Theirs may be small boats but this group of fishermen is responsible for delivering the premium yellowfin tuna catches that ironically would not be available to most Filipinos.
â€It’s not anymore the big fishing boats that bring in the best tuna catch but the small ones owned by poor fishermen,†Rolly Puno, a fish classifier from TSP Marine Ventures, Inc., told BusinessWorld.
These small boats venture in the sea for a few days -normally confined to the “sentroâ€- so their catch has been considered the best for the last few months, he said.
Sentro is the fishing area covering the seas off Maasim and Kiamba, Glan in Sarangani province and Tawi-Tawi, among others within the Philippine territorial limit.
Small fishermen often have a starting capital of P3,000 to P5,000 for a fishing expedition that would last two or three days.
Dawn activities
At the fish port complex here, frantic activities start even before the break of dawn and continue for a few hours as traders determine which of the mature yellowfin stocks will go to the US and Japan.
These first-class tuna, which have an average farm-gate price of P200 per kilogram, will be sold to the two countries at much higher prices.
After the initial screening, the tuna processors then choose the acceptable quality while the remaining stocks are sent to wet markets in different parts of the country.
â€With only one big tuna fish, these small fishermen can earn as much as P15,000,†said Mr. Puno.
â€If they’re not lucky to catch a big tuna using the hand-line fishing method, they fish for skipjack tuna or squid to cover the seed money,†he added.
Skipjacks are purchased by the canneries and are mostly caught by purse seine boats.
Unlike small boats, bigger hand-line fishing boats that have the capacity to hold approximately 150 pieces of mature tuna need to stay in the high seas for around a month to recover their starting capital of anywhere from P300,000 to P500,000.
Based on a study of his company, Mr. Puno said that only 7% of the catch of the bigger boats is qualified for fresh export because of the longer period of time they spend at sea.
About 40% of their catch goes to the tuna processing companies while the rest goes to the local wet markets, he said.
Tuna processing companies are those that sell technology-treated, blast frozen tuna parts to the international and local markets.
John Heitz, export chief of GenSan Aqua Traders who has been in the industry for two decades, said the stricter policy of Indonesia on its rich tuna fishing grounds could be a factor favoring small-scale tuna fishermen.
When the bilateral fishing access pact with the Philippines expired in 2006, Indonesia did not move to renew it.
The pact provided licenses to the Philippines for 75 catcher vessels, 150 fish carriers, 20 long liners, 300 light boats and 10 single purse seiners, and allowed access to the Pacific and Indian Ocean areas of the Indonesian exclusive economic zone.
It also provided off-loading and re-supplying access to 10 Indonesian ports.
Since the pact was not renewed, Filipino fishermen on board bigger boats had to share a smaller fishing area with other large-scale fishermen.
So what lies ahead for small tuna fishermen?
â€The trend I am seeing is one where small-scale boats from coastal towns are starting to catch bigger yellowfin tuna closer to the Philippine shores,†Mr. Heitz said.
