Over the last couple of months the local tuna industry is in a fix after a ban imposed by the Western and Central Pacific Commission (WCPC) on all fishing operations in the high seas, or beyond the 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EZZ), beginning January next year.
According to a fishing federation leader the unilateral action taken by the WCPC, the world’s governing body on the protection and preservation of tuna and similar species, will further cut local production, trigger mass layoffs and plunge the industry deeper into financial straits.
Ronel Rivera, vice president of the RD Group of Companies, informed that it is lamentable that the ban comes on the heels of the scrapping of the bilateral fishing agreement between Indonesia and the Philippines last Aug. 29, which resulted in the arrest and incarceration of many of our fishermen in Indonesia. Ban affected the daily tuna catch by 30 percent from 500 to 150 metric tons, which in turn will force fishing operators and canning factories to cut down on labor cost.
Rivera explained that the WCPC was not singling out the Philippines as the ban would apply to all countries in light of reports that in many parts of Asia, illegal and unregulated fishing companies go about their nefarious activities oblivious to the interest of the industry as a whole.
