Foreign Fishery Developments

The Tuna Fishery ofthe Republic of South Africa

The Republic of South Africa has thecontinent's largest and most modernfishing industry. Resource proble!lls,partly caused by extensive foreign fish­ing, have caused severe economic prob­lems in the industry. The tuna fisheryplays a minor role in that industry, butunlike most other fisheries it has recent­ly undergone a dramatic expansion.

Catch

South Africa's 1979 total tuna catchof 7,500 metric tons (t) represents onlyslightly more than 1 percent of SouthAfrica's average annual fisheries catchof approximately 620,000 t. The coun­try's small tuna fishery, however, is un­dergoing a rapid expansion. The catchtotal of 7,500 tin 1979 is a 1,350 percentincrease over the 1978 catch of 500 t.Preliminary reports for 1980 suggestedthat the catch would be below that of1979.

Industry Expansion

The South African tuna industry be­gan to expand over the last half of the1970's. The expansion became dramaticin 1979, as prices for tuna rose andyellowfin tuna hit $2,000 per ton in April1979, well over the $1,600 per ton whichthe South Africans consider to be thelowest price at which tuna fishing wasviable.

Trawlers and purse seiners, idled byclosures in other fisheries, as well asrock lobster vessels idled by fallingprices for that species, were deployed inthe tuna fishery. The fishermen at firstchose pole-and-line fishing because thegear was inexpensive and no costly ves­sel modifications had to be made. The

November 1981. 4311 J)

vessels could thus easily be reconvertedfor use in their original fishery. Somevessels specifically designed for tunafishing, however, were added to the fleetin 1980.

The South Africans have dramatical­ly increased their total tuna catch since1977. The total annual tuna catch sur­passed 200 t only in 1977, when itreached 285 t. The catch doubled in1978, reaching over 500 t. So many newentrants began fishing in 1979 that thecatch increased a phenomenal 1,350percent to almost 7,500 t (Table 1).

The species composition of the catchhas changed as the South Africans havedeveloped the fishery. The most impor­tant species caught was albacore until1977. Albacore traditionally made upmore than one- half of the total tunacatch, while skipjack and yellowfin tunaalternated as a distant second and third.The expansion of the industry has comemostly in yellowfin tuna, which jumpedfrom a negligible catch of 6 t in 1976 toover 280 t in 1978 (Table 1). The 1978yellowfin tuna total represented over 50percent of that year's total tuna catch.Catch data by species is not available for1979, but the NMFS Division of Foreign

Table 1.-South Africa's funa catch in metric tons. by yearand species 1.

Catch (t)

Species 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979

Atlantic bonito 5 4 16 NA'Skipjack 1 40 90 NAAlbacore 154 35 74 126 NAYellow!in 18 6 167 281 NA

- -Total 178 41 285 513 7,483

'Source: FAO "Yearbook of Fishery Statistics,' 1978. andpreliminary 1979 figures.

'NA Not available

Fisheries Analysis believes that much ofthe increased catch was yellowfin tuna.

South African fishermen are increas­ing their yellowfin catch by fishing in theregion 150-200 miles sou th of CapeAgulhas, the southernmost point ofSouth Africa. Large stocks of yellowfintuna migrate to this area both in thesummer and in the winter, and havetraditionally been fished by Taiwaneseand Japanese fishermen using long­liners. South Africans first started fish­ing south of Cape Agulhas in 1977, butonly since 1979 have they had largeenough vessels and modern enoughequipment to fish the winter schools.Approximately 40 vessels from SouthAfrica, Japan, and Taiwan fished fortuna in this region in 1979 and the totaltuna catch was between 1,500 and 2,000t per month.

