Tuna fishermen get breather

GENERAL SANTOS CITY — With the three-month fish aggregating device ban now in effect, the government has offered an alternative measure that would allow Filipino fishers to catch tuna in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a tuna industry official said yesterday.

Bayani B. Fredeluces, executive director of the Socsargen Federation of Fishing and Allied Industries, Inc., said the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) has issued an administrative order allowing tuna catching in the country’s EEZ despite the fish aggregating device ban.

“Fishing operators need to be accredited by BFAR… on the alternative measure that was arrived at after conducting a data analysis,” Mr. Fredeluces said in a phone interview.

A study conducted by BFAR and the local tuna industry showed that only an estimated 0.5% of big-eye tuna stocks in the EEZ will be caught using nets at a depth of 125 fathoms, or 750 feet — an amount Mr. Freduluces described as “negligible.”

Mr. Fredeluces said that in order to ensure limiting the catch of big-eye tuna, the government is allowing tuna fishing in the country’s EEZ, provided the nets used will go to a maximum depth of 115 fathoms, or 690 feet, as bulk of big-eye tuna will be found in much-deeper waters.

The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, an international fisheries regulating body, first imposed the ban on fish aggregating device from August to September last year.

Locally called payaos, a fish aggregating device is a permanent, semi-permanent or temporary structure or device used to lure fish, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

The ban this year started on July 1 and will last till September 30, to be resumed in the same period next year.

The commission introduced the measure in the western and central Pacific among the members of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement in order to reduce mortality of big-eye and yellow-fin tuna by 30% over three years.

Countries that signed the agreement are the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.

Although not a party to the Nauru agreement, the Philippines has adopted the ban in its EEZ as a member of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.

Mr. Fredeluces said that since the first week of June, several fishing companies have sought accreditation with BFAR by letting agency representatives measure the length of their nets to ensure these do not exceed 690 feet.

He estimated that there are 350 fishing vessels engaged in tuna catching based in this city, which has long been known as the “Tuna Capital of the Philippines.”

Dexter T. Teng, president of the South Cotabato Purse-Seiners Association, earlier expressed support for the fish aggregating device ban.

Mr. Teng said the ban would allow tuna stocks to replenish, which will be good for the long term for the industry. — Romer S. Sarmiento, Businessworld