BFAR acts to protect share of RP fish exporters in lucrative EU market

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) is beefing up its fish inspection capability to ensure the country’s fish and fish products exporters do not get completely shut out of the restrictive European Union (EU) market.

"BFAR is now working together with other key government agencies and stakeholders of the industry to get the EU to give the Philippines better access for its fish and aquatic products exports to EU member countries. We are also making progress in our efforts to build our fish inspection capability that would comply with the sanitary and phytosanitary standards of the EU," said BFAR Director Malcolm Sarmiento Jr.

The local tuna canning industry in particular, has been urging the BFAR to hasten its acquisition of an EU certification to ensure continued access to its biggest market.

BFAR, attached to the Department of Agriculture (DA), is implementing measures required for the issuance of a certification that would in effect accredit Philippine tuna exports to EU’s 25 member countries. The $450 -million market is bigger than the US market.

"BFAR’s competence as an inspecting agency is critical to our exports to the EU. BFAR should be able to convince the EU to issue that certification, otherwise we could lose a substantial volume of the country’s tuna exports," said Francisco Buencamino, spokesperson of the Tuna Canners Association of the Philippines (TCAP).

Buencamino said local tuna canneries are upgrading of their facilities to comply with the more stringent EU standards. He noted, however, that several tuna canneries have yet to start the rehabilitation of their plants because of the rather prohibitive costs.

TCAP has been pushing its members to shape up in time for the arrival of the EU fishery inspection experts in June this year.

The Philippines is a major tuna exporter with an annual catch of about 100,000 metric tons. About 85 percent of the annual exports go to the EU and the United States while the rest go to smaller markets like China and Japan.

EU health and quarantine authorities were supposed to arrive in the country last November to look at improvements made by local fish processing plants and canneries, particularly in addressing reported inadequacies concerning Hazard Analysis on Critical Control Point (HACCP) standards.

"We are confident that the processing plants will be able to fully comply with the EU standards. To ensure that a ban is not implemented, we already delisted several non-complying exporters and it would be difficult for them to continue exporting without our accreditation," said Sarmiento.

BFAR’s action plan includes addressing concerns aired by the EU such as the inadequate sanitary conditions of facilities as well as histamine residue levels of products exported to the region.

The plan will raise BFAR’s capability to monitor and supervise exporting firms, particularly their fish inspection and quality control sections.

Sarmiento said the country was given a reprieve to continue exporting fishery and aquaculture products on condition that histamine in scombroid and banned antibiotics in aquaculture products are strictly observed.

Scombroids include tuna and tuna like species, while the banned antibiotics are nitrofurans and chloramphenicol.