Investments

South Africans have made consider­able investments in the tuna fishery. Inaddition to the conversion of alreadyexisting vessels for use as tuna pole­and-line vessels, several new vesselshave been purchased from abroad andothers built in South Africa. Additionalfreezing equipment has been installedon the existing vessels. Processing com­panies have constructed ice plants, blastfreezers, and cold stores on shore tosupport the expanding fishery. A majorSouth African fishing publication esti­mated in October 1979 that approxi­mately $2.6 million had been invested inthe tuna industry over the previous 6months.

Note: Unless otherwise credited. ma­terial in this section is from either theForeign Fishery Information Releases(FFIRl compiled by Sunee C. Sonu.Foreign Reporting Branch. FisheryDevelopment Division. Southwest Re­gion. National Marine Fisheries Serv­ice, NOAA. Terminal Island. CA9073 I. or the International FisheryReleases (lFR) or Language ServicesBiweekly (LSB) reports produced bythe Office of International FisheriesAffairs. National Marine FisheriesService. NOAA. Washington. DC20235.

2]

Continued expansion of the SouthAfrican tuna industry has implicationsfor the country's international Ilsheryrelations. Taiwan and Japan, along withIsrael, are the only countries to havesigned Ilshing agreements with SouthAfrica since it implemented its 200­mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)on 1 November 1977. T~·~ Taiwaneseagreement. unlike the agreement withJapan and Israel, covers only tuna. Twohundred Taiwanese and Japanese ves­sels, many of which fIshed for tuna, werereported in 1979 to be fIshing in SouthAfrica's waters, but in early 1980 theywere reported to be pulling out of theirbases in Cape Town and other SouthAfrican ports because of high fuel costs.

If the South African tuna industrycontinues to expand and prosper. SouthAfrican fIshermen can be expected topressure their government not to renewTaiwanese and Japanese Ilshing li­censes. The only factor which could off­set this pressure is the fact that the SouthAfrican Government signs fIshery agree­ments in exchange for trade considera­tions in areas other than Ilsheries, andthese considerations might be more im­portant to the Government than theplans of South African Ilshermen to ex­pand their activities.

Prospects

Further expansion of the ind ustryseems likely, unless 1979 proves to onlyrepresent an unusually high occurrenceof tuna off South Africa. CertainlySouth Africa could rapidly increase itscatch if stocks could sustain a signifJ­cantly increased effort. South Africa'slarge and modern fJshing industry hasalready demonstrated its ability to ex­pand its activities over a short period oftime, and has the capacity for consider­able further expansion. In addition,South African fishing industry sourcesreport that stocks of bigeye, albacore,and bluefin tuna are to be found in thewaters west of the areas where yellowfintuna is now being caught. These stocks,combined with those now being aban­doned by the Taiwanese and Japanesetshermen, may enable South Africantuna Ilshermen to continue the expan­sion of the country's tuna Ilshery.(Source: IFR-80/171.)

24

Finland Imports andExports More Fish

The quantity of fishery imports byFinland increased by 10 percent from239.000 metric tons (tl in 1979 Lo263.000 t in 1980. The value of theseimports increased by 21 percent fromUS$91 million in 11)79 to USS III mil­lion in 1980. Imports of Ilsh offal andfish meal increased by 9.000 Land12.000 t, respectively.

Meanwhile. Finland's exports of fIsh-

ery products increased by more than 40percent from 2.688 t in 1979 to 4,020 tin1980, while their value increased bymore than 150 percent from USS2.7million in 1979 to USS6.7 million in1980. This change was caused mainly byan increase in the exports of cannedfishery products (mostly sardines) from271 t to 881 l. Fresh fish exports morethan doubled to 660 t. Eastern Europe­an nations were the largest importers ofFinnish canned products. (Source:IFR-81/138.)

Marine Fishenes Rel'iell'

Source: FAO "Yearbook of Fishery Statistics. 1978 and ICCATStatlstical Bulletin," 1978

Table 1.-Angola's catch of tuna and luna·like species. 1973·78.

