A tuna quota increase is predicted sometime in the next five to six years according to Australian Southern Bluefin Tuna Association chief executive officer Brian Jeffriess, but it is yet to be known what the increase would be.
Aside from strict management, Mr. Jeffriess said the overcatch of tuna by
The basic issue is that the global tuna ranching industry started in Port Lincoln is only 10 years old, he said.
Other rural industries such as wheat and beef are thousands of years old.
We have a lot to learn. In the next five to six years, the tuna industry will raise its productivity, get a quota increase, diversify its markets, increase promotion, and add further value to the processing.
Referring to the article Tuna lose top place (Port Lincoln Times, July 8) about Australian fisheries, Mr. Jeffriess said the article may have created the impression that the Port Lincoln tuna industry may be declining.
The opposite is the case. The Port Lincoln tuna ranching harvest in 2007 (January/December) was 10,957 tons easily the highest ever.
The misunderstanding comes from the way the government data is presented.
First, the tuna ranching season is a calendar year. In some years, we harvest a lot in the January/June period other years; we harvest almost everything in the second half of the year (July/December). This is what happened in 2007, and it is why the 2006/07 (July/June) government figure is low.
Second, the government data uses export values based on official exchange rates. Fortunately, the industry is able to hedge (insure) the currency. In tuna’s case, the way the Yen/Australian dollar hedge works is that the actual revenue received is almost always much higher than the way the government data is calculated.
The bottom line of this is that the tuna industry goes from strength to strength. Like any rural industry, it will have price fluctuations, and that is the reality of primary production.
Fortunately we do not have the droughts that land farmers have to somehow cope with.
As well, it is easier for tuna farmers to hedge the currency risk.