Further Tuna Shortages Expected Due To 2 Fishing Bans

For the third year in a row, the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) will ban the use of fish-aggregating devices (FADs) on all purse seine vessels in the region for three months, effective July 1. First implemented in 2009, the three-year measure aims to restrict the catch of juvenile bigeye tuna, which are caught incidentally with FADs, by 30%. Similarly, the eight Pacific island nations that make up the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) are also imposing the FAD closure for four months.

Meanwhile, in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) will halt all purse seiners from fishing for a 62-day period, either beginning July 29 or November 18, to allow tuna stocks to recover. While it’s up to the fishing flag states to choose the first or second period, Hamby says about half of the fishing fleets refrain from fishing in the summer.

Both regional initiatives could negatively impact the raw material supply during the next few months, he says, which has canneries concerned.

“Even without stopping the fishing, the volume of raw material from the purse seiners operating in the IATTC is insufficient to meet the needs of the Latin American tuna processors. They must import substantial quantities of tuna raw material transshipped from purse seiners operating in the WCPFC. And with less tonnage expected from the WCPFC due to the FAD closure, the Latin processors expect raw material shortages and therefore increasing fish prices. Thai packers expect the same,” Hamby says.

With the FAD closure, daily catches will be reduced by as much as 20-30% depending on the vessel, says Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr., owner of Frabelle Fishing Corporation in the Philippines.

“Catching school fish is not as easy as catching fish with FADs,” Tiu Laurel Jr. says. “We have to really run our boats and burn more fuel to look for school fish.”

In contrast, the man-made, floating objects are easy lures, but they attract everything including baby bigeye and yellowfin tuna, sharks and turtles. When a seine net is set around a FAD, about 7% of its haul is juvenile bigeye, which prevents the species from breeding and contributes to overfishing.

By forcing fleets to fish on free-swimming schools of skipjack tuna – which has minimal by-catch – members are becoming better at fishing without the use of FADs, says Glenn Hurry, WCPFC’s executive director. He says the ban has been effective in reducing juvenile bigeye mortalities.

Bigeye catches have been further reduced because some fleets are now choosing to fish on free schools outside of the closure period, says John Hampton, manager of the Oceanic Fisheries Program at the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, an international organization that helps Pacific Island people achieve sustainable development.

According to Hampton, the purse seine fleets operated at high levels through the closure in 2011, but the catch rates declined significantly at the start of the ban. By its end in September, catch rates had recovered minimally, but not to the extent of previous years.

“This may have been due as much to reduced abundance of skipjack in 2011 than to a specific impact of the closure,” he says. He adds conclusions for 2011 will be confirmed when full observer data are available.

Catch rates of skipjack and yellowfin tuna were “slightly depressed” during the 2009 and 2010 closures, says Hampton, but the larger, average size of fish – characteristic of free school fishing – attracted a higher price, thereby lessening the economic blow of reduced catch rates. 

With prices in Bangkok being already at the record level of USD 2200 per MT for skipjack of 1.8kg and up, and reduced catches, the general expectation in the market is that 2012 is likely to set even higher record price levels which could well reach as high as USD 2500 per MT for deliveries in August.