The quota represents the 2011 tuna landings in Philippine waters and excludes imported frozen tuna from Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.
Total fish landings in General Santos City for 2011 stood at 112,890.82 tonnes, most of them consisting of tuna or tuna-like species. The figure includes the 85.94 tonnes of frozen tuna imported and those shipped from Manila for the city’s six canning factories, according to the General Santos City Fish Port Complex. Benjamin Tabios, BFAR assistant director, said most of the 162 purse seine tuna catchers will have to be decommissioned to keep the industry going, Asian Correspondent reports.
“(The assessment) is fairly correct that there must be a reduction of fishing fleet but there should also be proportionate reduction in gross catch,” Tabios stated, referring to an earlier statement by former Socsksargen Federation of Fishing and Allied Industries President Marfenio Tan, who thinks diminishing the purse seine tuna fleet from General Santos from 162 to 50 will help sustain the industry in light declining catches and rising production costs over the last three years.
Similarly, Tabios said the tuna food chain must be managed for tuna stocks to bounce back. The three-month ban on sardine fishing early in 2012 helped tuna catches from municipal waters improve as well, he noted, which makes sense because tuna feed on sardines (tamban or white sardinella).
BFAR is now proposing a 30 per cent catch cut in nine of the country’s 12 traditional fishing grounds. However, there are still frontier areas for the country’s tuna fishing, he said, mentioning the immense Pacific Ocean side of the Philippines, which has remained largely unexploited.
BFAR wants the country to take three major steps to manage its diminishing tuna catches: a reduction of fishing vessels, slashing the number of fishing days and adopting a closure season especially in known tuna spawning grounds.
Vince Cinches, Greenpeace Southeast Asia ocean campaigner, said several tuna fishing companies have been thinking about shifting from purse seine fishing to the more sustainable pole and line fishing to avoid stressing stocks further given dwindling supplies. He highlighted the importance of changing to pole and line to protect wild tuna.
The firms’ primary concern is the cost of switching from one method to another, PNA reports. Ibrahim Athif Shakoor, International Pole and Line Foundation secretary general, pointed out that pole and line fishing is cheaper than purse seine: a pole and line vessel only cost as much as USD 330,000 compared to a figure from USD 25 million to USD 30 million for a purse seine fleet. A pole and line vessel could fit up to 60 tonnes of fish.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Although Germany’s tuna imports have declined, Vietnam’s tuna exports to the market continue to show positive signs. Notably, export value recovered strongly in Q3/2026, and German import data also show Vietnamese products strengthening their position amid competition among suppliers.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Seafood exports are holding double-digit growth, but the opportunities are not spread evenly across product groups and markets. As businesses draw up their plans for 2027, Vietnam Seafood Summit 2026 (VSS2026) offers a chance to look ahead together: what to sell, where to sell it, and how to prepare for growth in the coming years.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) With less than two weeks to go, the Vietnam Seafood Summit 2026 (VSS 2026) will officially take place in Can Tho. Under the theme “Seafood Market Outlook 2027–2029 – Opportunities and Potential for Double-Digit Export Growth,” the Summit is organized by VASEP at a time when seafood businesses are facing rapid market shifts, changing buyer demand, trade policy changes and growing competitive pressure all at once.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) On October 28, 2026, the China Fisheries & Seafood Expo opened in Qingdao, China. The expo takes place over three days from October 28 to 30, 2026. This is a prestigious specialized seafood exhibition organized annually by Sea Fare Exposition Inc.
(vasep.com.vn) In the first nine months of 2026, Vietnam’s tilapia exports to the CPTPP bloc reached $7 million, marking a 51% year-on-year increase. The bloc rstands as the fourth-largest market for Vietnamese tilapia, trailing Brazil, the US, and Saudi Arabia.
(vasep.com.vn) VASEP has officially announced the program for Vietnam Seafood Summit 2026 (VSS 2026), featuring five in-depth sessions covering industry outlooks, trade barriers, buyer demand, the domestic market, and solutions to improve productivity and reduce costs across the seafood value chain.
(vasep.com.vn) Vietnam’s shrimp exports reached US$3.7 billion in the first nine months of 2026, up 11% year on year. Although growth has been supported by China and several markets within the CPTPP, momentum is slowing as exports to the United States and the European Union decline. Tariff pressures, international competition, and raw material challenges are creating significant hurdles for exporters in the final months of the year.
(vasep.com.vn) Markets are changing faster, buyer requirements are becoming more demanding, and trade barriers are growing increasingly complex. In this environment, seafood businesses need more than an understanding of current market conditions. They need a longer-term perspective to answer a critical question: Where will growth opportunities come from in 2027–2029, and what should businesses do now to prepare? This is one of the key reasons why VASEP is organizing Vietnam Seafood Summit 2026.
(vasep.com.vn) In the first eight months of 2026, Vietnam’s pangasius exports to the Middle East reached US$113 million, up 7% year on year from the same period in 2025. Growth has become more pronounced in recent months. In August alone, exports to the region totaled US$20 million, an increase of 24%. This indicates that demand for Vietnamese pangasius in the Middle East is gradually recovering after a slowdown in March, although the pace of recovery varies across markets.
(vasep.com.vn) China’s shrimp imports continued to grow strongly in 2026, while Vietnam’s shrimp exports to the market also recorded notable growth. However, behind these positive figures lie two distinct trends: Chinese consumption is growing more slowly than imports, and lobster accounts for a substantial share of Vietnam’s shrimp exports to China, making its product mix significantly different from those of Ecuador and India. Exporters therefore need to assess each segment carefully to understand the opportunities and risks.
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