The Calvo tuna plant located in La Union, El Salvador, resumed its activities, Monday, October 17th, after suspending its operations for a month. This postponement was due to the lack of tuna caused by the tuna ban in the coasts of the Pacific.
The ban, which was implemented by the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), was mainly focused towards the fishing of yellowfin tuna. During the one-month embargo, the plant was supplied with tuna originating from Nicaraguan vessels.
Calvo Group’s general manager, Mr. Miguel Peñalva Angel indicated that because of this fishing break, there will only be approximately 200 tons of fish daily. About 70 % of the boats stopped fishing for at least 40 days.
The deposition was enforced on all the IATTC member countries to regulate fishing. At least 200 tuna vessels from several countries such as
Mr. Peñalva said that although the tuna ban started August 1st, the factory could still produce until mid September with existing supplies. He added that last year exports reached USD 50 million last year and expect to see this figure increase to USD 70 million in 2005. “If everything goes well, we hope increase this number annually. We try to produce in the best way and to increase production and exports to sell tuna in Central America,
The Salvadorian tuna industry began developing in 2002. There’s hope that by the end of this yea, not only will tuna exports increase, but also that of the fish meal industry, with its sales to the Chinese market.
The Calvo Group mainly exports to
The Ministry of Agriculture recently asked IATTC to double the tuna fishing quota which is now at 6,000 metric tons. In 2004, exports of this species registered USD 40 million.