General Santos could face sudden tuna oversupply

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines — The local tuna processing industry could face a reversal of fortune — from dwindling supply by local fishermen to oversupply from foreign fishing vessels that will opt to unload their catch in this city’s newly expanded wharves to avail of shorter turnaround time, compared to Thailand, a fisheries official said in an interview Thursday on the sidelines of the 10th National Tuna Congress. Miguel B. Lamberte, Jr., local manager of the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority, which manages the fish port complex, cited the completion of two wharves at the complex measuring a total of 430 meters that can accommodate 7,000 gross metric ton vessels. The newly constructed wharves have docking capability of nine meters deep, he added. "At the moment, we have five foreign fishing companies unloading their tuna catch at our port. We are talking with more foreign fishing firms for them to prefer GenSan as a landing destination," he said. Not enough facilities Oversupply of tuna may happen if the existing cold storage facilities in the city will not expand with the expected rise in the preference of foreign fishing vessels to utilize the facility here, he warned. From international fishing grounds, it will only take six days for carrier vessels to reach this city, compared with 15 days to Thailand, Mr. Lamberte said. He urged canneries and other investors to build additional cold storage facilities to cope with this outlook. Presently, the combined holding capacity of the cold storage capacities in the city totals 50,000 metric tons. He estimated that if more foreign fishing vessels will eventually prefer GenSan as unloading point over Thailand, it will need to establish 30,000 MT-50,000 MT capacity storage facilities. Investments by canneries in new cold storage facilities will enable them to hold stocks for six months to a year, he said. "Imagine the savings they will incur if with these additional storage equipment. In regular fishing season, tuna can be bought at $1,800 per ton, but it traditionally rises to $2,200 per ton during the lean period," Mr. Lamberte said. Although there was a marked 35% drop in volume of tuna unloading at the fish port by local fishermen in the first half, Mr. Lamberte attributed this to fewer fishing expeditions amid high fuel prices. He also cited the policy of Indonesia, a rich fishing ground for Filipino fishers, banning the transport to foreign markets of unprocessed tuna caught in its waters. Amid fewer catch by local fishermen, foreign-caught tuna landings have been sustaining the operations of the six canneries in this city, which account for nearly 80% of the country’s market. Marfenio Y. Tan, chairman of the Socsksargen Federation of Fishing and Allied Industries, Inc., contested some analyses that the local tuna industry is dying due to scarcity of stocks in the seas. "There are still tuna stocks. What we need to do is adopt conservation efforts so they will not vanish," Mr. Tan stressed in a separate interview Thursday. "Also, we need to be efficient to curb the impact of high fuel prices." - BusinessWorld