RESILIENT. STRENGTHENED. COMPETITIVE.
This is the brave assertion
of the Philippine Tuna Industry in the 19TH
NATIONAL TUNA CONGRESS. Held on September 6 to 8, 2017, the annual event boldly
tackled much-publicized, if not highly controversial, issues that hound the
industry.
The Congress has gathered
around 800 participants to both the Plenary Sessions and the Trade Exhibit.
Worth noting is the demonstration of support from the most relevant agencies of
the government, both local and national offices. We have seen the attendance of
the top leaders of the country especially the Secretary of the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Mr. Emmanuel “Manny” Pinol and its
Undersecretary for Fisheries, (Ret) Commo. Eduardo B. Gongona who gamely stayed
on until the event’s last day.
With the leverage of faster
information dissemination of our times, it is the earnest hope of the host
organizer, the Soccsksargen Fishing Federation and Allied Industries, that we
altogether maintain our stance that indeed, the Philippine Tuna Industry
withstands the test of time through strengthened collaborative efforts and
continual exploration of competitive ways to further elevate our economic edge.
HIGHLIGHTS
OF THE 19TH NATIONAL TUNA CONGRESS
This year’s Congress has
made sure that topics catering to the contemporaneous needs and those that bear
a continuing impact to the unique requirements of the tuna industry are served.
The bottomline is that it has established the direction of the Tuna Industry to
remain strong and responsive to the changing demands of times; endeavour to be
globally competitive by finding ways to continually improve our products and
methods; and effectively collaborate with relevant sectors to further
consolidate actions in achieving common good.
The activities and topics
ultimately serve to promote the welfare of the many small fisherfolks composing
this industry.
I.
CONGRESS
PLENARY
The pressure to strengthen actions to combat Illegal,
Unreported and Unregulated fishing pervades various regional fisheries
management programs all over the world. And in this Congress, we have had the
privilege to work alongside our partners from the USAID Oceans and Fisheries Partnership as Mr. Geronimo Silvestre, Chief
of Party of the USAID Oceans and Fisheries Partnership, presented THEUSAID OCEANS AND FISHERIES PARTNERSHIP: A REGIONAL COOPERATION TO COMBATILLEGAL, UNREPORTED AND UNREGULATED FISHING AND PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE FISHERIESIN THE ASIA – PACIFIC REGION.
More
importantly, we have officially launched the Electronic Catch Documentation System (eCDT), a tool to prevent the entry of fish
and fishery products from IUU fishing activities into the supply chains.
This is an integrated action that involves and equips not just the medium to
large-scale fishers but more significantly, the small scale ones to achieve its
planned objectives.
It
is inspiring to note that USAID Oceans,
in collaboration with the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center and the
Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, has chosen the General Santos
Fishing Port Complex and areas around the Sarangani Bay Protected Seascape as a
project ‘Learning Site.’
USAID Oceans aims to develop, demonstrate and
expand a catch documentation and traceability (CDT) system using a market based
approach that promotes sustainable fisheries and builds on the foundation of the
ASEAN Catch Documentation Scheme and the Philippines’ existing CDT protocols.
The Program is complemented by other components, such as regional coordination
and capacity building of regional stakeholders to combat IUU fishing, promote
sustainable fisheries and conserve biodiversity; public and private sector
engagement and partnership development to ensure uptake and sustainability of
the CDT system; and integration of social welfare issues into all aspects of
program design.
UPDATES
ON THE USAID OCEANS CDT PROJECT in General Santos City and
Indonesia have also been presented by Mr. Farid Maruf (of the USAID OCEANS
Fisheries Partnership) and Mr. Zaldy Perez (BFAR). Discussed were the current
collaboration and work of Oceans with competent authorities and government
agencies in Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam as well as partnership
work with private sectors and NGOs. Existing initiatives for both large and
small scale fisheries were also tackled. Important also was the introduction of
how the stakeholders can maximize the use of the Catch Documentation system.
B. The
need for the improvement of the working conditions of our fishworkers has been
much publicized recently and this Convention recognizes that as imperative to
our inclusive growth. Thus, we have made sure to include these topics to shed
light on the said issue: FIELDASSESSMENT OF LABOR IN THE TUNA FISHERIES SECTOR AND GENDER ANALYSIS IN THETUNA FISHERIES SECTOR.
In the first topic, Ms. Claudette
Urmeneta, the Capability Building Manager, of Verite (Southeast Asia), discussed
the results of the assessment of the labor conditions in the program’s learning
sites- General Santos City and Bitung, Indonesia. Recommendations in the study
are related to institutional labor governance, labor data management, and data
collection for monitoring labor conditions and issues. It roused reactions of
varying kinds and degrees from the participants, among which are the concerns
on the statistical method used in the research and the interpretation of the
same.
In the second topic, Dr. Marieta
Sumagaysay of The National Network on Women in Fisheries in the Philippines,
Inc. presented empirical evidence on gender differentials along the tuna
value chain and expounded on its significance in the promotion of women’s
economic empowerment and gender equality.
