Mori said the new law does two things.
First, it expands the scope of the fisheries observer revolving fund to include port samplers and renames the fund as “fisheries observer and port sampler revolving fund.”
The purpose of this fund is to provide an ongoing revolving fund for the receipt and disbursement of funds associated with the fisheries observer and port sampler programs.
The need for this law arose from the fact that the FSM does not have enough port samplers to handle the volume of unloading that has been going on in Pohnpei for the past several years.
With the cross training of many new fisheries observers, they can now be used to handle these duties, which are less technical than those that they perform as fisheries observers, and be paid out of this fund for port sampling duties.
Second, the new law increases the fund amount from $75,000 to $200,000.
Fees paid for port sampling services go into this fund.
Any excess amount over $200,000 will be paid into the general fund.
However, any unexpended moneys in this fund will not revert to the general fund or lapse at the end of the fiscal year.
