by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - Following the first day of their meeting Thursday, the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council voted to maintain its initial recommendations regarding traditional fishing in the Marianas Trench, Rose Atoll and Pacific remote islands marine national monuments. The National Marine Fisheries Service had asked the council to consider revising its initial recommendations to include limits on cash reimbursements under customary exchange practices, bag limits for allowed fishing activities and a definitional timeframe for traditional indigenous fishing.

Guam Fisherman's Co-Op president Manny Duenas told KUAM News, "We want to perpetuate and continue the traditional of the Pacific island communities. We don't want to take anything away from them, and that's our main deliberation is to actually work out how we're going to do that - a strategy. It's a lot easier to say no fishing allowed in this area, but we rather take the hard road and say fishing can occur, however we have to do this to continue it."

The Council wrapped up its session earlier this afternoon.