Catch (t)

Species 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978

Skipjack luna 1,443 3,474 652 1,514 4.036 3,501Yellow!in tuna 603 839 55 1,005 2.085 2.296Lit1le luna 970 1,287 449 10 1.326 826Frigate and bullet tuna 1.119 1,536 535 27 198 357Atlantic bonito 499 351 38 831 938 531W. African Spanish mackerel 348 20 81

- - -Total 4,634 7,835 1,729 3,387 8,603 7.592

The Tuna Fisheryof Angola

Angola has one of Africa's most im­portant tuna Dsheries. The Dshery hasrecovered from the economic disloca­tions of the civil disturbances whichfollowed independence from Portugalin 1975 much more quickly than theother sectors of the Dshing industry. It isnow becoming an increasingly importantpart of the country's Dshing industry.

Catch

Angola's total Dsheries catch droppedprecipitously after independence, froma high of 470,000 metric tons (t) in 1973to a low of 74,000 t in 1976 and hadrecovered to only 118,000 t in 1978. Thetuna Dshery, on the other hand, reachedits low of 1.700 t in 1975, recoveredquickly, and even expanded, so that the1977 tuna catch of 8,600 t exceeded thepreindependence record of 7,800 t re­ported in 1974 (Table I). Thus, theAngolan tuna Dshery rose from only 2percent of the total Dsheries catch in1974 to 6 percent in 1978. No data isavailable for 1979 and 1980, but uncon­Drmed reports indicate that catches inOctober 1980 were very good.

Vessels

Although little information on Angolais available, it seems that the resilience

of the tuna fishery is related to the factthat the tuna fleet was not as adverselyaffected by the 1975-76 civil distur­bancesas was the restof the Dshing fleet.Many of Angola's other Ilshing vesselswere either destroyed in the 1975-76disturbances or moved to other coun­tries when the Portuguese left in 1975.ICCATstatisticsindicate,however,that45 Angolan tuna vessels were fishing offthecountry'scoastin 1978,onlytwolessthan the number of vessels in the fleetduring 1970 (data for the years immedi­ately preceeding the J975-76 distur­bances are not available). Thus, eitherthe tuna fleet was not affected by theIlghting or Angola has succeeded in re­placing its tuna vessels.

Foreign Fishing

The only foreign countries currentlyknown to be catching tuna in Angolanwaters are Cape Verde and Spain. Anagreement with Cape Verde allowsthree of that country's tuna vessels tofish off Angola from October to May,when there is little tuna in Cape Verde'swaters. The termsoftheagreemen twi thCape Verde are not known, but it isbelieved that mostofthe catch is landedin Angolan ports.

Spain, whose Dshermen operated off

Angola before independence, continuedto Dsh off Angola after independencewithout an agreement. Some of theSpanish vessels were seized by Angolanau thori ties .and Spai nfI nailyconel udeda Dsheries agreement with Angola inJune 1980.The3- yearagreementgrantsSpain an allocation of 12,000 t of tuna,12,000 tofhake,and J8,000 tofshellfishoff Angola, in exchange for license feesand technical assistance. The Spanishreported good 1980 catches.

Angola licensed Congo vessels tocatch tuna in J979. Apparently theCongo did not renew the licenses in1980 and Angola seized the Anzika, anItalian-built vessel with a carrying ca­pacityof I ,200t. AngolaconDscated thecatch of about J00 t and the net.

Prospects

Prospects for the Angolan tuna fJsh­eryare hard to determine. Although sta­tisticsi ndicatecontinued growth for thefishery, thedearthofinformationmakesit difficult to determine what the futureof the industry will be. At present, itcanbe said that the Angolan tuna fJsherycontinues to be one of the most impor­tant in Africa, as well as an increasinglyimportan t sectorof the cou ntry's fish ingindustry. (Source: IFR-RO/178.l

JAPAN AN 0 FRANCEEXTEND FISH PACT

Japan and France have extended theirearlier Iisheries agreement on 3 July1981 for another 13 months. The previ­ous 15-month pact would have endedon 19 July 1981.

