Boats idle, workers lose jobs as General Santos reels from tuna ban

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines—Gone were the days when fishing boats of the Amadeo Fishing Corp. (AFC) sailed daily to catch tuna.

Now, most of its fishing vessels are grounded in the company’s private wharf in the coastal village of Calumpang here.

Some are being fixed either for sale or for rent to fishing firms in other countries.

The reason: The implementation in January of the two-year ban on catching yellow fin and big-eye tuna imposed by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC).

The ban led to the closure to fishing of seas near Micronesia, Indonesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.

At least 13 of the 50 fishing companies in Sarangani and General Santos are covered by the ban, which was sure to hurt the city’s $1 billion a year tuna industry.

WCPFC was established by the Convention for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean.

The pact took effect June 19, 2004. It was completed after six years of negotiations among member-countries, which started in 1994.

WCPFC members are Australia, China, Canada, Cook Islands, European Community, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, France, Japan, Kiribati, Korea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Chinese Taipei, Tonga, Tuvalu, United States of America and Vanuatu. Participating territories include American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, French Polynesia, Guam, New Caledonia, Tokelau, Wallis and Futuna.

Belize, Indonesia, Senegal, Mexico and El Salvador are nonmembers cooperating with the commission.

Last year, majority of WCPFC members approved the ban due to the alleged dwindling population of yellow fin and big-eye tuna in international fishing grounds in the Pacific Ocean.

Joey Delfin, a boat captain working with AFC for years now, said he and fellow workers were willing to accept any job that his employer would offer him.

“I have no more job right now as we stopped our tuna fishing operation,” Delfin said.

Toto Costaniera, assistant operations chief of AFC, said 80 percent of operations were hurt by the ban.

Joel Gonzales, assistant director of the Department of Labor and Employment in Central Mindanao, said at least 914 workers from various fishing companies were displaced as a result of the fishing ban.

Gonzales said the figure could still go up as six other fishing firms have also started laying workers off.

The layoffs, he said, prompted the labor department to create a task force and to establish a workers’ emergency assistance center. Aquiles Zonio, Inquirer Mindanao