American Samoa's longline fleet moves a little closer to having its own dock space today.
The long awaited ground-breaking for the extension of the Malaloa Marina is being held this morning in Pago Pago.
Governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga, representatives of the Western Central Pacific Fishery Management Council and the Silva Group contractors are scheduled to attend.
The new berthing area extends the current dock at the marina by 450 feet.
It will be used by the territory's local longline fleet, which currently has no dedicated dock.
The chair of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, Taotasi Archie Soliai, said today is a great milestone.
"The Council is extremely excited and looks forward to this project completion, so more dock space is available to our local fleet," Taotasi said.
"Our goal is to work with the territorial governments to provide support for their MCPs, and this dock expansion falls in line with those objectives."