Thus, Japanese tuna longliners andskipjack pole-and-line vessels will be al­lowed to operate inside the 200- milezone in live French overseas territories:New Caledonia, French Polynesia,Wallis Futuna, Tromelin and Glovi­euses. and Clipperton. The maximumcatch quota given to the Japanese forthe duration of the agreement was set at12.900 t; 490 Japanese vessels will beallowed to Iish and their owners willhave to pay a Iishing fee of US$541.000.(Source: IFR-8J/ 138.)

November /981. 43r III 25

in August 19KO, The Donna H landed itsfIrst load of tuna, reportedly 220 t. dur­ing Octoher and the owners werepleased with the vessel's operation, Thenew crew was then still being trainedand it took over 12 days to unload thecatch, The second Norwegian seiner.the Stendel. was delivered in December.Each succeeding vessel was scheduledto be delivered in4- month intervals withall seven scheduled to be delivered be­fore the end of 1981.

SFC, a state- owned company, hasonly a few tuna vessels (exact numberunknown l. but its tuna catching capaci­ty was expected to be greatly expandedby the purchase of two 80 m tuna seinerswith carrying capacities of 1.200 t whichwere constructed by the Italian shipyardSocieta Esercizio Cantieri. The fIrst ves­sel. the Bonsa, was delivered in J980 buthad not then been deployed in the fIsh­ery. The second vessel. the Via Reggio,was also to be launched in late 1980.The Italian Government helped fInancethis and other projects in West Africa toassist Italian shipyards. The contractwith the Italians stipulated that the de­sign of the vessels had to conform toLloyd's standards, so there were manyexpensive, sophisticated backup sys­tems, This made the vessels expensiveand also made key areas of the vessels,

rJ

Guinea

Ivory Coasl:=:::::::::::::===::::::;'1

'ltiSbelieved that these vessels are multipur­pose vessels which can he employed in otherfisheries.

Ghana's largest fIshing company. hasthree joint tuna ventures: One with aU.S. tuna company. one with a Japanesetuna company, and the third in conjunc­tion with both companies.

Mankoadze's tuna Beet consists ofpole- and-line vessels, tuna purse sein­ers, and refrigerated transports, and iscurrently being expanded by the addi­tion of eight more purse seiners underconstruction in Norway which report­edly have carrying capacities of 800 teach. The fIrst of these seiners ', theDonna H, was delivered to Mankoadze

The Tuna Fisheryof Ghana

The fIshing industry of Ghana is onlyAfrica's eighth largest, but its tuna fIsh­ery is one of Africa's most important.Ghana's total 197R fIsheries catch was260,000 metric tons (t), well behindAfrica's two leading fIshing nations,South Africa (628,000 t) and Nigeria(519,000 t), Ghanaian fIshermen caughta record 20,900 t of tuna and tuna-likespecies in 1977, more than any otherAfrican country, Tuna seiners underconstruction in Norway and Italy willenable Ghana to signifIcantly increaseits tuna catch. The new vessels will alsoallow Ghana to shift fIshing effort to themore valuable tuna species such as yel­10wfIn and skipjack tuna.

Fishermen

Ghana has both an artisanal and acommercial tuna fIshery. Because of theimportance of artisanal fIshing, theGhanaian tuna fIshery is currently oneof the least modern in Africa. Ghana'sartisanal fIshermen bring in approxi­mately two- thirds of the country's totaltuna catch. They generally fIsh within afew kilometers of the coast, usingpirogues (small wooden canoes about6-8 m long) and nets. These fishermenare thus dependent on fInding tunaclose to the coast. When climatic condi­tions affect the tuna's migratory patternsso they do not appear in such largenumbers close to the coast. as apparent­ly occurred in 1978. the artisanal catchcan drop precipitously.

Fishin~ Fleet

Ghana's small commercial LishingBeet is dominated by two companies.Mankoadze Fisheries Ltd. and the StateFishing Corporation (SFC). Mankoadze.

