The South African Tuna Pole Fishery has been bolstered this past season by the highest prices in history paid by the local exporters for their albacore catches. (South African Albacore Price Trend) Whilst the frozen yellow fin prices have remained consistently low, the albacore price roller coasted even higher and higher. This advantageous position for the vessel owners was drastically assisted by the competitive trading by these exporters to accumulate what little supply there was which was a major contributor to the high prices seen this past season. We need to be reminded that global catches were poor at this time which was also a major contributing factor. Whilst New Zealand had some catches of the smaller class of albacore, it was subsequently traded at a much lower price because of this. With the onset of the Spanish tuna season we have seen their canneries taking a more bullish position in an attempt to drive down the albacore price. This has had some effect on the price but with their catches remaining slow and low, SA albacore is still trading relatively high albeit at a level lower than last month. This past week we have seen improved catches of albacore with still the larger class of fish being landed. Interestingly, there have been increased reports of blue fin tuna swimming in and amongst the big eyes!
With our tuna pole season still unbelievably in late operation, we have seen a decrease in the number of active vessels in our fleet still fishing. This is mainly due to the recent lull in catches prior, the presence of snoek (thyrsites atun) and the expiry of annual Local General Safety Certificates issued by SAMSA. The effect of the snoek fishing has seen a reduction in the availability of crew for the tuna pole vessels as the crews earn a higher wage catching snoek with landlines creating frustration for the tuna pole vessel owners who are port bound.
With SAMSA's Special Marine Projects Division being awarded the interim contract for our marine resource protection we have seen increased visible enforcing with the inshore and offshore patrol vessels; Lilian Ngoyi, Ruth First and Sarah Baartman, performing random inspections on the tuna grounds. Whilst they are perceived as a nuisance and hindrance by industry, we must all be reminded that it is pertinent for SA to show active policing of our marine resources to ensure that we fulfill our ICCAT mandates to ensure annual renewal of our quota for tuna species. Without this visible patrolling, SA would not be able to give guarantees (such as the IUU Catch Certificate system) that our tuna is caught according to the ICCAT rules and
regulations i.e. legally guaranteeing full IUU compliance of our fleet.
The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) has a simple diagram below highlighting some of the requirements our Department Of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) has to comply with ICCAT in order to maintain full compliance and membership. namely; timely reporting of tuna catch data per specie, observer coverage, vessel monitoring (VMS), active vessel register to name a few.
This tuna season will be reflected upon as providing a much needed respite for the vessel owners but it must be commented that many of them did not utilize this opportunity to fish aggressively and make the most of it, with some of the fleet having recorded very low catches indeed!
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