* This year's tuna congress to attract 500 foreign, local participants, organizers say
ORGANIZERS of the annual tuna congress in General Santos announced Sunday it is all systems go for the event expected to draw 500 local and foreign participants.
Bayani Fredeluces, executive director of the Socsksargen Federation of Fishing and Allied Industries, Inc., said participants from Thailand, France, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Norway, Korea and Solomon Islands would come here to grace the event.
"The number of participants this year is about double the figure in previous tuna congress," he said in a statement.
He added that senior Philippine trade and agriculture officials will also come to this city dubbed the "Tuna Capital of the Philippines" to show their support to the tuna industry.
Now on its ninth year, the tuna congress will be held at the KCC Mall on August 31 to September 1 but product exhibits would start on August 30. This year's theme is "Sustainable Tuna Industry: Defining Boundaries, Facing New Realities."
Fredeluces said the top issue identified by the country's tuna industry players will be the maritime boundary delineation because the country is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS).
The convention establishes a comprehensive framework for the regulation on the use of all ocean space including seabed and sub-soil and provides basis for determination of limits of national jurisdiction.
It also provides explicit authority to explore and exploit resources of the continental shelf and adjacent seabed out to 200 nautical miles from the shore.
The annual tuna congress, which is supported by the United States Agency for International Development-funded Growth With Equity in Mindanao, is one of the major highlights of the annual weeklong Tuna Festival.
Fredeluces said that market and fishing access with other countries would also be tackled during the congress.
Philippine canned tuna products in the United States are presently slapped with a 6 percent tariff for in-quota shipment and 12.5 percent for out-quota.
In the European Union, it is 12 percent for in-quota shipments and 24 percent for out-quota. This bilateral agreement is set to expire on June 30, 2008.
Industry players are also expected to renew their calls for the government to expedite the negotiations for bilateral fishing access agreements with neighboring countries like Indonesia, Palau Papua New Guinea, Federated States of Micronesia and other Pacific Island Countries.
On fishing access, Marfenio Tan, SFFAII president, said that domestic tuna catch could not sufficiently supply the requirements of tuna canneries and processing plants based in the city.
He noted that significant portion of tuna catch comes outside the Philippines, stressing that tuna is a highly migratory species.
He feared that without fishing access in place in the coming years, it would cause significant loss of revenue, jobs, and the industry's competitiveness in the world market.
The tuna industry is one of the key growth drivers for the country, generating about P40 billion in economic activities. It employs some 120,000 people and earns annual export receipts of $280 million.
