General Santos Gears Up For 9th Tuna Congressff
31 July 2007
Philippines
Maritime boundary delineation, fishing access, and forging free trade agreements with the United States and the European Union have been identified as the key issues that would be discussed during the annual tuna congress slated in General Santos next month, an industry official confirmed Friday.
Bayani Fredeluces, executive director of the Socksargen Federation of Fishing and Allied Industries, Inc, also said that preparations have shifted into high gear in a bid to draw an expected 500 local and foreign participants.
â€We’re on the thick of things for the successful holding of the 9th Tuna Congress where key industry issues and latest development in the international and Philippine tuna industry would be tackled,†he said.
This year’s congress theme is “Sustainable Tuna Industry: Defining Boundaries, Facing New Realities.†It is slated on August 31 to September 1 at the KCC Convention and Trade Center in General Santos.
Actually the top issue identified by the country’s tuna industry players is the maritime boundary delineation because the country is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS).
The convention establishes a comprehensive framework for the regulation on the use of all ocean space including seabed and sub-soil and provides basis for determination of limits of national jurisdiction.
It also provides explicit authority to explore and exploit resources of the continental shelf and adjacent seabed out to 200 nautical miles from the shore.
â€To date, the government has yet to delineate our maritime boundaries. UNCLOS has set a deadline for the Philippines on May 2009,†a document furnished to Sun.Star showed.
Fredeluces noted that pending the delineation of the country’s maritime boundary, the situation creates a drawback for the Philippines in terms of economic gains over resources in the territorial sea such as tuna resources.
On fishing access, SFFAII president Marfenio Tan, said domestic tuna catch cannot sufficiently supply the requirements of the tuna canneries and processing plants based in the city.
He noted that significant portion of tuna catch comes outside the Philippines, stressing that tuna is a highly migratory species.
Tan urged to expedite the negotiations for bilateral fishing access agreements with neighboring countries like Indonesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Federated States of Micronesia, and other Pacific Island Countries.
He feared that without a fishing access in place in the coming years, it would cause significant loss of revenue, jobs and the industry's competitiveness in the world market.
For market access, tuna industry players said free trade agreements with the major trading partners are crucial for the tuna industry.
Philippine canned tuna products in the United States are presently slapped with a 6% tariff for in-quota shipment and 12.5% for out-quota.
In the European Union, it is 12% for in-quota shipments and 24% for out-quota. For tuna with a GSP Form A – with Philippine origin fish - a tariff of 20,5% is applicable for the EU.
Fredeluces warned that significant reduction in catch and cannery output, and displacement of about 4,000 cannery workers might occur in the absence of free trade agreements with the US, EU and other major trading partners.
