to the government, the equipment that is being used, air conditioning is one of the biggest things, the biggest issues, that is helping workers.

JM: How many canneries will there be there now that Tri Marine is up and running, does that bring it to two?

FS: Yeah, now it's only two canneries. That will mean more employment for American Samoa, especially people who needs jobs. So there will be two canneries processing tuna for export to the US markets. For Tri Marine's operation in American Samoa, they are also looking at trying to target the European market but they need to get through with the US trade representative who's negotiating free trade agreement deals with the European Union to include American Samoa because currently any free trade agreement by the US to Europe excludes American Samoa.

Fili Sagapolutele says Tri Marine is working to have its tuna fishing practices certified by the Parties to the Nauru Agreement on sustainability.