Tag Archives: Tuna Industry

Philippines’ tuna industry reels from rising fuel prices

Veteran longline fisherman Miguel Mayola eased his boat gingerly into the port of General Santos City after a month at sea with his crew in deep waters off Bongao, a finger-shaped island at the southwestern tip of the Philippines. The 39-year-old captain, his leathery face weather-beaten by years of toiling in an industry that has made many buyers rich from the tuna he fishes, was now waiting to see whether his prized catch could net him enough money. He needed the cash for his family and 13-man crew, and to fund another fishing expedition. “It’s hard work but we can’t do anything. It’s really hard with prices of crude and gasoline rising, and our families have nobody to rely on but us fishermen,” Mayola said.  >click to read< 07:55

TUNAVILLE – Point Loma’s proud Portuguese past, and present

The Point Loma boundaries of Lowell to Talbot streets, and as high up the peninsula as Willow Street, by the 1930s, had earned the moniker “Tunaville.” Here has been home to an immigrant Portuguese populace settled as far back as 1885, and by the 1940s had become a bustling tuna fishermen’s haven. Early Portuguese fishing settlements grew along the base of Kellogg and McCall streets in La Playa and Roseville. Interestingly, the natural tidelands at the time meandered as far inland as today’s Scott Street. “In remarkably short order, each fisherman owned his own dory. photos, >click to read< 14:58

Commercial Tuna Fisherman Pete Battaglia and dozens of others working in the tuna industry are stuck in American Samoa

Battaglia is a long-time navigator in the tuna industry and runs U.S. boats out of American Samoa, which along with being a U.S. territory is also one of our country’s tuna hubs. While Battaglia and his crew were out at sea at the beginning of March, the COVID-19 pandemic led to new travel restrictions across the world. The fishermen returned to port to find customs agents in hazmat gear and commercial travel suspended to and from the island. Weeks have now turned into months and their family members fear their return could be well past Christmas. >click to read< 07:20

Repackaged, Warmed-Over PR Ploys From Greenpeace: Different Hashtag, Same Scam

earthjustice $upereco-manHow many times can Greenpeace recycle the same old publicity stunts before they finally exhaust the gullibility of the news media?  That seems to be the wager behind the global fundraising organization’s announcement of its latest manufactured attack on the seafood industry.  In a press release Greenpeace executive John Hocevar—who lacks real-world expertise in fisheries management specifically and commercial enterprise generally—lists off imagined crimes against sustainability committed by the tuna industry and ominously warns “there is no future” for providing tuna to consumers.  He threatens “a global pressure campaign” unless “the entire tuna industry” switches to fishing practices that he prefers. Pole and Line! Read the rest here 15:59

Governor Lolo Moliga relays American Samoa Tuna Industry concerns to Coast Guard

Governor Lolo Moliga has asked that the US Coast Guard inform the American Samoa Fisheries Task Force whenever a fishing boat is held for longer than 24 hours. And that the canneries routinely are frustrated in their fish procurement operations when boat owners or reefer carrier owners refuse to deliver to American Samoa out of concern for what they perceive to be over zealous Coast Guard boarding parties and inspections. The effect of this he said is that fish that could come to our canneries are lost to other markets that are not guarded by the Coast Guard. The governor told the Admiral this is disturbing on multiple levels. Read the rest here 10:36