Japan and Russia Sign Salmon Catch Quota Pact

ingly, less profitable. The normal alba­core season runs from July throughOctober, and in the spring the vesselsfish for salmon.

Barrett and Mason said albacorefishermen along the west coast haveexpressed considerable enthusiasmabout the possibilities of productivewinter fishing grounds. One ship wasfishing out there early this year, Masonsaid, "and we expect a number will goout next winter."

The scientists were at a loss to ex­plain why one of the six charteredvessels consistently caught more tunathan the other boats fishing in thesame area. "We are going to look intoevery aspect of what he was doing, totry to find out what made the differ­ence," Barrett said.

Albacore Tagged

During the expedition NOAA scien­tists tagged several albacore with ultra­sonic transmitters, tracking one fishfor 24 hours. The tracking results con­frrmed the belief that tuna cue on theocean thermocline, that layer of waterseparating the warmer, oxygen-richsurface waters from the lower, colderocean depths.

Vessels which cast their lines abovethe thermocline caught fewer than onefish per 100 hooks on the line, whilethose whose lines passed through thethermocline caught approximatelyeight fish per 100 hooks. This knowl­edge makes it economically feasible forthe U.S. albacore tuna fleet, which un­til now has not fished during wintermonths, to expand its activities into thearea being studied during monthswhen the vessels normally would beidle, reports Michael Laurs of theSWFC.

In addition to measuring the poten­tial catch, the six vessels are makingobservations on oceanographic condi­tions, collecting data for albacorebiology and fishery studies, and tag­ging and releasing albacore for migra­tion and stock structure studies.

The activity is sponsored by theAmerican Fishermen's Research Foun­dation, a west coast industry group,under a grant from funds managed byNOAA's National Marine FisheriesService.

24

Guam, Marianas FisheryResources Are Surveyed

The NOAA ship Townsend Crom­well returned to Apra Harbor, Hawaii,on 16 April after a IS-day cruisearound Guam and the Northern Mari­ana Islands where potential fishinggrounds were surveyed and primarybiological production and energy flowwere assessed. The cruise was the frrstof a series of four to assess the fisheriesresources, according to Richard S.Shomura, Director, Honolulu Labora­tory, NMFS Southwest Fisheries Center.

Bert Kikkawa, Chief Scientist on thecruise reported that the bathymetrywas conducted around Guam, RotaIsland, Tinian, Saipan, and Farallonde Medinilla at bottom depths down to600 fathoms (3,600 feet). One interest­ing result of this survey was thedocumentation that Farallon deMedinilla is surrounded by a very largebank with relatively large level plateausat depths ranging from 50 fathoms(300 feet) to 400 fathoms (2,400 feet).These plateaus will be sampled for bot­tomfish and deepwater shrimps onsubsequent cruises. Bathymetric data

Foreign Fishery Developments

Japan and the Soviet Union signed,on 23 April 1982, protocols on Japan'ssalmon catch quota for 1982 in the

Note: l:nles, \llherv.ise credited. ma­terial in this seeliun i, [rum either theForeit:n Fisherv Infurmatiun ReleasesIFFIRJ compiled hi Sunee C. Sonu.Foreign Reporting Branch. FisheryDevelopment Division. Suuthwest Re­t:ion. I ational Marine Fisheries Serv­Ice. NOAA. Terminal bland. CAlJ07J 1. or tht' International FisheryReleasc, 11 FR) or Lant:uat:e Sen'icesBiweekly ILSBI report\ produced hythe Office of International FisheriesAffairs. National Marine FisheriesService. NOAA. Wa,hington. DC202J:,

will be released after processing to aidlocal fishermen.

The biological assessment conductedduring the cruise consisted of determ­ining the abundance and distributionof the primary producers and zoo­plankton in their relationships todepth, light levels, and nutrientdistribution.

Following the first bathymetriccruise, three biological cruises of 40days each are scheduled. These willsample atulai (akule), tunas, bottom­fishes, and shrimps along the MarianaArchipelago. The data collected onthese cruises will be used to producedistributional charts and provide esti­mates of sustainable yields.

This series of research cruises is partof a cooperative agreement for thesurvey of the resources of the MarianaArchipelago that is being entered intoby the Territory of Guam, the Com­monwealth of the Northern MarianaIslands, and the United States (throughthe National Marine Fisheries Serviceand the U.S. Fish and WildlifeService), according to Shomura. TheTownsend Cromwell is commanded byRobert C. Roush.

northwest Pacific Ocean. JapaneseCharge d'Affaires Hisashi Owada andthe Soviet Fisheries Minister VladimirM. Kamentsev signed the protocols atthe Fisheries Ministry in Moscow.

The agreement set the 1982 Japa­nese catch quota for salmon at thesame amount, 42,500 metric tons, as in1981. The fishing period, the restrictedfishing zones, and fishery cooperationfee of ¥4 billion ($16 million) for 1982remained also unchanged from 1981.

