GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/22 December) – The usually cold mist that blows early dawn over the calm Sarangani Bay suddenly turned warm as another fishing vessel maneuvered towards the pier of the fishport complex at the coastal village of Tambler here.

Weary port workers clad in a mix of grayish white and light blue uniforms then slowly moved towards the end of the pier as the vessel let out a loud burst from one of its fog horns to signal its final approach to the dock to unload its prized catch of various prime tuna.

“There were some bumps along the road but we somehow managed to overcome them. We’re on track and we’re now moving ahead with a positive outlook for the industry,” said Marfenio Tan, president of the Socsksargen Federation of Fishing and Allied Industries Inc (SFFAII).

Surging tuna landings

Tan’s assessment could be well seen with the resurging tuna catches by local fishing fleets as indicated by the positive growth registered by the tuna unloading this year at the General Santos City Fishport Complex here.

Data from the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA) showed that tuna landings at the fishport complex from January to September alone already reached 98,874 metric tons (MT), which is about 20,000 MT more than the total landings at the facility in the entire 2008.

In fact, the fishing companies almost doubled the previous year’s total unloading of 78,889.77 MT during the first six months of the year when they delivered some 74,703 MT.

In 2008, the PFDA only recorded a total delivery of 34,344 MT or a difference of 40,360 MT from January to June.

“The tuna landings really surged this year and so far there were projections that it could still go up to an additional 20,000 to 30,000 metric tons more by the end of the year,” an industry source said.

Based on such projections, he said this year’s tuna landings may likely reach between 120,000 and 130,000 MT, which would be the biggest in terms of volume since 2004.

A comparative data from PFDA of the annual tuna unloading at the fishport here showed an average annual landing of 91,303 MT from 2004 to 2008.

The biggest tuna unloading was registered in 2006 when local fishing fleets delivered a total of 102,729 MT.

Resilient exports

In terms of tuna export receipts, the tuna industry still managed a positive growth despite the declining demand in some major markets, especially in the United States and the European Union.

A report from the National Statistics Office’s Foreign Trade Statistics Section showed that export receipts from various tuna products reached US$ 277.378 million from January to October this year.

It said such figure includes tuna products that were shipped out fresh, frozen, prepared or preserved in airtight containers.

Last February, the NSO cited tuna as the only commodity among the top exports that showed a strong annual growth rate despite the onslaught of the financial crisis.
Tuna products consisting of fresh tuna, frozen tuna, pouched tuna and canned tuna posted total export shipments in February this year of some US$ 31.27 million or an increase of 57 percent.

The NSO said all other Philippine top 10 export products like electronics, copper cathodes, wiring sets, gold, coconut oil, metal components, garments, furniture, etc, have all registered declines ranging from 20, 40 to 60 percent in export revenues during the same month due to the impact of the financial crisis.

Five months later, with most industries still reeling from the effects of the crisis, tuna was again one of only three of the country’s 30 major export goods that did not register negative growth. 

Tan said these only show that the global financial crisis had failed to dampen the performance of the local tuna industry, specifically its top dollar earner tuna canning sector. 

"In general, the global crisis did not create much impact on the canned tuna production sector," Tan said.

Trade, production expansions

Aside from registering positive growths in terms of catches and export receipts, several tuna industry players also managed to expand their trade and production ventures locally and overseas.

A delegation composed of tuna fishing magnates from the city also opened talks earlier this year with the Western provincial government of the Solomon Islands.
The discussions reportedly centered on plans by local tuna fishing companies to invest in the area.

Canned tuna exporter Alliance Tuna International Inc. also embarked on a new plant expansion in the city through an investment of about P50- to P60 million.

The plant reportedly has the capacity to produce two tons of salmon a day, which will be exported to Australia, Japan and Hong Kong.

A number of homegrown fishing companies, among them a firm owned by the Damalerio family and RD Group of Companies of magnate Rodrigo Rivera, have expanded in recent years into tuna canning in Manado, Indonesia and in Papua New Guinea. (Allen V. Estabillo/MindaNews)

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