The tuna industry in the Philippines has cancelled its annual face-to-face meeting and opted to go virtual instead, according to an announcement from the Socsksargen Federation of Fishing and Allied Industries Inc.
The federation is the organizer of the shelved National Tuna Congress, which is the biggest gathering of the local tuna industry players previously taking place every September. The event this year will be replaced with online activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This difficult decision has been arrived at after a careful assessment of the present situation,” Socsksargen Federation of Fishing and Allied Industries President Andrew Philip Yu said.
A series of virtual fora, to be held from September to November this year, is a “proactive decisive move to ensure that the challenges, issues, and concerns confronting the fishing industry are actively attended to and deliberated by all stakeholders, and addressed by our global, regional, national, and local partners,” Yu said.
Yu called on the fishing and aquaculture industry to move forward and meet the government’s safety and health requirements during the pandemic.
The annual meeting has been attended by around 600 local and foreign people in recent years, including industry players, government officials, and non-government organizations. The attendants discuss major issues in the tuna industry, including the conservation and management of the species and other marine resources in the Philippines, the Philippine News Agency reported 16 July.
A lockdown on travel implemented to fight the COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to The Philippines’ tuna exports since March. Several flights from Santos City in Mindanao to Metro Manila were suspended, making it impossible for exporters to transport their fresh tuna, Santos’ key commodity. About five metric tons (MT) of tuna from Santos is exported every day to various countries in Asia, with Japan being the largest buyer. Tuna cargoes delivered from the city in the morning must be loaded in international flights before the middle of the day to ensure the freshness of the commodity.
However, the problem hindering the tuna exports has largely been resolved, as most commercial cargo flights have been resumed to help ship the fresh tuna to other markets, according to the news agency.
The Philippines earned revenue of PHP 20 billion (USD 407 million, EUR 346 million) from tuna exports in 2018.
