The Philippines on Tuesday announced that a biological assessment of the country’s top three seafood exports — yellowfin, bigeye and skipjack tuna — is under way.
The study, which will run through August 2011, aims to determine the length at capture and spawning seasons of the tuna species. It also includes sexual maturity determination, sex ratios, age, length composition and length-weight relationship.
The year-long study will be conducted in 10 consecutive days each month in both municipal and commercial waters.
The research is being coordinated by the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (NFRDI) in cooperation with the National Stock Assessment Project (NSAP) of Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in Region 12.
The Western Central Pacific Fisheries Commission has declared a two-year fishing ban on tuna-purse seiners to allow dwindling stocks to regenerate. The Philippines has experienced a 25 percent drop in its seafood exports to the European market in the last five years.
“Our tuna resources are in a critical stage now. This is purposely the basis of this study,” said Sani Macabalang, regional director of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources. “This is to strengthen our tuna industry that constitutes more than USD 242 million of the total Mindanao exports in 2009.”
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