Can Understand?

During the late eighteenth century, when Napoleon's army suffered a terrible famine whilst waging war in their Russian campaign, the emperor offered a reward to anyone who can present a method to keep food in a good state for a longer period of time, convinced that "hosts win better fed."

This is when a French chef, Nicolas Appert, discovered entirely empirically, that he could preserve food for several years simply by heating it for a period of time in sealed containers. Appert placed vegetables and soups in glass containers sealed with cork and wax which once boiled became preserved. Thus, in 1810, Nicolas won the emperor’s reward of 12 000 francs and was awarded the prize of "Benefactor of Humanity." Nicolas Appert published the first modern preserved cook book titled: L'Art de conserver les substances animales et végétales (The Art of Preserving Animal and Vegetable Substances) In honour of Appert, the preservation of food is also referred to as "appertización" and was thus the birth of the industrial conservation and preservation of food technology invented.

                                                 

Above is Nicolas Appert's Glass Canning Jar

The news of "appertización" only arrived in Spain in 1840 with the shipwreck of a French sailing vessel off Cape Finisterre... and in less than a year the first fish cannery in Spain was built. By 1900 the frying of foods preserved by steaming is replaced, which significantly lowered the manufacturing process, popularized worldwide the "system of Spanish cooking," which marked the access of all social classes to affordable and quality foods.

At the time of the discovery by Appert, glass containers were used, but later in 1810 Englishman Peter Durand, began using tin cans instead of glass which drastically reduced the effect of light and thus preventing deterioration of the vitamin content. The tin can allowed for a greater nutritional value of preservation which was widely made use by the British Navy & Army and reached the Americas in 1822. 

Then followed numerous improvements with the packaging technology mainly the development of printed cases and stacking cans that facilitated distribution and sales. In the 1940's, during the course of World War II, given the scarcity of tin, the aluminium industry began manufacturing cans for packaging. This constitutes a technological revolution in the canning industry. The reduced weight aluminium cans ensures a greater reduction in oxidation and sulfurization which in turn is not transmitted into the preserved product as easily. Aluminium also allows great versatility of shapes and sizes with a glossy attractive and neat finish to facilitate its handling. Aluminium is an abundant metal in the earth's crust, whose manufacturing process consumes little power and is also infinitely recyclable. 

Although tin is resistant to corrosion, certain foods with a high level of acidity can cause dissolution of element tin into the preserved product. Thus the canning industry began layering the inside of cans with an epoxy coating to prevent the contents from coming into contact with the tin. Modern day cans contain Bisphenol-A (BPA) in their lining which is a harmful toxic chemical compound found in plastic. 

The story of preservation and canning is an interesting one which without would have influenced the fishing industry to a great extent.

The State Of Your Tuna Fishery

The International Sustainable Seafood Foundation (ISSF) recently published online a downloadable technical report outlining the current health of our 23 commercial global tuna stocks titled: The Status of the Stocks. The report provides a comprehensive summary of the recent scientific stock assessments as well as the current management measures implemented by the respective Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMO's). The methodology behind the rationale of this report revolves around these three key main factors: Abundance, Exploitation/Management (fishing mortality) and Environmental Impact (bycatch).  

In 2012 the global total catch of the 23 commercial tuna stocks was 4.6 million tons with skipjack tuna accounting for a total catch of 56% of this volume. Whilst the total yellow fin and albacore are 28% and 6% only. Whilst these are large volumes, it is proposed that globally 52% of the tuna stocks are in a healthy level of abundance, 39% are overfished and 9% are at an intermediate level. In terms of exploitation, 43.5% of the stocks are experiencing a low fishing mortality rate, 17.4% are experiencing overfishing, and 39.1% have a high fishing mortality that is being managed adequately.

When viewed from the point of view of total catch, 86% of the catch comes from healthy stocks. This is due to the fact that skipjack stocks contribute more than one half of the global catch of tunas, and they are all in a healthy situation due to their high fecundity rate. In contrast, most bluefin stocks and 2 out of 6 albacore stocks are overfished, but combined they make a relatively small fraction of the total catch.

A foreign vessel offloads its catch of tuna:

There are three main albacore tuna stocks in the Atlantic Ocean ICCAT area namely: North Atlantic, South Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Albacore catches in the South Atlantic increased 2% in 2012 (24,600 tons) from the previous year. Long linging accounts for 67% of this and 26% for Pole and Line. In 2012, the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) was set to 24 600 tons with a Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) at 25 200 tons. Due to the respective scientific advice and recommendations, the TAC for 2013 was reduced to 24 000 tons by the RFMO ICCAT. The Pole & Line review notes the lack of information regarding the impact the live bait vessels inflict upon the small pelagics and therefore could possibly be upgraded in the future with adequate data collection.

