Monday, September 15, 2008 Exec: Jpepa won't hurt tuna industry
THE controversial Japan Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa) won't "give access" to Japanese vessels in Philippine fishing grounds, a senior fisheries official in General Santos City said, as local tuna industry players appeared wary to possibility of the Japanese competing with Filipinos in fish catching.
Malcolm I. Sarmiento Jr., national director of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), allayed fears raised by fisherfolk groups that Jpepa would eventually allow Japanese fishing companies to catch in Philippine waters.
"There's nothing in the Jpepa that confers fishing rights on Japanese vessels [in our waters]," Sarmiento told reporters covering the recently concluded 10th National Tuna Congress in General Santos City.
Late last week, Senate majority leader Francis N. Pangilinan pushed for the renegotiation of the bilateral trade deal that legislators earlier targeted for ratification by October.
Kilusang Mangingisda, a coalition of 14 fishers federation in the country, said the deal would lead to Japanese deep-sea fishing fleets operating in the country's major fishing grounds and spell "the doom of the local fisheries industry."
Sarmiento denied this, noting: "the agreement only allows Japanese vessels to bring goods coming from the factories in Japan."
However, the fisheries' official said that if Japanese fishing firms want to catch in Philippine waters, they would have to seek government clearance and abide with the country's laws.
Pablo Rosales, Kilusang Mangingisda chair, said in an earlier statement that joint deep-sea fishing between Japanese corporations and the Philippine government is allowed under Annex 7, page 73 of Jpepa, albeit with a 40-percent limit on Japanese equity.
In scientific terms, he noted that deep sea starts where the sunlight starts to fade, around 200 meters below the surface of the sea.
"If the same is meant by 'deep-sea' fishing under Jpepa, it will have a huge impact on the use of the country's marine waters since many seas within Philippine territory have depths of 200 meters to more than 1,000 meters," he explained.
According to Kilusang Mangingisda, many major fishing grounds have depths of 1,000 meters like Sulu Sea, Moro Gulf, Davao Gulf, Bohol Sea, parts of Sibuyan Sea, parts of Visayan-Camotes Seas, the Philippine Trench on the Pacific side and parts of South China Sea that belong to the country's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
He added that other major fishing grounds like Tablas Strait, Mindoro Strait and parts of Sibuyan Sea have depths of 200 meters.
Rosales said that Japanese fishing fleets would have access to species like yellowfin tuna (tambakol), skipjack tuna (gulyasan), frigate tuna (tulingan), Spanish mackerel (tanigue), roundscad (galunggong), deep-sea sharks and invertebrates.
Marfenio Y. Tan, chairperson of the Socsksargen Federation of Fishing and Allied Industries Inc., said the Jpepa "does not necessarily give Japanese fishing vessels rights to fish in Philippine waters."
But on the marketing side, Tan added the bilateral trade deal would be beneficial to the tuna industry, stressing that Japan is one of its major buyers.
Once the Jpepa takes effect, tariffs on 95 percent of Philippine exports to Japan will reportedly be eliminated, while duties on industrial goods such as electronics and cars will be phased out over a 10-year period.
Japan is a traditional major market for the local tuna industry's sashimi grade tuna product. (BSS)