The two countries reached agree­ment on the salmon catch on 22 Aprilin an unusually short period of 10days. Both Owada and Kamentsev ex­pressed satisfaction with the early con­clusion of their negotiations. (Sources:LSB 82-6 and FFIR 82-8.)

Marine Fisheries Review

The Expansion of the MexicanTuna Fleet, 1981-1984

Mexico is building one of theworld's largest and most modern tunafleets. The NMFS Division of ForeignFisheries Analysis estimates that by theend of 1983, Mexico will have a fleet of113 tuna vessels with a combined car­rying capacity of nearly 90,000 tons'.Most of the newly built vessels will bepurse seiners and will give Mexico theworld's second largest fleet of tunapurse seiners.

Only the United States, with a 1981fleet of 129 tuna purse seiners, has alarger fleet. Mexico's expansion of itstuna industry is an important part ofits ambitious fisheries developmentprogram. Some Mexican observers,however, have now begun to questionthe fleet expansion program andbelieve that it may prove to have beena costly mistake.

Construction Plans

Mexico has launched the most am­bitious fleet expansion program in thehistory of the eastern Pacific tunafishery; it began to increase its tunafleet significantly in 1980 when ap­proximately 20 purse seiners were add­ed (Table 1). An even larger increase isplanned for 1982 and 1983. The Mex­ican Government and private com­panies have contracted for the con­struction of an estimated 66 tunavessels in at least 16 different ship­yards, both in Mexico and abroad(Table 2). The total cost of the vesselscurrently under construction exceeds

'Carrying capacities in this report are ex­pressed in short tons (2,000 pounds).

August, 1982,44(8)

an estimated $525 million', excludingfinancing (Table 2).

Shipyard Orders

The NMFS Division of ForeignFisheries Analysis has obtained infor­mation on most of the orders placedby Mexico for tuna purse seiners andother vessels which could be used inthe tuna fishery. The followingshipyards were building vessels forMexico as of January 1982. Thesesummaries are based on a variety ofpress sources, often incomplete andsometimes contradictory. As a result,the actual figures may be slightlyhigher or lower, but they give an ideaof the magnitude of Mexico's programto expand its tuna fleet.

Canada

Bel-Aire Shipyards Ltd. 3 of NorthVancouver, B.C., is building two purseseiners for the Mexican firm AtuneroCoinseco of Mexico City. Each vesselwill be 69 m long with a carryingcapacity of about 1,300 tons. Thevessels will cost $8 million each;delivery is scheduled for December1982.

Italy

The Societa Esercizio Cantieri (SEC)shipyard in Viareggio is building threetuna purse seiners for the Mexicanfmn Tuna del Pacifico. Each seiner

l All values are reported in U.S. dollars unlessotherwise speci fied.'Mention of trade names or commercial firmsdoes not imply endorsement by the NationalMarine Fisheries Service, NOAA.

Table 1.-Mexico's tuna fleet, 1975-1984, by numberand type of vessels and carrying capacity (cap.) inshort tons.

SeIners Sailboats Total

Year! No. Cap. No. Cap. No. Cap.

1975 20 3,709 2 270 22 3,9791976 25 13,860 2 270 27 14,1301977 24 13,798 24 13,7981978 23 13,437 2 174 25 13,6111979 25 14,622 3 405 28 15,0271980 46 35,162 6 705 52 35,8671981 '45 '33,358 '10 '1,133 '55 '34,4911982 '62 '53,458 '16 '2,033 '78 '55,4911983 '91 '86,458 '22 '2,933 '113 '89,3911984 '93 '87,958 '26 '3,533 '119 '91,491

'The number cited refers to the fleel at the end of the year2p = Preliminary3E = Estimated based on current or planned construction.

Teble 2.-Eetlmet.d coet end cepecltl•• (ehort tone) 01tune v....I. under conetruetlon lor Mexlcen ownersa. 01 January 1982.

Type of No. of Carrying Cost'Country vessel vessels capacity (106 US$)

Spain Seiner '21 '25,200 '225.0MeXICO Seiner 14 13,200 '147.8

Baitboat 16 2,400 '16.0Italy Seiner 7 8,400 64.5U.S. Seiner 4 5,200 32.8Canada Seiner 2 2,600 16.0Norway Seiner 2 2,400 23.2

--Total '66 '59,400 '525.3

'The February 1982 peso devalualion has subslantially in­creased the peso cost of the vessels as the contracts withforeign shipyards were denominated in dollars.2Estimated. Some reports indicate vessel cancellations;others suggest additional orders.3The contracts with Mexican shipyards were denominatedin pesos. The Division has used the old exchange rates toestimate the cost of the vessels. Unless the contracts arerevised, however, the state-owned shipyards building thevessels will suHer significant losses as many of theengines and much of the equipment are imported and thepeso cost of these items has doubled as a result of theFebruary 1982 devaluation.4Estimated.

will have a carrying capacity of 1,200tons. The seiners will cost about $9.5million each and are scheduled fordelivery to private Mexican owners in1982 and 1983.

