Not Enough Fish

The world skipjack market again demonstrated its ability to recover from the depths experienced late in 1998. Strong weather activity throughout the central and Western Pacific has continually hampered fishing operations. The satellite picture on the next page shows the wide band of storms in this area. These up to date images can be found at the following Internet site:
http://satftp.soest.hawaii.edu/satlab/gms.html

While many fishing vessels are returning to fishing operations after the holidays and subsequent to shipyard repairs, they have not been able to catch enough fish to keep up with demand.

Poor skipjack catches also continue in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean. While the StarKist Ghana cannery is reported to have excess skipjack from their fishery, other Atlantic Ocean supplied canneries in Abidjan, Dakar and Spain are short of skipjack. It is reported that Spanish cannery prices have reached $1,000/mt. It is believed that Bangkok packers are now offering to pay $900 - $920/mt for Western Pacific skipjack. The following chart shows the recent skipjack price trend in Bangkok.

The UTC (United Tuna Cooperative) continues to build its membership and may now include 21 US based purse seiners. The organization is developing a broad-based marketing approach that will allow them to be less dependent on the Samoa canneries. This will also allow them to avoid costly unloading delays that are often experienced in Samoa. They are now marketing their catches to the Philippines, Fiji and Thailand in addition to Samoa. Recent Samoa prices for 4# skipjack have been reported to be about $760/st.

Eastern Pacific tuna catches year to date remain high. The following table compares catches (metric tons) this year to date through March 8th to the equivalent period last year.

In 1998 the ETP reached its catch quota maximum. If catches of yellowfin continue at the current rate, catches would reach levels in excess of last year. One wonders if the yellowfin quota could be increased to handle the additional tonnage that could be caught, or if the fishery will have to be closed early when a maximum catch quota is reached. This will likely be one of the topics discussed at the June 1999 IATTC meeting which is currently scheduled to take place in Ecuador.

The following chart dramatically shows how unusually high the skipjack catches are this year. The data for the chart was arrived at by calculating catches for four-week time periods from the IATTC weekly catch reports. It is believed that much of the increased skipjack catches are from the Ecuador based purse seine fleet which this year has caught slightly over half of all skipjack caught in the Eastern Pacific this year. The increased tonnage may be a combined function of increased effort and increased catch per day at sea.

However, it is also interesting to note on the following charts that CPDA figures for both vessels over 900 tons and under 900 tons capacity have been lower for skipjack for the last few weeks versus previous weeks this year.

The albacore market continues to show some signs of firming. Inquiries about purchasing US jig boat albacore are increasing. Oregon State University held an albacore marketing conference in Astoria, Oregon in early March. This meeting brought together producers, marketers and buyers of albacore. The main focus was directed towards finding a range of buyers that extends beyond the traditional cannery market. US fishermen were very disappointed early in the North Pacific season last year when they found that the US canneries were not interested in buying as much fish as they were catching. Fortunately, the market was saved from disaster when alternate markets were found for some of the fish and the US canners came back into the market towards the end of the season. BumbleBee provided strong support to the fishermen by developing a LIMITED CATCH ALL AMERICAN ALBACORE label that was exclusively used for this fish. The marketing of this product was reported to be so successful that they did not have enough product to meet all of the demand. The fishermen are hopeful that this product will again be successful this year. The positive efforts of the WFOA (Western Fishboat Owners Association) to get the US Government to initiate an institutional buying program for canned albacore also helped move the remaining fish stocks at the end of the season.

Bangkok canners are said to be having difficulty finding enough albacore to meet current production requirements. Apparently, seasonal supplies of albacore that were expected from Japanese suppliers have not yet materialized. If the current slower longliner catch rates continue, and if the sashimi longliner fleet has stopped targeting albacore, we could see an even more broad based firming of the albacore market worldwide. Jig Boat albacore prices in the South Pacific this season have started out at $1100 per short ton. Samoa longliner prices apparently will increase from $1300 to $1350 per short ton for April deliveries. Puerto Rico albacore prices are reported to be in the vicinity of $1600 per short ton.

Other News...24-Day Trip for The Chloe

The M Chloe with Capt. Bill Sousa delivered a full-load of fish in General Santos 24 days after picking-up their brand new net from Casamar Guam. The full load was made only in 12 sets. The MN Chloe is a 1500-ton vessel registered in the United States. The Chloe had lost almost all of their net in subtropical counter-current conditions

9 months ago. While waiting for their brand new net, the Chloe leased a spare net from Casamar Guam. With the Spare Net, the MN Chloe had averaged 28-day trips. For three trips, the Chloe had caught 4500 tons of tuna. The Chloe has 2 alternating captains: Capt. Bill Sousa and Capt. Jack Sousa. Casamar Guam is the only netyard in the world with spare nets in good condition available at all times. For the Chloe, Casamar Guam modified an existing spare net to fit the boat within I week after receiving notice from Mr. Bill Sardinha and Mr. Itchy Cilieu of Tuna Vessel Management that the MN Chloe needed a spare net. The downtime for the Chloe in Guam was only 3 days to drop-off whatever was left of the old net and pick-up the spare net. Tuna purse seine nets are purchased new for around US$500,000.00 and available for lease at around US$15,000/month.

Tuna in a Pouch. Forman Industries is marketing solid pack tuna loins in plastic food pouch. Their product called "TUNA SOONER" has hit the US market and is available in skipjack, yellowfin, longtail, and albacore. The product is fully cooked and ready for use in salads, tuna fish sandwich spread, casseroles and anything for which you would use canned product without the can.

Fishing Robots. Those who have worked many pole and line operations can really see the value of these machines. This is particularly true for the Japanese distance water pole fleet which is having trouble attracting young fishermen to the industry to replace an ageing work force. Furuno has recently marketed a sophisticated "fishing robot" with the release of the Bonito Robot FF-70, designed to pole tuna from live bait pole and line vessels. Automatic, hydraulically driven poling machines have been on the market for several years, but previous versions were limited in their jigging ability and adaptability to changing conditions. The FF-70 is designed to imitate the movements of an experienced pole and line fisherman which can make all the difference in this normally labor intensive fishery. Most automatic poling machines simply Jig the lure up and down, but the FF-70 is fully programmable to jig the lure sideways at different depths and speeds and to stop in response to vessel movement, i.e. when the fishing master throttles up to chase a school. Several fishing robots can be controlled from a single touch screen with each machine capable of 30 types of operation.

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