BY EDWIN ESPEJO
ASIA SENTINEL
IN MARCH, THE COMMISSION THAT OVERSEES the harvest of tuna in the vast reaches of the Pacific Ocean is to meet to decide whether to lift a two-year-old ban on fishing in one of the strategic migratory paths of the fish, which are declining in numbers as their value skyrockets.
The Pacific supports a tuna fishery worth US$1.8 billion annually that accounts for one-third of global tuna catches.
A single 278 kg Bluefin caught in the waters off northern Japan in January fetched a record US$736,000. The average price over the past 15 years for a single fish at the first Tokyo auction of the year was US$153,000, according to Bloomberg, although what comes in the can is obviously a lot lower-grade.
Conservationists warned in mid-2011 that five of the eight tuna species are at risk of extinction, with all three bluefin species – southern, Atlantic and Pacific – susceptible to collapse from overfishing.
In the early days of the Philippine industry, tuna were caught just a little over 100 metres from shore off Mindanao. Today, the closest they can be found in volume is a good six hours from the coastal towns of Kiamba and Maasim. On a bad day, three weeks in the open seas off Sarangani Bay will net a zero catch.
The seas off Palau, Micronesia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia are areas closest to the Philippines where local tuna fishing companies frequently operate. The ban, however, has compounded increasing protectionist policies in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Immediately after the ban was announced, Philippines’ tuna producers were forced to recall their fishing fleets.
With the Philippine seas south of Mindanao already over fished, local tuna producers have looked beyond the country’s fishing grounds for their operations. In the 1990s, local tuna producers began opening up fishing operations in Indonesia and in Papua New Guinea. By the turn of the millennium, several Filipino companies had already put up canning plants in these countries known for their rich tuna fishing grounds.
As local tuna production began to decline, pressures from Filipino companies operating fishing grounds in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea for raw materials increased.
The declining catch had little impact on Filipino exporters of canned tuna who were able to set up plants in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. As early as two decades ago, industry players have seen a steady decline of domestic catch due to over fishing and over saturation of commercial fishing operations in Philippine seas.
But while production has declined, increased international prices of canned and processed tuna as well as fresh chilled yellowfin exports are keeping the Philippine tuna industry afloat.
Edwin Espejo blogs at ‘Chronicles from Mindanao’ for Asian Correspondent, where portions of this originally appeared
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