PANAMA CITY, Panama -- The tuna fleet that's active in the Eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO) needs urgent renovation, but it's going to be expensive, warned Guillermo Compean, director of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC).
Compean, who spoke recently at the Americas Tuna Conference, said the average age of the vessels active in the region is 35-36 years old, with some vessels built more than 60 years ago.
"The fleet is going to need big financial support for renewal," he said.
"We are not talking about something small," he said. "We are talking about 300 vessels that can cost up to $24 million each or more that are going to need a big financing and support program so that this fleet can be renewed. Sooner or later the fleet is going to enter a crisis and governments have to think of a financing program to renew this fleet."
Compean noted that some countries' vessels are older than others.
"You have to start immediately because it is not a short-term process and there is no supermarket to buy ships," he said. "It will take 10-15 years but it has to be done. The older ships will have a safety problem."
Vessels older than 40 years are harder to insure, said Jose Carlos De La Espriella, Panama operations directors at Momentum Reinsurance, an insurance broker active in Central America and specializing in vessels' insurance.
"The biggest challenge we face is the age of the boats," he told Undercurrent News, adding that proper maintenance of the hull, the engine and the structure of the boat was also important, as well as the crew experience.
The Panamanian Maritime Authority requires that companies have a liability policy that covers damages to third parties and to the maritime environment, De La Espriella noted.
"There are ships of 40 years old that are [in] super [good condition], with all [the needed] safety measures and comply with all requirements, while there are relatively new ships, of 15-20 years, that have been left to fall apart," he added.
In 2018, the Ecuadorian government approved a law to encourage some local tuna fishing companies to commission new vessels. However, several boat owners have put off investments due to the extreme volatility of skipjack prices, which plummeted below $1,000 per-metric-ton in the last quarter of 2019 due to oversupply. Prices began to rise again in January and February. The $1,000/t level is considered unsustainable.
Catches have already peaked
Tuna catches in the Eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO) have reached their maximum and can no longer increase, Compean also pointed out at the conference.
The number of tuna vessels active in the region has been rising over the last 30 years, climbing from just over 170 to more than 250, whilst their capacity and efficiency have progressively been modernized, Compean said.
Moreover, the EPO is fully occupied, meaning all fishing areas are being explored and or worked. Thus, there are no new areas to be discovered, as happened in the Indian Ocean in the 1980s when the European fleet started fishing there, Compean noted.
“We can increase the number of ships, capacity, and efficiency but the resources will not give more [catches]”, Compean said, pointing out that the average size of tuna caught in the EPO has progressively dropped.
In particular, the average size for yellowfin has decreased from 16-17 kilograms to as low as 7.7kg, Compean said.
“These changes in the EPO, together with a tuna price that is difficult to predict, have put the EPO industry at a crossroad and faced with the need to change the tuna harvesting model,” he said.
"We have not been able to stop the capacity of the fleet, which with new technologies, continue to grow efficiency. The productivity and the capacity of the ships continue to grow, but we will not increase the total capacity," Compean said.
He recalled how the IATTC had to progressively introduce more restrictive conservation measures, with the annual "veda" closure increasing from 42 to 72 days per year.
Upcoming evaluation of tuna population in the EPO
The upcoming scientific evaluation of tuna populations in the EPO will employ a new methodology, as the fishery has changed. For example, the number of longline vessels has sharply declined.
In 2019, the results of the stock status assessment were not considered reliable. The indicators used to monitor all three species of tropical tuna were outdated, as the average weights of tuna caught have dropped below the reference levels while the number of fishing aggregating devices (FAD) used has rapidly increased.
Current conservation measures in the EPO include the 72 days of the veda closure in one of two periods, the closure of fishery in an area west of the Galapagos Islands, catch limits for longline vessels, and active FAD limits according to vessel class. Moreover, it is not possible to deploy FADs 15 days prior to the start of the closure and all tuna caught needs to be landed, the rules state.
The introduction of additional conservation measures might be discussed at the annual IATTC meeting next August, depending on the outcome of the upcoming scientific evaluation in May.
Contact the author matilde.mereghetti@undercurrentnews.com