Ban on tuna fishing in the Pacific: Boon or bane?

MANILA, Philippines—Conservation measures are generally instituted to prevent the collapse of fish stocks due to overfishing. These can be in the form of closing an area for any fishing activity, limiting the amount of fish that can be caught or allowing the use of only specific fishing gear.

The ban on tuna fishing in the Pacific, from Jan. 1, 2010 to Dec. 31, 2011, is essentially the closure of two pockets of international waters roughly covering the area from 130°E to 180°E and from 10°N to 10°S for purse seine fishing. (See Figure 1. The closed areas in black are framed by a rectangle.)

The high seas that were closed are bounded by Palau, Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. The closure is part of the conservation management measure 2008-01 adopted by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) and titled “Conservation and Management Measure for Bigeye and Yellowfin Tuna in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean.”

A purse seiner (See Figure 2.) is a boat that uses an encircling net that targets tuna but also catches their young or juveniles. To have a sustainable fishery, the fish must be allowed to mature and reproduce at least once before they are caught.

Fish without country

Highly migratory, tunas are capable of attaining large sizes. They are widely distributed globally and considered shared resources or fishes without a country. Tunas are found in all of the major temperate and tropical oceans.

The western and central portions of the Pacific Ocean, identified as Statistical Area 71 (See Figure 3.) by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), contain the biggest tuna resources among the world’s oceans. The Philippines straddles Statistical Area 71 in which half of the world’s yellowfin tuna is harvested.

‘Tulingan,’ ‘bariles’

In the Philippines, there are 21 tuna and tuna-like species that have been recorded but only 6 are considered commercially important.

These consist of the shallow-water and small species like the frigate tuna or “tulingan” (Auxis thazard), eastern little tuna or “kawa-kawa” (Euthynnus affinis), bullet tuna (Auxis rochei) and the deep-water and big species like the yellowfin or “bariles/albacare” (Thunnus albacares), bigeye or “tambaklad/tambakol” (Thunnus obesus), and skipjack or “gulyasan” (Katsuwonus pelamis). [See photos.]

Tunas are caught throughout Philippine waters but the most productive fishing grounds are found in the Sulu Sea, Moro Gulf and waters extending to the North Celebes Sea. Viable tuna fisheries also exist in waters off western Negros and in northwestern and southern Luzon.

Tunas are caught by commercial fishing boats using purse seines and ring nets. Small municipal fishers catch them using handlines or hook and lines.

Production

Philippine tuna fishery was initially developed to supply local demand. But since 1975, this has expanded to become the largest fishery in the country through the use of the highly efficient purse seine method in combination with fish aggregating devices locally known as “payaos.”

The tuna fleet consists of purse seiners and ring netters that range from less than 100 gross tons (GT) to super seiners of 1,600 GT with an aggregate tonnage of more than 25,000 GT. Tuna production increased from 25,300 metric tons (MT) in 1974 to a yearly average of 175,000 MT.

The output of 8 canneries in Mindanao is estimated to be 250,000 MT. They are mainly supplied by landings from Philippine purse seiners and ring netters, both local vessels and via carriers from overseas operations.

In the 1970s, tuna fishing was confined to the country’s territorial and archipelagic waters, and the exclusive economic zone. Fishing was concentrated in the Sulu Sea, Mindanao Sea, Moro Gulf, Celebes Sea and adjacent waters of western Luzon. In the latter years as local catch rates declined, Philippine tuna fishing fleets expanded and operated increasingly in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, notably waters off Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, including the adjacent high seas.

In recent years, the world tuna industry has undergone expansion and structural changes. In the 1970s, the five major tuna-processing countries were the United States, Japan, Spain, France and Italy.

RP top harvester

In the 1980s, there was increasing participation by Asian countries like Korea and Taiwan. The rest of Asia, especially Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, also made significant contributions to the world tuna trade. The top three tuna harvesters in WCPFC in 2008 included the Philippines (435,689 MT), Japan (402,874 MT) and Indonesia (322,170 MT).

Aquaculture

The farming of tuna, especially the bluefin (Thunnus orientalis, T. maccoyii) is already in an advanced state in Japan and Australia. Numerous bluefin-tuna farms have been established in these two countries. Juveniles caught from the sea are grown in large cages in coastal areas until they reach marketable size.