Currently South Africa has a quota allocation of 4 400 tons only. Previously South Africa and Namibia had a sharing scheme but last year's ICCAT meeting it was generally voted to be split thereby Namibia's quota will be set at 3 600 tons. With the recent figures circulating around the Department of Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries (DAFF), South Africa should reach and succeed our quota before the end of this year. This has major implications and repercussions with the most noticeable being a reduction in our quota by the volume of what was over caught for the 2016 season. (the quota will remain 4 400 tons for the 2015 season)

South Africa who has the second largest albacore quota (Chinese Taipei has been allocated 9 400 tons) will have to approach the other South Atlantic fishing nations and request additional quota from them should we exceed our limit. 

Blessing Our Fleet's Heritage

With this year's Blessing Of The Fleet taking place on during the weekend of the 40th week being so close to the public holiday Heritage Day and Heritage Month, one cant help but embrace this theme for this is exactly what this festival embraces. The Blessing of the Fleet festival once again took place at the V&A Waterfront with a great attendance of both the Portuguese and other fishermen's families over the course of a hot weekend. With last season's catches having improved substantially, it is no wonder this year had an even better participation. The tuna pole fleet this past season have mostly all managed to catch decent volumes albeit nothing of the years gone by, but nonetheless a few more smiles have been seen along the quays. Who knows, maybe this year will be even better than the last? Here's hoping.

The only real major issues this off season was that of the slipways and their lack of availability. With Cape Town syncro lift having been closed for maintenance and with Hout Bay's main slip being broken, there weren't too many options available for the vessel owners. This has created an unwanted amount of tension and back log. Furthermore, there were some strike action on the Hout Bay slip, although this was denied by DAFF. This same slipway has been out of commission for a few months now. Not sure how long you need to repair a slip but then I think of all those jokes about "how many people does it take to screw in a light bulb?" Perhaps this is a clear indication that it is time for the slipway in Hout Bay should be privatized?

Secondly, SAMSA have been more vigilant this season and have been checking and enforcing the qualifications of each vessel's crew. We had to send our officers on the fire fighting, first aid courses again which is a good thing. I suspect this is due to the fact that SAMSA is currently reviewing our industry's safe manning requirements and have thus issued you with 2 certificates, namely; Safe Manning Document and now also the Advisory Safe Manning Document which outlines what you will be required to crew with the respective competence in the near future. This is all in accordance with SAMSA's initiative to align the current South African manning compliment with that of the International Maritime Organisation's recommendations. This is to ensure that we conform with the international standard especially for those vessels operating with the high seas command.

So as is this time of the year that all the vessels are receiving their preparations and diligent attention  in respect of the surveys that they will undergo to be shipshape for the up and coming pending season. The harbor is abuzz with contractors working under the ever so vigilant eye of the owners and skippers. We have seen the fleet undergo a large amount of maintenance and plank work in preparation for this years arrival of the tuna.

Staying with the heritage theme... I came across a very informative and interesting website called Trawler Heritage. The author of this site who has dedicated this effort to his late dad, has insightful information and comments regarding the fishing vessels both past and present that operate along our coast. His comments regarding each vessel which he has an extensive collection of photos published on this site, are pretty accurate. He has even noticed the color schemes changing on some of the vessels this year. If you are a vessel owner then I suggest that you take a look on his website as he probably has your vessel's history logged. He has gone into great details and effort to keep his pictures and information current and has subsequently received an international ward. Kudos to him and all who have provided assistance. The website provides a great source of information regarding our fishing heritage, harbor infrastructure and general industry news. A good read for those interested and it seems to be updated regularly.

Pictured above in Hout Bay, is three of the former S.A. Sea Products vessels now in the tuna pole sector moored alongside each other namely from left to right; "Hangberg," "Sneeuberg" & "Constantiaberg," while a fourth sister vessel the "Barbara W" which moored directly in front of them has now sunk. At present all four vessels have different owners, and were used as crayfish boats in days gone by. This picture and caption are from their website for your information. (www.trawlerheritage.co.za)

With this year's blessings having been bestowed, all that remains is for the patient arrival of the tuna. Good luck to all and may this season be better than the last.