To raise the production of tuna the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) is eyeing fishing and ranching of bluefin tuna in the Pacific waters northeast of Cagayan. Fisheries bureau Director Malcolm I. Sarmiento said that BFAR has already sent its research vessels in the area in 2002, 2004 and 2006 and their conclusion is that there are seasons when tuna can be caught in the Pacific waters near Cagayan.
It is informed that fishers can catch and culture up to 50,000 metric tons of bluefin tuna in the area annually. The proposed management plan states that fishers would capture juvenile [bluefin tuna] in the high seas and bring them to fish shelters where they would be cultured.
Gil A. Adora, assistant director of the Fisheries bureau, said that in this year the Philippines’ deep-sea fishing industry has been reeling from poor catch, attributed to global warming in the Pacific Ocean, high diesel prices that have forced fleets to cut fishing expeditions, as well as a ban by Jakarta on foreign fishing vessels bringing fish caught in Indonesian waters to other countries for processing.
Sarmiento expressed that they are asking aid from Spain for more assessments and formulation of the Bluefin Tuna Management Plan. He added that further assessment will identify whether the area is a fishing ground or a catching ground. BFAR has already completed its own studies of fishery resources in the area and is waiting for inputs from marine experts of Spain.
Sarmiento also informed that lack of post-production and storage facilities in the area prevents locals from taking advantage of the tuna-rich Pacific waters. He added that illegal Taiwanese fishers are also spotted in the Pacific waters during fishing season. According to Sarmiento Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap already approved the plan to build facilities in the eastern seaboard to encourage the fishers who lost fishing grounds in Indonesia.
