A fish shortage has caused a shutdown of StarKist Samoa operations but only temporarily, according to a statement by the company’s corporate office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvani, United States.

The cannery will re-open next week on 17 May.

The Samoa Observer sent questions to StarKist’s corporate offices early this week.

The Observer did not receive direct answers to our inquiries but Michelle Ford Faist with StarKist Corporate Affairs provided the Observer with an official statement disseminated by the company.

“StarKist Samoa announced the decision to shut down the facility during the week of May 10, due to fish shortages,” the statement explains.

“The fish shortage is related to low headcount issues that have created a ripple effect within the StarKist Samoa operation.”

Makerita Alovao, a StarKist employee and 27-year-old mother of two children says the shutdown is a great burden on her family.

Ms. Alovao, 27, from Satupaitea, Savai’i, works in StarKist’s Finance Department as a member of the Fish Inventory Traceability System or F.I.T.S.

“I am the last check point to track every single fish rack from the pre-cooker to the chill room before it enters the packing room where the fish are cleaned,” she told the Observer.

Due to the shutdown, she loses a week of wages. 

Ms. Alovao earns USD $6.55 per hour and nets about USD $300 per week. Recently, she has been working 12 hour shifts due to lack of workers at the cannery.

The mother of two and her husband care for their two children and her parents who live with her in Amaluia, American Samoa.

Ms. Alovao often sends money back home to family in Samoa and to family in Tacoma, Washington state. 

“I don’t get paid due to this shutdown…I am working on 12 hours a day due to the lack of workers,” she said. 

“It is a great burden to me, because it helps me a lot, to put food on the table, for church, the village and all my family needs and also to care for my parents especially my two kids.”

Ms. Alovao has worked at StarKist for five and a half, years. 

She started in 2015 as a fish cleaner. 

“I do get paid weekly and for this week without a check or wages we get the help from my family and also my in-laws. And we also have taro from the plantation and fish from the sea,” said Ms. Alovao. 

Asked to recall if there has been a recent shutdown due to a fish shortage, she said “I don’t remember it.”

Most of StarKist Samoa’s employees are from Samoa. 

Due to COVID-19 restrictions such as border closures, the company has faced increased manpower challenges in 2021, Talanei News reported last month. 

StarKist, in their May statement, says Governor Lemanu Peleti Mauga and his administration have been informed of the weeklong shutdown starting on 10 May. 

“Members of the StarKist management team have notified the Governor and his administration about the week-long shut down.  In the meantime, the facility will resume production on May 17,” the company said.