The Davao, Philippines Fish Port Complex (DFPC) in Toril district this city expects fewer commercial vessels calling at the port this year due to a decline in the tuna catch.

DFPC manager Mario Malinao said that vessels arrivals at the port posted a 1.22 percent drop during the past seven months as the volume of tuna declined by 16 percent.

Although Malinao did not give data on their 2008 production, he said even if there was a small decline in the number of vessels coming to the port, the decline in the volume was high due to limited catch of fish.

He said that 36 foreign vessels called at the port as of July this year and only one in August.

DFPC data shows that 400 local commercial vessels discharged their tuna catch at the port in 2007, or down 21 from the 421 in 2006. Only 111 vessels arrived in the first seven months of 2008, DFPC data showed.

Malinao said the year “2008 was a bad year and this year is worst in terms of tuna production,” he said.

He said there was no guarantee of catching 40 to 50 kilos of tuna in the Davao City Philippines Gulf and nearby eastern and western Philippine waters because tuna was migratory and looked for cooler sea water.

“Due to climate change the water is hotter here, that is why these species go to the wild seeking cooler sea waters,” he said.

He said even the Taiwanese fishermen who came to the port pointed out this kind of observation.

He said that during its earlier effort, the Davao Fish port was a busy transshipment port where some 5,000 fishing vessels from Taiwan, China, Vietnam and Korea docked.

Malinao said it was at DFPC where shippers cut the heads and tails of tuna and make ready for transport the bodies of the fish and then send them to exporters by air cargo to Japan, US, Canada and Europe.

Meanwhile, Philippine government has continuously been protecting the marine resource as Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap issued Fisheries Administrative Order No, 266 prohibiting the catch of small tuna along the Davao Gulf, Moro Gulf, Sulu Sea and Celebes Sea.

FAO 226 prohibits the trade of small tuna and catching of young tuna with weight of less than 500 grams a piece.The prohibition also applies to yellowfin tuna, big-eyed tuna, and skipjack tuna.

The directive also gives fishing operators a grace period of only three years from September this year to change purse seine nets with legally acceptable [kwd]fishing gears[kwd].

The prohibited tuna purse seine was defined by BFAR as a type of fishing gear that surrounds a school of tuna fish attracted by payao lights.

Purse seines have nets with floats at the upper piece and purse rope or cable passes through to close the net bottom during fishing operations. The net is either hauled manually or through a mechanical or hydraulic net hauler or power block.

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