(vcstar.com) American Samoa's governor says the territory will begin exporting canned tuna products to a foreign country for the first time.
The territory's tuna products have always been marketed for the United States.
Gov. Togiola Tulafono says he and the government of the Cook Islands signed an agreement to begin shipping Albacore tuna to StarKist Samoa for products canned in American Samoa to be exported to the Cook Islands and Asian markets.
The first fish shipment arrived in American Samoa from the Cook Islands more than a week ago.
Tulafono says foreign export could lead to increased employment in the territory. The territory's cannery industry has a workforce of about 2,100, compared to about 1,200 two years ago when StarKist Samoa cut jobs, partly because of a minimum wage increase.