The companies that belong to the Association of Shipowners of Tuna Freezer Vessels (ANABAC), with its seat in Biscay, Spain will invest together 63 million euros in three new tuna boats, and will continue to renew its fleet, which has an average age of 12 years.
According to information of the Basque Marine Forum, Adimde, the new vessels could be constructed at Spanish Shipyard Murueta (Biscay). These three boats are scheduled to be operational in 2006 and will replace three already existing vessels.
The nine companies associated to ANABAC annually catch about 100,000 M/T of tropical tuna and most of its production goes to the Spanish market.
However, the tuna is also exported to countries like Senegal, the Ivory Coast, Seychelles and Thailand. At the present time, the purses seiners of ANABAC operate in the Indian Ocean and Atlantic, on the basis of the fishing agreements that have been negotiated between the EU and third countries.