26 Marille Fisheries Rel'le!\'

'Source: U.S. Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census.'Totals may not agree due to roundin9.

Table 1.-Ghana's catch of tuna and tuna-like species in metric tons. 1974-1978'.

Catch (t)

1978

6,0492.8661.287

807485185

9

11,688

1,487.576.6

123.7246.8

1.934.6

1977

544,661

14,605740649230

9

20,948

26.14,4425

131.0564.2182.0

5.345.8

768.1674,284

555451664

1976

14,197

Table 2.-Ghana's tuna shipments to the United States. product weight, 1977-1979'.

Quantity (t) Value (US $1.000)

Item 1977 1978 1979 1977 1978 1979

FrozenAlbacore 2.6 59.2 1.2Skipjack tuna 3.1315 6,816.9 3,405.5 759.2Yellowfin tuna 232.1 367.0 182.6 88.2Other 4260 745.9 146.5 140.9

Canned 76.2 89.5

Total' 3.792.2 8.065.2 3.8240 989,4

Species 1974 1975

'Source: FAO "Yearbook of Fishery Statistics," 1978.

Little tuna 66 138Skipjack tuna 701 5.937Fri9ate and bullet tuna 6,295 5,997West African Spanish mackerel 3,513 598Yellowfin tuna 342 567Bigeye tuna 280Atlantic bonito 33 20

Total 10,950 13,537

such as the engine room, crowded anddifficult to work in. The contract alsorequired the Ghanaians to hire a knowl­edgeable firm to operate the vessels2

•

The Ghanaians were negotiating with aU.S. tuna company.

Ghana may have difficulties crewingsuch a large number of new vessels. Themasters and more highly skilled posi­tions in West African tuna seiners arefrequently filled by Europeans. Foreigncompanies which manage West Africanfleets often like to employ fishermenfrom countries other than the countrywhere the vessel is based. They find thatthe local fishermen do not like long voy­ages and often object to returning to seawith only a short port call. Oddlyenough, crew members are often fromMali, Upper Yolta, and other land­locked, but economically depressedcountries. There also tend to be a lot ofMalagasy crew members.

Port

Tema, the main port of the Ghanaianfishing industry, is also the center of thecountry's tuna fishery. Tema's existingport, which was opened in 1960. in­cludes 12 berths, one oil berth, a dry­dock, and a slipway. Ghana's two can­neries are also located in Tema, andboth primarily process tuna. There areseveral cold stores in the city which areused to hold frozen tuna for transship­ment to other countries. Tema is Africa'sthird largest tuna transshipment center,after Abidjan and Dakar, and largeamounts of frozen tuna caught by for­eign fishermen pass through Tema eachyear.

Catch

Ghana's tuna catch totaled 11,700 t in1978 and consisted mainly of little, skip­jack, and frigate tunas. J Catches of thesespecies have fluctuated widely since

'The SFC has a fleet of stern trawlers. and theItalians were concerned about the number ofvessels currently idled in Tema in need of repair.'Frigate mackerel. Auxis {hazard. and bulletmackerel. A. rachei, are sometimes referred toas "tunas." In this report. the FAO system hasbeen followed, which groups the two speciesand West African Spanish mackerel. Scam­beromOf1IS {ri/Or. with the tunas.

1976 (Table 1). Frigate and bullet tunas,traditionally the most important speciescaught, are taken mainly by artisanalfishermen. The catch of these species,however, was severely affected by chang­ing migratory patterns in 1978. It is notknown why the catch of little tuna in­creased so sharply in 1978. The increasecould represent a change in reportingpractices or possibly the incorrect iden­tification of species.4 No data is availablefor 1979 and 1980. Unconfirmed re­ports suggest, however, that catcheshave been below average in both years.

