T unaboat
letters
U.S. tuna men have their say
Concerning your PIM Opinion entitled “Sharks Among the Tuna” published June 1985: to charge that the United States and the American Tunaboat Association (ATA) “pay no re gard to ecological or political consequences of fishing” is without factual foundation. The existing conservation treaties on tuna in the Atlantic and eastern tropical Pacific entered into and implemented by the United States with other countries, along with the recently signed tuna regional licence treaty signed by the United States and four Central American coun tries, attest to the intent and actions of the United States and ATA. The Eastern Tropical Pacific Treaty (lATTC) was en tered into in 1949, the Atlantic Treaty (ICCAT) in 1966, and the San Jose (Costa Rica) Trea ty in 1983.
Your Opinion in proposing that each government has the unilateral power to impose a direct charge on anyone who wants to search for tuna beyond the 12-mile territorial sea, or to deny anyone such opportunity, completely ignores the tuna consumer’s interest in having an ocean protein re source available at an inexpen sive price. The United States and ATA argue that if such charge is to be imposed on tuna fishermen, regardless of flag, that such action can only be justified if done by treaty on a multi-national basis within a particular ocean region. This is why ATA, in 1980, helped to introduce the concept of regio nal tuna licensing to the coun tries in the Central, Western and South Pacific.
With respect to your com ment that a licence charge of five per cent on tuna fishermen on the value of the licence is fair, and that it would generate $2OO million annually for the Island governments, demons trates complete ignorance of the economics and other data
American T unaboat Association
regarding the fishery. Your proposal is fiction. Your dream land proposal totally misleads your readers about the econo mic reality of fishing for tuna.
Since 1980, our vessels have sustained an average price per
ton decline of over 30 per cent.
Today, U.S. tuna fishermen leave port with no price on departure or guarantee. Price is determined by date of arrival, type and size of fish, and quality standards established by the
buyers. About 1.2 million tons of tuna are annually processed in the world for the canned tuna market. Another 500,000 tons is consumed raw, fresh or smoked. The distribution of tuna is worldwide and not, as suggested by your Opinion, restricted to the Pacific.
Finally, with respect to your view that catching tuna by net is bad, while catching by hook is good: we suggest that this gear conflict rages today within Japan, and you have forgotten that this competition between fishermen is as old as the history of men. Therefore, you are unfair in selecting Amer icans only as this issue, espe cially when the facts establish the actions of the United States to control its citizens on the matter of conservation, whether such citizens use the hook or the net to catch tuna.
August Felando,
President, American Tunaboat Association San Diego, Calif.,