Crow's Nest is the first monthly in-depth report on the status of the Tuna Industry. For a printed copy of the publication, please e-mail your name and address to: Casamar Group, Inc., and advise them that you would like to get a hard copy of the report.

June 2001

Tuna Purse Seine Fishermen's Seminar, 14-15 May 2001

Please note that the additional slides presented for the June 2001 issue are published with permission from StarKist/Mr. Donald J. , Binotto. Please do not reprint or distribute the slides without the permission of StarKist. Please click on an image to view a larger version.

On May 1415, 2001, a Tuna Purse Seine Fisherman's seminar was held at the The Regent Las Vegas Resort at Summerlin. Casamar presented all its new products for 2001. This included its "new" Roller Snap Ring, the Tuna "Satellite" Buoy, the CASAMAR Tuna Purse Seiner & Marine Cleaner, and a line of metal coatings.

The new Roller Snap Ring Model 2001 has no push button and no small parts. The main shaft is a solid steel 16mm diameter piece "keylock" system. There are no screws or no small parts to this ring. The roller is "tempered" steel and will not corrode as easily as existing rollers. It should be available for retail sale in most Casamar Retail locations by the Summer of 2001. It comes with a oneyear warrantee for parts and labor.

The CASAMAR Tuna Seiner/Marine Cleaner is certified as "foodgrade". In pure form, it is a potent degreaser. It can be diluted up to 150X for other cleaning purposes. Most of the time was spent discussing the parts and features of the tuna "satellite" buoy. It has an integrated sonar system. The satellite used by the tuna buoy, the Inmarsat D+ is already working in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. At the present time, the satellite signals go as far east as San Francisco. The Pacific Ocean satellite is scheduled to be available sometime in the fall of 2001. There will be no satellite signals available in the Western Pacific until that time.

The highlight of the show was the guest speaker, Mr. Donald Binotto, managing director of StarKist Seafood. He described the $1.7 billion canned seafood category in the United States as large and healthy. Only a year after being named "managing director", he has made major innovations in the product. He proudly displayed a "testimonial" from an American tourist applauding the tuna in a pouch as a travel must have. This product testimonial is the first product testimonial received by Heinz in a long time that does not talk about ketchup.

What is hard to beat is that the testimonial comes from Timbuktu.

He described the following industry events such as: "flat to declining global consumption, excess canning capacity, increased purse seiner capacity, FAD fishing, and eroding product quality" as the factors that led the industry to "record low fish prices, margin compression, industry inventory glut, poor quality products, no growth, absence of innovation", and "metoopackaging".

He told the fishermen, that every sector of the industry is responsible to drive change. He thanked the UTC, WTPO, and different fishing organizations who were represented for maintaining constraints. Each sector of the industry must drive change. Fishermen must maintain constraints. Canners must drive consumption. Products must be innovative. Trade must adopt new ideas. Consumers must believe in the benefits.

He warned that as an industry, we must maintain vigilance and involvement on the issues presented by scientific, political, and environmental groups or we could find ourselves very limited in where or how we can fish. He described the involvement of political groups in each major ocean including the ICCAT, the IATTC, the Forum Fisheries Agency, the Multilateral High Level Conference on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks, and the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC). Although the Indian Ocean has lagged in regulations, the IOTC is catching up quickly. It plans "to adopt the best parts of the IATTC and ICCAT for their operating procedures". He expects the IOTC to become a an important and intrusive organization as it continues to develop.

Mr. Binotto also expressed concern that U.S. import duties on tuna products are under assault from "free traders". The North American Free Trade Act (NAFTA) was designed to allow Mexico dutyfree status for products including canned tuna by 2008. The Caribbean Basic Initiative (CBI) now gives NAFTA status to canned tuna. Underdeveloped countries such as Costa Rica, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, and others can now benefit from this change. The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) allows eligible countries NAFTA status. Countries such as Ghana, Madagascar, Mauritius, and others are included in this group. He also said that the recently introduced proposal to extend NAFTA status to the Andean Trade Preference Act countries will, if passed, further erode the duties on canned tuna in the U.S. Major tuna producing countries, Colombia and Ecuador, are part of this Andean Pact.

In his talk, Mr. Binotto confirmed "rumors" that StarKist focus was turning itself from a processor to a marketer. Historically, he said, brand owners were vertically integrated. They were fleet owners, canners, and brand owners. Toddy, the top 3 U.S. brands are just canners and brand owners. He said that the potential for the future is that each sector will concentrate on their own primary product in terms of quality and value. They will each be separate.

In conclusion, Mr. Binotto said that "the fishermen have taken the first step toward stabilizing the industry. The processors and brands have ' also followed by endorsing a new S.O.I. a better product. The fishermen and canners must drive change. The processors now must drive consumption through innovation and category support."

NEW PRODUCT: Casamar's SIMPLE GREEN® for FISHING VESSELS & MARINE APPLICATIONS. All-purpose CLEANER/DEGREASER/DEODORIZER. Sold as a concentrate that can be diluted (up to 150 times) with water for various cleaning and DEGREASING applications. Authorized by the USA for use in Federally inspected meats, poultry, and other food plants. Excellent product for cleaning fish wells, engine rooms, decks, kitchen, and other cleaning and deodorizing applications. Removes Fuel Odors. For engine room applications, it washes out oils, grease, ... without heavy scrubbing that can ruin surfaces. Safe alternative to hazardous chemicals and can replace most cleaners and degreasers. NONTOXIC. NONFLAMMABLE, NONABRASIVE. Available at CASAMAR in Guam and American Samoa February 2001. More details can be found at it at www.TunaPort.com

Past Issues of the Crow's Nest

Crow's NEST is provided by CASAMAR to its customers for their information only. CASAMAR is not responsible for any errors or delay: in the content or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.

This publication is provided by CASAMAR to its customers for their information only. CASAMAR is not liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Trademarked names are used in an editorial content with no intent in trademark infringement.

If you would like to discuss issues affecting the Tuna Industry, please visit our new Discussion Board by clicking here.

For more information on the Tuna Fishing Industry visit the Casamar Home Page at www.casamarintl.com for the nearest full-service and sales facility in your part of the world or the latest product designed specifically for the Tuna Fishing Industry.

Also, please visit Tuna Port.

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Mr. Binotto describes the change in focus of Star-Kist.

Canners have agreed to improve product quality. The domestic tuna canners through the UST have tentatively agreed to submit a proposal to amend the Standard of Identity for canned tuna. The proposed standards of identity include: (1) moving from pressed weight fillofcontainer to drained weight standard; (2) establish minimum drained weight (4.3 oz) at 72% of declared net weight (6 oz.) for all pack styles; (3) require the declaration of both drained weight and net weight on label principle display panels; (4) modify allowable ingredients: eliminate hydrolyzed protein and monosodium glutamate, restrict vegetable broth use to the equivalent of I gram dry weight per 170 gram can.

Mr. Binotto hopes that his legacy as managing director of StarKist will be innovation. Already, he has introduced the new blue wave, StarKist in a pouch, lowsodium/"healt hy" sunflower oil within a year since he became managing director.

He described the fleet outlook as: vessels increasing in average size from 1 000 tons to 1,500 tons. Lower fish price will drive small fleets with larger fleets to consolidate "back office" activities. Purveyors will increase sorting activities and become more market focused. No one fleet will focus on a single fisheries. They will migrate and become global. Satellite and chips will be used to convert fishing from hunting to harvesting.