Processing

The tuna processing industry inGhana is small, consisting of only twocanneries. Both canneries, located inTema, are currently underutilized. Oneof the canneries is associated with a U.S.company which is extremely pleasedwith the quality of the canned product.A project to open a third cannery atElmina, in central Ghana, was shelved

'u.S. tuna imports from Ghana increased sharp­ly in 1978. but primarily because of increasedskipjack imports. not little tuna.

by the Ghanaian Government becausethe existing canneries were not beingfully utilized. The Government did takesteps to improve the position of the can­ning industry by changing the country'sforeign fishery regulations.

Exports

No statistical data is available onGhanaian exports. The NMFS Divisionof Foreign Fisheries Analysis believes,however, that most of the tuna canned inGhana is exported, primarily to theEuropean Economic Community coun­tries. Frozen tuna is also exported ortransshipped, although no Ghanaiandata is available on these shipments.United States import data suggests thata large part of the Ghanaian skipjackcatch is shipped frozen to the UnitedStates, al though statistical analysis iscomplicated by the possibility that sometuna caught by foreign vessels and pro­cessed in Ghana may be included in theU.S. import data (Table 2).

Foreign Fishing

Ghanaian Minister of Agriculture E.K. Andah has sought to change Ghan­aian fishing regulations. Foreign fisher­men were formerly requested to land 20

November N81. 4](1 I} 27

The Mexican Fish Meal Industry

percent of their catch in Ghana, to per­cent as a fishing fee and 10 percent forsale to Ghanaian canneries. Govern­ment officials were negotiating new ar­rangements with foreign fishermen. TheGovernment sought to impose a flat feeof $150 per GRT, but would like thefishermen to continue selling at least 10percent of this catch to local canneries.The Government also planned to chargeforeign reefer and longline vessels52,000 per port call. These new regula­tions were expected to go into effect on1 January 1981.

Foreign fishermen landed or trans­shipped 30,000 t of tuna in Ghana dur­ing 1977, the last year for which statis­tics are available. This level seems likelyto decline in the future, if it has notalready begun to do so. Ghana's newfisheries law, the Fisheries Decree of1979, limits foreign fishing in Ghanaianwaters and encourages foreign fisher­men to form joint ventures with majorityGhanaian ownership. It is unclear whateffect the decree has had on foreigntuna fishing activities thus far, as therewere already several joint tuna ventures.It is possible, however, that the new reg­ulations could lead to the eventual phas­ing out of foreign fishing in Ghanaianwaters over the course of the next sever­al years.

Prospects

The NMFS Division of Foreign Fish­eries Analysis believes that the Ghanaiantuna catch should show substantial in­creases by 19RI and 1982. The com­mercial fishery will surpass the artisanalfishery in importance as the new Norwe­gian and Italian seiners are added to thefleet. These new vessels will allow theGhanaian fishermen to direct a substan­tially increased effort on yellowfin andskipjack tunas and become one of WestAfrica's leading tuna fishing nations.(Source: IFR-RO/ 181.)

RAFTS TESTED TOATTRACT TUNAS

An experiment aiming to attract tunaschools with artificial drifting rafts byJapan Marine Resources Research Cen-

28

ter has reportedly achievel! initial suc­cess. Fou' rafts.lv,(\ made with speci311ydesigned metal iubt:s and two withmosho bamboo. wert: placed in theSouth Pacific last November. and fIshbegan to congregate in February. So far.the Center-chartered purse seinerFukuichi Maru (49l,J gross tons) caught35 metric tons (t) in on.-: setting, anl!another rurse seiner. the Nij7f'On Maru(999 gross tons). 123 t in three settings inthe vicinity of the rafts.

The strength of the anchor line cur­rently in use is said to limit the depth ofplacement of the raft to about 2.000 m.but the manufacturer reportedly claimsthat the depth of placement could bedoubled with the use of a thicker line.The Center is reported to be planning tocontinue the experiment for the rest ofthe year.

