Task force created to help GenSan tuna industry

The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) has created Task Force GenSan (Gen. Santos City) to facilitate the timely delivery of services and interventions for workers in the local tuna industry which is being severely affected by international fishing groups’ imposition of a two-year ban on tuna fishing.

At the same time, Labor Secretary Marianito Roque has started consulting and mobilizing industry and social partners to assess the needs and provide interventions to both the trade players and workers affected by a two-year ban on tuna fishing in the Pacific Ocean imposed by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission due to overfishing of the breed of fish in the area.

He has convened the Industry Tripartite Council of the fishing industry for a consultation to gauge the impact of the of the two-year ban on tuna fishing and determine alternatives that its stakeholders may take on the duration of the ban.

Roque has directed the DoLE Regional Office 12 in Gen. Santos City to set up one-stop emergency employment centers in strategic sites this week and to coordinate with concerned government agencies, including the Bureau of Aquatic Resources and the local government units’ Public Employment Service Office for the immediate dispatch of assistance, profiling and data banking of affected workers.

The DoLE has also laid out an action plan for workers in Gen. Santos City who are affected by the tuna fishing ban, such as the activation of two projects for livelihood and emergency employment – the Tulong Pangkabuhayan Para sa mga Disadvantaged (Tupad) and the Integrated Services for Livelihood Assistance (Isla).

The fishing ban, which implementation started last January 1, was meant to stop over-fishing, but did not cover purse seine fishing, a technique mostly used by Gen. Santos City-based fishers. Purse seine fishing is done with the use of a rope that passes through rings that when pulled draws the rings close together and tightening the net, preventing the fish from “sounding,” or swimming down to escape being caught. –Mina Diaz, DAily Tribune