Expiration of RP-Indon fishing pact worries GenSan officials

GENERAL SANTOS CITY — Local officials are wary about the possible termination of the bilateral fishing agreement between the Philippines and Indonesia in December that could adversely affect the local economy and increase unemployment.

Anticipating possible setbacks in the local economy, Mayor Pedro Acharon urged local players in the fishing industry to invest in manufacturing, tourism, agriculture and other sectors.

"In view of some uncertainties in the ongoing negotiation to renew the bilateral agreement, we are encouraging our businessmen to start pouring capital in other interests aside from fishing," he told the participants in last week’s forum in celebration of "Business Month."

Acharon said top government officials have been negotiating with Indonesia the renewal of the bilateral agreement in a bid to arrest the possible adverse effects of its termination on the local fishing industry.

The local economy is 70 percent dependent on the fishing industry, which has contributed four percent to the Gross National Product.

"We are worried that thousands of people employed in the fishing industry will be displaced, while the city government will lose millions of revenues," Acharon said.

The accord allows Filipino fishing companies to "catch tuna and tuna-like species within the Indonesian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)."

Signed in 2002, the agreement also provides licenses to Filipino-owned fishing fleets comprised of 75 catcher vessels, 150 fish carriers, 20 long liners, 300 light boats, and 10 single purse seiners, and access to the Pacific and Indian Ocean portion of the Indonesian EEZ.

It also allows Philippine fishing boats to offload and resupply at 10 Indonesian ports.

Acharon said the Philippine government will ask Indonesia to reconsider its plan to allow Filipino fishing boats to fish in Indonesian waters provided that they will unload their catch in fish canneries in Indonesia and not in the Philippines.

"If that is the case, then the P50-billion local fishing industry will be adversely affected, thus the government will be losing huge revenues while unemployment will rise," Acharon said.

Sources in the fishing sector said talks between representatives of the National Tuna Industry Council and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and their Indonesian counterparts are ongoing.

For his part, Sarangani Gov. Miguel Dominguez said the renewal of the bilateral fishing agreement is deemed important to prevent industry players from transferring their capital to other countries.

"The failure of the Philippine team to work for an extension may eventually lead to a capital flight by local fishing firms to Indonesia, thus dashing the economic momentum the tuna industry has brought to the area," he said.

Dominguez said Sarangani would be affected in case of a capital flight since the province and General Santos City, touted as the country’s "Tuna Capital," are "economically intertwined."

He attributed the significant growth of the local tuna industry to the bilateral fishing agreement, saying that daily tuna landings in the city’s fishport "cost less when sold in the Japanese market."

Dominguez urged businessmen to improve tuna post-harvest facilities such as "floating modern processing and storage boats" in rich tuna fishing grounds to be more globally competitive.