Locations of the rafts are as follows:No. I raft (metal): lat. 2°S. long.156°24'E, water depth l.6RO m: No.2raft (metal): lat. 2°S. long. 156°II'E,water depth 1.760 m: No.3 raft (moshobamboo): lat. 1°50'5. long. 156°l2'E.water depth 1.700 m: No.4 raft (moshobamboo): lat. 10 50'S, long. 156°20'E.water depth I JOO m. Announcedcatches are as follows: Nippon Manl,Feb. 22 (10 I), Feb. 24 (24 I), Feb. 26(75 t); Fukuichi Manl, Feb. 4 (35 t).(Source: FFIR HI-5.)

Meanwhile, technicians of the Inter-

The Mexican fIsheries developmentpolicy is aimed at increasing the coun­try's fIsheries catch as 4uickly as possi­ble to meet the domestic fooel needs of arapidly growing population. The De­partment of Fisheries (DEPESl, howev­er, is becoming increasingly concernedabout the effects of unrestricted fIshingalong the country's PacifIc coast forspecies which will be reduced to flShmeal. DEPES officials recognize thatthe fish meal industry has lessened thedependence of Mexico's importantpoultry industry on fIsh meal imports.Nevertheless, DEPES is concerned

American Commission on TropicalTuna plan to test a system based onbalsa rafts for at~racting tuna. The pro­cedure is an adaptation of one the Phil­ippine fIshermen have used for manyyears with good results.

The rafts are made of wood and poly­urethane and measure :1.6 m long by 1.2m wide and 30 cm thick. From the bot­tom and sides hang old nets which. itseems. attract tuna with their undula­tions. On top of the raft. on a tripod, areposition lights and a radar globe andreflector to prevent collisions withboats.

According to Philippine fIshermen.the tuna congregate around floating ob­jects of this type and are therefore mucheasier to catch. Commission technicianswant to use this method to permit thecapture of tuna without affecting thedolphins which usually accompany theschools.

According to the plan. fIve rafts willbe experimentally positioned off thecoasts of southern Mexico and CentralAmerica beyond the 200- mile limit andoff navigational routes. The principalproblem will be anchoring them in theprojected areas of 2,000 fathoms 0.600m) depth. For this, a combination ofsteel and synthetic cables will be at­tached to 200 liter drums full of con­crete.(Source: LSB 81-8.)

about the increasing fIshing effort andthe utilization of such a large quantity offIsh for animal feed instead of for humanconsumption.

Government officials and executivesof the fish meal companies met underthe auspices of the Comision NacionalConsultiva de Pesca (CNCP) to workout regulations for the Mexican fIshmeal industry. The meeting was chairedby Jose Gonzalez Peelrero (CNCP Ex­ecutive Secretary) and coordinated byNarciso J. Sora Barragan (CNCP Assis­tant Secretary) and Adrian Roa Navar­rete (Chief of the Office of Coordination

Marine Fisheries Rel'iell'

of the North Pacific). The Governmentand the companies reached agreementon several important matters:

I) The fish meal industry accepteuthe Government's policy of reservingthe sardine and anchovy catch primarilyfor human consumption,

2) The ush meal industry agreed togradually substitute the nonedible por­tion of the shrimp by-catch for the sar-

dine and anchovy that are now beingreduced to fish meal.

3) The Government promised to re­strict authori..-:ations for the construc­tion of new fish meal and oil reductionplants to protect the interests of existingush meal and oil producing companies.

4) The Government will implementprograms which will enable canners toincrease production, thus making larger

Ljuantities of offal available to the fishmeal plants.

)) A study will be maue concerningthe feasibility of using vessels owned hythe fish meal companies to supply can­neries.

6) The fish meal companies will studythe possibility of shifting some of theirproduction into edible products (fish pro­tein concentrate). (Source: IFR-8J11l1.)

