Source: Business World
Philippine skipjack tuna producers should consider shifting to pole-and-line fishing to further avert dwindling supply caused by overfishing, a Greenpeace campaigner said here on Wednesday.
Vince Cinches, Greenpeace Southeast Asia ocean campaigner, said several tuna fishing companies are considering shifting from purse-seine fishing to the more sustainable pole-and-line fishing.
“RD Group of Companies is looking at using pole-and-line fishing to become part of its operation,†he said in a press briefing here. Mr. Cinches did not identify the others but noted their primary concern is the cost of converting. Many of the local fishing companies here use purse-seine vessels in catching skipjack that they supply to the canneries.
Ibrahim Athif Shakoor, International Pole and Line Foundation secretary-general, said pole-and-line fishing is relatively cheaper than purse-seine. Compared with $25 million-$30 million for a purse-seine fleet, a pole-and-line vessel averages $330,000, he told BusinessWorld separately. Mr. Shakoor said that a pole-and-line vessel could accommodate up to 60 tons.
Coming from the Maldives, a coastal state, he noted that pole-and-line fishing is used by hundreds of small companies in just a day’s fishing operation for its proximity to rich skipjack and yellowfin tuna grounds.
Local fishing companies here, on the other hand, fish in international waters that reportedly takes six days for their carrier vessels to unload their catches in this port city.
Greenpeace said that sustainable fishing practices are crucial in reversing the ongoing decline of fish stock in the Philippine seas.
“We are running out of fish and running out of time. For a country known for marine biodiversity, there are few fish left to catch,†Mr. Cinches said in a separate statement.
“The government’s recent plans to import fish from other Asian countries like China and Taiwan is a clear sign that our seas have now collapsed, with the local fishing industry -- particularly the livelihoods of small-scale fishermen -- at risk,†he added.
Greenpeace, along with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and the Soccsksargen Federation of Fishing and Allied Industries, Inc., is holding a forum here today to discuss the benefits of pole-and-line fishing.
Modern fishing techniques have resulted in unwanted and unsustainable by-catch, and overfishing that has wiped out some tuna populations, Greenpeace said.
Pole-and-line, on the other hand, is a traditional method used by few countries in the South Pacific that employs a pole, a line, a hook, and a bait boat.
“There is huge potential for pole-and-line fishing in the Philippines. Not only is it safe for the environment, but it is also economically advantageous to fishermen who will engage in it, as we have seen in the fishing economy of the Maldives,†Mr. Shakoor said.
Bill Holden, Pacific fisheries manager of the Marine Stewardship Council, said that the Philippines should tap into the vast resources of its seas without harming the ocean’s ecosystem.
More than 70% of the world’s fisheries are fully exploited, overly exploited or significantly depleted, and the Philippine situation is a stark reflection of this sad reality, Mr. Cinches said.