Philippine Tuna Industry Cold On Bluefin Tuna Farmingff

By Romer Sarmiento

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources is considering the possibility of promoting and funding blue fin tuna sea ranching research in the hope of producing tuna fishers instead of hunters. However, the proposal received lukewarm response from local government and tuna industry leaders here, stressing that tuna ranching is not suitable to the country’s waters.

Agriculture Undersecretary Jesus Emmanuel M. Paras said that starting a blue fin tuna management program is being seriously considered with the possible help of the Spanish government. But Marfenio Y. Tan, president of the Socksargen Federation of Fishing and Allied Industries, Inc., said tuna culturing would not be feasible in Philippine waters.

”In the first place, it is very expensive. Our [sea] waters are not suited for tuna culturing,” Mr. Tan, who owns various purse seine vessels, said. Sea ranching of blue fin, a high-value tuna species, has been taking place in Italy, Algeria, Croatia, France, Libya, Morocco and Spain.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said that sea ranching is a “cause of concern,” since it involves using juvenile fish as “seed stock” in tuna-fattening operations. Sea-ranching or captured-based aquaculture is a practice in which tuna are caught in the wild and then penned and fattened using aquaculture techniques prior to harvesting, it added.

South Cotabato Rep. Darlene R. Antonino-Custodio said that tuna ranching would be difficult in the country since it has not been tested locally, noting that tuna does not thrive on manufactured feed stocks but on raw fish. “Bluefin tuna also prefers cooler water. They are not endemic in our seas,” she said.

Filipino producers of large tuna mostly catch yellow fin tuna, which has less value than blue fin tuna.

Yellow fin tuna are also exported but when sold in the local markets here, cost as low as P120 per kilo. On the other hand, in Japan, where demand for sushi and sashimi is high, a single large adult blue fin tuna can sell for $50,000 or more.

Mr. Tan also doubted that culturing yellow fin tuna would be a hit in the country, claiming it would be an expensive venture. Ms. Custodio also said that no successful breeding of yellow fin has been achieved so far in the country.

In 2005, FAO estimated that production of blue fin tuna via sea-ranching runs around 25 000 tons a year, up from 10, 000 tons in the previous five years. Captures of “seed stock” may be going unreported, handicapping efforts to assess the stocks’ status, it said.