Foreign fishing vessels frequent Benham Rise, especially between January and July, to fish for tuna, he added. In a statement, Pamalakaya Vice Chairman Salvador France said the government has been tolerating Japanese, South Korean and Taiwanese tuna-fishing expeditions in the area for the last five years. He added that the fishing vessels of those countries were even seen entering municipal fishing grounds and the PCG is not doing anything to stop what he described as the “foreign ocean grabbers.” A 3,000-ton tuna factory ship, accompanied by supporting fishing fleets, can catch as much as 150 MT of tuna within a 24-hour operation. By industry standards, a single factory ship could catch 50,000 MT of tuna a year. Pamalakaya said even Filipino-owned commercial-fishing vessels cannot compete against the foreign vessels, leaving behind small fishermen with nothing but scraps after a week of fishing. “What the Aquino administration should do is enhance the capacity of the PCG and make sure that they protect the county’s territories. The Aquino administration should also have the political will to do this. Unfortunately, the PCG has no capacity and the Aquino administration has no political will,” Corpuz said.
Posted on: Sat, 01 Jun 2013 02:55:32 +0000
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