Similar tuna farms have been reported to be operating in Costa Rica (yellowfin), Panama (yellowfin), Hawaii (bigeye), Mexico (bigeye, bluefin), Spain (bluefin), Portugal (bluefin) and the Mediterranean Sea (bluefin).

Pioneering work at Kinki University, Japan, and Achotines Laboratory in Panama, had been done to produce tuna larvae from the hatchery and grown to juveniles to be used for farming tuna.

Aquaculture of tuna can also be explored in the Philippines because of our competitive advantage—abundant tuna juveniles in our waters and lower labor cost. This can result in the integration of our marine fishing industry with the aquaculture industry. Research funds should be provided to the academe and research institutions to establish the viability of tuna farming in the country since this enterprise will require large investments.

Local studies

Some of the studies conducted on tuna include “Species identification of small juvenile tunas caught in surface fisheries in the Philippines” by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, and “Information collection of highly migratory species in Southeast Asian Waters” by the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center.

A joint project on the tagging of Pacific tuna is being implemented by the Oceanic Fisheries Program of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Papua New Guinea Fisheries Authority and members of the WCPFC. The goal of the program is to improve stock assessment and management of skipjack, yellowfin and bigeye tuna.

The Institute of Marine Fisheries and Oceanology, College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, UP Visayas will be implementing a study on tuna which seeks to determine the effect of net depth and mesh size on the size structure and species composition of fish caught near payaos by purse seine or ring net to get insights into how to minimize the by-catch of juvenile tuna.

For tropical species, member countries of WCPFC will need to conduct biological studies to establish the migration routes, and spawning and nursery grounds. In the farming of tropical species, information is needed on broodstock management, hatchery production of larvae, nutritional requirements, response while in captivity, and growth and survival in sea cages.

Impact of ban

The immediate impact of the ban will be on Philippine purse seiners which will not be able to fish in the closed areas in the Pacific. This could render many of these purse seiners idle, resulting in the layoff of workers on these boats.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said some 500 fishers would be directly affected while the tuna fishing industry indicated that the unemployed fishers could rise to several thousands. Workers in the canning factories can also lose their jobs if these companies shut down. It has been estimated that 50,000 families that depend on the tuna fishing and canning industry could be adversely affected by the ban. The inability of the purse seiners to fish in the tuna-rich areas can also be detrimental to the local economy because tuna exports average 400,000 MT a year and valued at $280 million.

Options

Due to the unemployment that may arise from the fishing ban, the government through DOLE, activated various livelihood and emergency employment projects. DOLE also created Task Force Gen San to facilitate the delivery of services and information for adversely affected workers.

Aside from these measures, government agencies and the academe should collaborate in conducting education and information campaigns so that the people will understand why the ban was instituted and which sectors will be severely affected.

The government should also look into the reflagging of Philippine vessels, or registering boats in a foreign country, which may cause job losses to our fishers if they hire foreign nationals to man the boats. A long-term plan should also be drawn by the government to cope with the WCPFC objective of reducing fishing effort [days fished] for tuna.

The tuna fishing industry will have to look for alternative areas to prevent the idling of purse seiners. One area will be the Philippine exclusive economic zone (EEZ) although this site may not be as lucrative as in the closed fishing areas in the Pacific. Through bilateral agreements with various Pacific island-countries, this will allow Philippine purse seiners to fish within the EEZ of these nations.

For the canning companies, the supply of tuna may no longer be sufficient to meet their requirements. To remain open, they have to shift to other fish species or other commodities like fruit and vegetables. In the processing of fish, these factories may use cultured species like milkfish and tilapia since the raw materials are assured and stable. However, the markets for processed cultured species may have to be developed first.

Long-term outlook

Our tuna fishing industry will have to adapt to this regime of increasing regulation for its survival. It must realize and accept that the present rate of exploitation is not sustainable and may result in the collapse of fish stocks.

The industry will have to develop a program which consists of decreasing fleet capacity and nonreplacement of aging boats to prevent further losses.

(Farisal Bagsit and Ruby Napata are researchers, and Carlos Baylon, Ricardo Babaran, Gerald Quinitio and Enrico Villoso are faculty members of the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, UP Visayas. Rodelio Subade is a faculty member of the College of Arts and Sciences, UP Visayas.) –Farisal Bagsit, Ruby Napata, Carlos Baylon, Ricardo Babaran, Gerald Quinitio, Rodelio Subade, Enrico Villoso, Philippine Daily Inquirer