World Fish Meal World fish meal production totaled produced in 1979(Table I).Thedecline

and Oil Production4.6 million metric tons (t) in 1980, a 5 was princi pallyd ue to production short-percent uecline from the 4.9 million t falls in Latin America where increased

production by Chile and Ecuador didnot make up for sharply reduced pro-

Table 1.-World production of fish meal' and oil ("1,000 1),1977-81. duction in Peru. The new governmentContinent

Meal Oil in Peru is promoting the production ofand nation 1977 1978 1979 1980' 1981' 1977 1978 1979 1980' 1981' ed iblefisheryprod uctsand has restricted

Africa reduction fishing. Projections for 19tHAngola 14 14 14 14 14 5 5 5 5 5Morocco 12 21 17 16 15 6 9 4 3 3 suggest that total world production willS.Africa 176 191 170 160 160 26 47 48 50 50 be close to 1980 levels.- - - - - - - - -

Total 202 226 201 190 189 37 61 57 58 58 World fish oil production totaled [.1Asia million t(preliminaryestimate) in 1980,

Japan 805 845 890 850 850 180 297 31"1 260 2"15a [Opercentdeclinefrom the 1.3millionPakistan 17 20 20 20 20

S. Korea 13 13 13 13 13 2 t produced in 1979 (Table 1). SharplyThailand 138 145 180 200 200

- -~ -- -- reduced production in Peru, which ac-Total 973 1.023 1.103 1.083 1.083 181 299 318 261 276

tually had to import flSh oil in 1980 forEurope the first time in several years, was pri-Denmark 337 333 334 370 350 96 79 84 80 75

Finland 4 3 4 4 4 marily responsible for the decline. Pro-France 18 18 20 20 20 3 3 3 3 3

jections for 1981 suggest that world fishIceland 162 201 215 165 165 74 97 90 80 80Norway 465 332 335 265 265 232 178 189 180 180 oil production will be near the 1980 level.Poland 63 52 50 50 50Portugal 13 13 13 13 13 5 5 5 5 5 (Source: IFR-SI/72.)Spain 36 36 36 36 35 6 6 6 6 6Sweden 8 7 7 7 7 5 5 5 5 5United Kingdom 78 66 50 50 50 2 2 2 2 2USS.R 579 580 580 580 580 76 82 82 82 82W. Germany 49 45 45 45 45 11 13 13 13 13

-- -- - - - - The EC SetsTotal 1.808 1.683 1.685 1.601 1.580 514 471 483 460 455

North America A Tariff-FreeBermuda 47 38 15 15 15

Eel QuotaCanada 50 74 62 57 57 13 8 11 10 10Mexico 46 50 70 80 80 1 9 9 10 10Panama 31 18 20 35 30 13 5 5 5 5 The EC Council has established anUnited States 303 395 387 375 360 60 134 121 141 135 eel quota of 6,800 t which may enter- - - - - - - -

Total 477 575 554 562 542 87 156 146 166 160 the EC market tariff- free. The move wasSouth America made to alleviate the present shortage of

Argentina 23 23 25 25 25 5 5 5 5 5Chile 249 369 450 480 500 58 76 109 95 95 supplies to European eel processors.Ecuador 83 101 76 100 100 6 10 15 21 21 The primary reason for the decline inPeru 497 670 683 475 500 106 129 132 60 65

- -- -- -- -- - - - - - the West European eel catch is reportedTotal 852 1.163 1.234 1.080 1.125 175 220 261 181 186

Other nations 113 110 110 105 106 10 9 3 9 10to be increased pollution, especially inthe Federal Republic of Germany. Near-

Grand total 4,425 4,780 4.887 4.621 4.625 1.004 1.216 1.268 1.135 1.145 Iy one- third of the tariff- free quota has'Includes fish solubles. dry weight basis. where separately classified. been allocated to German eel import-2Preliminary ers.'Predicted.'Includes South West Africa and production from factory ships. (Source: IFR-81/138.)

November /98/.43(11) 21)