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Tuna industry wont grow due to intl fishing

rule mayor
By Allan Nawal |Inquirer Mindanao
6:26 pm | Monday, September 8th, 2014

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GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines The tuna industry will not experience significant
growth in the next years due to restrictions imposed by foreign countries on fishing in
international waters, according to city Mayor Ronnel Rivera.
The tuna industry wont pose any significant growth for the years to come due to the strict
regulations imposed by foreign countries regarding fishing in international waters, he said.
But Rivera, speaking at the start of the annual tuna festival here Friday, clarified this did not
mean that the very industry that has given livelihood to residents more than any other industry
has been flunking.
He said the tuna industry has remained the citys main economic driver and would continue to be
so.
According to Rivera, the tuna industry here remains the countrys top grosser and has not been
dislodged by Mindoro as the tuna capital of the Philippines.
Rivera said Mindoro has remained far behind the city in terms of catch, despite the predicament
of restrictive fishing imposed by countries the Philippines has been sharing borders with.
He said in 2013 alone, the citys total fish catch was 167,578 tons compared to just 600,000 kilos
that Mindoro recorded for the combined years 2012 and 2013.
This is a city built on tuna, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) director Asis
Perez declared during the opening the 16th Tuna Congress trade fair and exhibit on Thursday.
Perez said the tuna industry has been shaping the citys economy and providing local
employment generation.
In his speech, Perez also lauded the small fishers that made the city what it has become.
The true heroes of the fishing industry in the city are the small local fishermen who have
worked hard perennially just to catch fishes, he said.

Joaquin Lu, president of the South Cotabato-Sultan Kudarat-Sarangani-General Santos Fishing


Federation and Allied Industries Inc. (SFFAII), said he was optimistic that the tuna industry
would continue to thrive because of the support of the local government.
Our current administration here in GenSan is always ready to help the fishing sector, he said.
Last year, local officials here worked hard for the approval of a Special Management Area
(SMA), which sought fishing access to Pacific High Seas Pocket 1.
Fishing in the said area is being regulated by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries
Commission (WCPFC).

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Reaction:
This article shows that tuna industry in General Santos is firm and has more catches than
Mindoro that known to be as the tuna capital of the Philippines, and sad to say in this article that
tuna industry may affect by the international fishing rule. But General Santos city Mayor Ronnel
Rivera clarified international law of fishing did not mean the very industry that has given
livelihood to residents more than any other industry has been flunking.

Upon reading this article it is my first time to know that the Mindoro is said to be the tuna
capital of the Philippines because I thought that General Santos was the Tuna capital and that the
area of tuna fishing and have many canned fish plant. But for me it is better that General Santos
to be called the Tuna capital of the Philippines because as what the Mayor Rivera said that they
have more catch of tuna than Mindoro.

But about the international fishing rule, for me it can affect the tuna industry of the said
city, because there area of restrictions and approval of fishing in the area scope of the
international fishing rule. And they have to follow standard procedures and standard way of
fishing and that means to procure materials or tools to follow standards set by WCPFC.

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