THERE is hope for the Philippine tuna industry if the country can up conservation efforts and curb illegal fishing, the director of the Fisheries bureau said Thursday.
Director Asis Perez of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources told Sun.Star that complying with conservation guidelines such returning juvenile tuna to the sea will, in the long term, make for a bigger fish catch.
Stepping up government operations against illegal fishing will also ensure food for the schools of tuna that ply the Celebes Sea, he said.
"Conservation is not necessarily anathema to production," he told Sun.Star.
He added that putting more marine conservation measures in place will also contribute to a bigger catch because that might give the Philippines access to high seas fishing grounds closed to it since 2008.
He said the Philippines might convince the multinational Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) that its fishing fleet can harvest tuna responsibly.
Perez said Philippine fish catch has dwindled in the three years since the Philippines was banned from High Seas Pockets 1 and 2 by the WCPFC, which comprises nations that fish in the Pacific Ocean.
He said the high sea pockets were closed to fishing as a conservation measure and not as a punishment. That lock-out period ends this year and he said the Philippines will appeal to be let into the high seas pockets.
In November 2010, the Philippines sent the Micronesia-based commission a position paper urging the WCPC to end the closure. The Fisheries bureau said then that the closure was a "big disproportionate burden to the Philippines." It said that fish catch had declined by as much as 62 percent because of the closure, and at least 9,000 jobs had been lost. The resulting loss amounted to $115 million, the BFAR said in a discussion paper sent to the commission.
It also said that tuna, being migratory, could be caught just as easily outside the high seas pockets.
The Fisheries bureau has proposed sustainable fishing methods, including limits on fish catch in the area and limits on the gross tonnage of vessels allowed to fish there, instead of a total closure.
Asis said the BFAR will be meeting with tuna canneries and fishing companies Friday afternoon to discuss conservation measures to ensure the long-term survival of the Philippine tuna industry.
"This is very important. All food sources are a priority," he said.
Sun.Star reported Wednesday that the Philippines has a fishing agreement with Indonesia but Asis clarified that there has not been an agreement since 2006.
News reports from 2006, however, refer to a five-year agreement between the two countries.
He confirmed, however, that Indonesia will be imposing stricter regulations on fishing in its waters, including the requirement to put up processing facilities for fish caught in Indonesia.
He said there is little that the Philippines can do about that since Indonesia is within its rights to do so.
He said, however, that the Celebes Sea, which the Philippines shares with Indonesia, is a traditional fishing ground for both nations.
"Sometimes boats from both nations cross the border," he said. (Jonathan de Santos/Sunnex)
