undersized. A researcher from Greenpeace holds a juvenile tuna sold in the General Santos City fish port. Generally, the size of mature and able to reproduce Tuna is one meter. (Contributed)
Philippine tuna industry tolerates baby tuna catching — Greenpeace
JUVENILE or ‘baby’ skipjack, yellowfin and bigeye tuna are unloaded regularly at the General Santos fish port.
Greenpeace compiled evidence that confirmed juvenile ‘baby’ yellowfin and bigeye tuna are being traded at substantially less than the average size at maturity of 1 meter in length, and even below the weight limit of 500g, set by Fisheries Administrative Order (FAO) 226, which allows the catching and trading of juvenile tunas as small as 500 grams in weight or just tens of centimeters long. Bigeye and yellowfin tuna are considered mature and able to reproduce when they are about a meter long.
The Western and Central Pacific Commission (WCPFC) Scientific Committee released information that the current population of the Pacific bluefin tuna is now estimated to be only at 4.2 percent, and bigeye tuna at 16 percent of its original spawning biomass.
“Despite the red alert on bigeye tuna, fishing companies continue to fish them like there’s no tomorrow. It is time for the WCPFC to tackle unchecked overfishing and demand that member countries like the Philippines take proactive measures to arrest this alarming decline in the stocks,” said Mark Dia, Regional Oceans Campaigner for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, and an observer at the WCPFC.