Agriculture department lowers tuna export fee

Logo taken from https://www.da.gov.ph

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines – The Department of Agriculture has agreed to lower the tuna export fee from the current three percent of the gross value of the shipment amount to just 0.2 percent, a fishing industry official said Tuesday.

“This is a big help to the industry as now we will have to pay only about P1,600 per export,” Marfin Tan, president of the Socsksargen Fishing Federation and Allied Industries, Inc. (SFFAII), told reporters.

Tan said the DA’s decision came after submission by representatives of the industry of a resolution adopted at the recent Tuna Congress here urging the government to reduce the export fee.

During the congress, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala hinted he supported the resolution, which called for the amendment of the Fisheries Administrative Order (FAO) 233 issued last year.

Alcala said any reduction in the export fee would help the tuna industry recover from the current downturn.

“The fishing industry is declining but not dying. This is primarily due to man-made factors and natural phenomenon,” Tan said.

Tan identified the skyrocketing prices of fuel, illegal fishing and over-fishing, closure of the Indonesian fishing grounds and the three-year ban on catching yellow-fin tuna in the Western and Central Pacific areas as among the factors that have contributed to the decline of the local tuna industry.