Papua Guinea is one of the world's biggest producer of canned tuna. (Photo: Century Canning Corporation/FIS)

Biggest tuna cannery in the country to open soon

PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Friday, August 17, 2012, 00:40 (GMT + 9)

Frabelle Fishing Corporation and Century Canning Corporation together with Thailand’s Thai Union Corporation have joined forces to found the Majestic Seafoods in Papua New Guinea.

The USD 37.6 million, 200 ton-capacity canning plant will open in two months and bring to eight the total of tuna companies in PNG. It will be the biggest in the country and create at least 2,000 jobs for locals; when running at full capacity, it will create at least 5,000 jobs altogether.

Frabelle Fishing already has its own canning plant in the country and Century Tuna operates the biggest one in the Philippines. General Santos City-based RD Tuna was the first to build a cannery there.

Majestic Seafoods will bring the total daily canned tuna production in Papua New Guinea to more than 1,200 tonnes, according to Asian Correspondent.

Lae, the capital of Morobe Province, will soon become the tuna hub of the Pacific, hosting four large multi-million kina tuna plants -- Majestic Seafoods as well as Dong Wong, Nambawan Seafoods and Haili Sheng -- that will be built at Malahang over the next couple of months, PIA reports.

“You can say that Lae is becoming the hub of fishing in PNG and in the Pacific,” Morobe provincial administrator Kemas Tomala said. “Yes, the fishing industry is interested in Lae and Morobe provincial government, provincial administration, and landowners are doing everything possible to ensure that the industry prospers in Lae and provides employment. We are grateful that the national government is working with the Asian Development Bank to develop the new port in Lae.”

Papua Guinea recently announced that it has surpassed the Philippines as the world’s second-biggest producer of canned tuna. The Philippines produces an average of 750 tonnes of canned tuna daily.

Tuna fishing companies from the Philippines first began to establish operations in Papua New Guinea in the late 1990s after tuna stocks in their own waters started to decline. The first Filipino tuna canning plant was launched in PNG in 1997.

Although Filipino fishers used to have fishing rights in Papua New Guinea, the latter began restricting tuna fishing within its territorial waters several years ago. It now only allows access to its fishing grounds if foreign companies set up canning and processing plants on its land.

Thanks to conservation efforts made by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) to keep tuna catches from diminishing further, and to replenish tuna stocks, in recent years, there have been increasing protectionist policies among tuna-producing countries. Many regional countries have imposed a fishing ban on foreign fishing vessels in their territorial waters.

By Natalia Real
editorial@fis.com
www.fis.com

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