A high-level foreign affairs delegation from the Philippines left for Palau last Saturday to ink a pact on a tuna fisheries cooperation between the two countries this week, according to sources in the local fishing industry.
The Philippine tuna delegation was headed by Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Alicia Ramos of the Asian Pacific Affairs Center (Aspac). Ramos was accompanied by several local fish producers from the city led by Socsksargen Federation of Fishing Association and Allied Industries president Domingo Teng and the tuna businessmen Rodrigo Rivera Sr. of RD Fishing and Marfenio Tan of San Andres Fishing Industry.
The Philippine delegation is expected to sign later in the week bilateral agreements on fishing cooperation paving the way for Filipino fishermen to fish in Palau territorial waters. The Philippine government is also expected to propose exchange of technical assistance to enhance the development of the fishing industries of both countries. In addition, the Philippines is also expected to propose increased trade and commerce between the two Asia Pacific countries. Both countries are moving to increase cooperation in the light of developments in the international fishing industry. Both are signatories to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea, the Fish Stocks Agreement and the Western and Central Pacific Convention on the Conservation of Highly Migratory Species.
Palau lies in the Pacific where the highly migratory tuna species pass through during the winter season in the Western hemisphere. Filipino fishermen have often ventured to its territorial waters in pursuit of tuna schools.
Sources said the Philippine government will propose a five-year agreement that will include a broad spectrum of provisions to ensure that fishing along the so called tuna highway will be sustainable.