The study also identified strategic
interventions to empower and build the capacity of women along the tuna
fisheries value chains in General Santos City and the selected sites in Kiamba
and Glan of the Sarangani Bay area. The study should be relevant to this region
as both small-scale (municipal) and large scale (handline and purse seine)
value chain players were included in the study, together with value chain
enablers.
C.
This Congress has achieved another milestone
for the Tuna Industry for having organized in this region, one of the final
consultations for the NATIONAL TUNAMANAGEMENT PLAN. This plan embodies the framework of actions to promote the
effective conservation, management, and equitable use of tuna resources in the
Philippines. Among its specific objectives is the protection of the rights of
subsistence tuna fishermen, in both municipal and offshore fishing grounds.
Participation of all stakeholders was ensured by securing
representatives from the relevant sectors.
Together with the concerns presented by the proponents
from BFAR, inputs were consolidated and integrated into the plan, main driving
force of which is the realization of inclusive growth. Through this, we are
translating our compassion to empower the many into working national policies.
D. Just
recently, the 13th Regular
Session of the Scientific Committee was held in Cook Islands, the key
agenda of which include fishery data gaps of the Commission; results of the
2017 stock assessments for bigeye tuna, yellowfin tuna, South Pacific
swordfish, and other species; scientific aspects of management issues; and
ecosystem and bycatch mitigation tools. Key outcomes from the stock assessments and related management implications was
introduced in the presentation by Dr. Sungkwon Soh, Science Manager of the
Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.
E. Considered
the
most sweeping reform of US food safety laws in more than 70 years, the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA)Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) shifts the focus from responding to
contamination to preventing it. This bears a crucial implication to the tuna
fishing and processing industry so much so that we have it included in our
topics to help interested parties – big and small businesses alike - to help
evaluate their time, energy and resources needed to address any gaps in their
system. Mr. Kevin Edwards, Manager, Global Business Development for the
Seafood, covered the requirements for seafood companies and challenged everyone
to take a closer look at priority activities such as foreign supplier
verification program, risk assessments starting at the boats, filth prevention,
and training needs.
F. As
key seafood consuming countries such as US, UK and many European Countries have
been establishing stricter requirements that ensure sustainability and
traceability, businesses engaged in the fishing, processing and selling of
seafood have been bent on finding credible tools and means for verification to
establishing assurance systems that protect their investment and public
profile. But the essence of these efforts is more on preserving globally traded
commodities such as tuna, it being under “enormous exploitation pressures”. We
covered two topics regarding RESPONSIBLE
TUNA SOURCING that should help our businessmen establish more traceable and
transparent systems: one from Mr. Martin Purves, Managing Director of the
International Pole and Line Foundation and the other from Ms. Shen Yan Liow,
Supply Chain Standards Manager, of the Marine Stewardship Council.
II.
TRADE
EXHIBIT
With more than 800 participants representing owners, managers, and top
management personnel of fishing companies, logistics and technology suppliers/
service providers and leaders of the various industry partners from all throughout
the country and abroad, the 19th National Tuna Congress opened with festivity
that lasted for three days in its TRADE EXHIBIT, housing close to 200
exhibitors.
The hustle and
bustle of the trade exhibitors was just invigorating and although the preparation
was definitely daunting and the execution of plans more nerve-wracking, the
outcome was all worth it. Thanks to the support of hundreds of allies from here
and abroad and the able hands of our SFFAII Staff, the Trade Exhibit ably
facilitated exchange of valuable information with flair and aplomb. Bill Gates
once said that, “The most
meaningful way to differentiate your company from your competitors, the best
way to put distance between you and the crowd, is to do an outstanding job with
information. How you gather, manage and use information will determine whether
you win or lose.” Surely, from
all the dealings made in the Exhibit, a substantial exchange of valuable
information would have by now, been materialized into useful tools and methods
further expanding the participants’ respective businesses.
III.
CONGRESS RESOLUTIONS
The 19th NTC
passed 16 resolutions, mostly aimed to further strengthen and empower the
industry by redefining national policies and reviewing existing regulatory
policies and rules that undermine the role of the Philippine Tuna Industry to
the nation’s economic stability and growth.
Aside from reiterating old
resolutions that needed attention from relevant government agencies, we have
raised the Industry’s stand on the need for the
establishment of a joint standard operating procedure for handling
apprehensions of fisherman and fishing vessels in order to expedite
repatriation of the same and/or the prevention of unwanted waste of resources.
We expressed our strong position against the scope of the proposed Tax Reform and Acceleration and Inclusion Act (TRAIN)
as far as its excise tax applies to petroleum products. We also passed a
resolution encouraging the Local Government Units to support the institutionalization
of a Catch Documentation and Traceability System aligned with BFAR's
initiatives on ensuring traceability of tuna and other fishery products.
In the local arena, we urged
for the establishment of a One-Stop-Shop for the processing of employment related
requirements in General Santos City and requesting the creation of the General
Santos City Fishport Management Advisory Council.
Conclusion
Truly,
the National Tuna Congress has been making significant strides in the history
of the Country’s Tuna Industry. It has been strengthened so as to be
instrumental for making the different groups come together and become a force
to reckon with.
May
we be able to sustain the momentum we have thus created. With even more fired
up energy, we shall see each other again in the 20th National Tuna
Congress!
