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Canned tuna. (Photo: Anfaco)
Canning industry calls for 'dignified' consumption of tuna
SPAIN
Tuesday, January 18, 2011, 01:40 (GMT + 9)
Canning companies grouped in the National Association of Canned Fish and Shellfish (Anfaco-Cecopesca), see it fit to "dignify" the intake of tuna and to stop it from being a "commodity" in order to ensure its sustainability.
According to the Secretary-General, Juan Manuel Vieites, fishing for "tuna needs to be dignified, as does all products made from it."
Anfaco also warned about the problems of supplying tuna in the short term, ie, "between three months and one year."
Tuna is "scarce" and seasonal, due to "a structural problem which is not cyclical, of a global nature, which compels us to further study the situation in the future," added Vieites.
For example, in 2010, tuna catches fell by 40 per cent in the main ports of Galicia.
Specifically, in A Pobra, 120,000 tonnes were landed in 2009 and 85,000 tonnes in 2010, while in Ribeira, they caught 40,000 tonnes two years ago and only 35,000 tonnes last year, reports the newspaper Faro de Vigo.
Vieites recalled that "throughout the world, they produce around four million tonnes of tuna per year, and with the new global concentration of the industry that is occurring, new groups control nearly three quarters, and this means that for other markets, which includes the European Union (EU), there will be a million tonnes of which Spain will only consume from 500,000 tonnes of tuna to 600,000 a year."
Therefore, canners are trying to "push the European administration" to protect their interests and "that treaties with third countries must be negotiated in order for them to be more balanced."
Between late January and early February, the canning industry expected to approach the EU and the EP with their problems and proposals to find a solution together.
The industry faces not only shortages of the species but also new control policies, piracy in the Indian Ocean and the concentration of major world groups in the hands of a select few.
To reverse this scenario, it is essential to tackle the "restructuring of both the production and transformation," said Vieites.
Finally, Anfaco stressed that it remains of a concern for the EU that third countries impose fewer demands on European trade, which is very harmful for the EU tuna industry, reports El Correo Gallego.
Related articles:
- All sectors call on EU for more protection against third countries
- Canning industry wants Brussels to reduce privileges for Asian exporters
By Analia Murias
[email protected]
www.fis.com
Photo Courtesy of FIS Member  ANFACO-CECOPESCA - Asociacion Nacional de Fabricantes de Conservas de Pescados y Mariscos-
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