Campanella Cantieri Navali ship­yard in Savona is building four tunapurse seiners for four different Mex­ican companies (Pesquera del Noro­este, Atun del Noroeste, PesqueraAtuneros del Pacifico, and anunknown company). The vessels, simi­lar to those being built by SEC, will

25

cost about $9 million each and will bedelivered in 1982 and 1983.

Japan

Unspecified shipyards in Japan arebuilding 10 longline vessels for Mex­ico's large state-owned fishing com­pany Productos Pesqueros Mexicanos(PPM). These are the first longliners tobe built for Mexico, and they will bethe first such vessels to be deployed inMexican waters by a wholly-ownedMexican company. The vessels arecapable of tuna fishing but willreportedly be deployed in the sharkfishery.

Mexico

Astilleros Rodriquez, S.A. (ARSA),a subsidiary of the Mexican Govern­ment's National Shipbuilding Com­pany, Astilleros Mexicanos (Astimex),is building 16 baitboats (Delfin series)for PPM. The vessels will have carry­ing capacities of 150 tons each. Thir­teen are being built at ARSA's Ense­nada yard and three at the SantaRosalia yard, both in Baja California.PPM will probably lease the vessels tocooperatives.

Construcciones Navales de Guay­mas (Conagusa), located in Guaymas,is another Astimex subsidiary. It is

Norway-EEC Agreeon Herring Quotas

Norway and the EEC have agreed torevised herring quotas for 1982. At thespring negotiations in Oslo, the EECcommission doubled the herring quo­tas which Norwegian fishermen cancatch in the waters west of Scotland,bringing the total catch up to 12,000metric tons (t) which is worth US$5million. In addition, Norway wasallocated a herring quota of 2,000 twhich is to be fished south of theEnglish Channel.

The information officer in the Min­istry of Fisheries, Trond Wold, saysthat the EEC has in addition given its

26

building 16 tuna purse seiners (A tunseries), each of which will have carry­ing capacities of 750 tons and will be55 m long. Twelve are being built forPPM which obtained fmancing fromMexico's Banco Nacional Pesquero yPortuario (Banpesca), the state-ownedfisheries development bank. Four ofthe twelve PPM seiners have alreadybeen delivered; the other eight will bedelivered in 1982 (two), 1983 (four),and 1984 (two). The remaining fourvessels were ordered by private Mex­ican companies (Pesquera Mar Atunand Pesquera San Martin) and anunknown company in Senegal. Theseiners for the private Mexican com­panies have already been delivered at$5.2 million each.

Mexican Naval Shipyards in SalinaCruz (Yard Number 1) and Tampico(Yard Number 8) are building six tunapurse seiners for PPM. An Americancompany based in San Pedro, Calif.,Rados International Corporation, isproviding technical assistance. Threeseiners will be built at Salina Cruz, andthe other three at Tampico. The vesselswill be 71 m long and will have carry­ing capacities of 1,200 tons.

Norway

Heelesoy Skipsbyggeri has receivedan order for the construction of two

approval to a continuation of thebrisling quota (60,000 t this year forNorway) until 12 January 1983.

In return, Norway has agreed to aquota of 3,000 t of cod, 3,000 t ofhaddock, 500 t of coalfish, and 350 tof shrimp in the North Sea, as well as500 t of Norway haddock, to be fishedin the Norwegian economic zone northof the 62nd parallel. The Norwegianallocation is also a compensation forthe increased quota of blue whitingwhich Norway was granted by theEEC earlier this year. Norwegian fish­eries authorities have expressedsatisfaction over the agreement withthe Common Market. (Source: Nor­wegian Information Service.)

tuna seiners for the Mexican companyPesquera Santa Ursula. Each vesselwill be 69 m long and will have a carry­ing capacity of 1,200 tons. They arebeing built at a cost of $11.6 millioneach and the Norwegian Governmentis reportedly providing low interestfinancing. The two vessels are sched­uled for delivery in December 1982 andApril 1983.

Spain

Over half of Mexico's foreign ordersfor tuna seiners have been placed withSpanish shipyards. The Spanish Gov­ernment is eager to assist theirshipyards in obtaining foreign ordersand the Banco Exterior de Espana hasprovided Mexico with some low in­terest credits to finance fishing vesselconstruction.

Maritima de Axpe in Bilbao is build­ing seven tuna seiners' for Maratun,Tunamex, and Tunaoro. Each vesselwill be 71 m long with a carryingcapacity of 1,200 tons and will cost ap­proximately $10.6 million each. Theyare scheduled for delivery in 1982 and1983. The vessels for Maratun will besome of the best equipped seiners inthe Mexican fleet as they are beingequipped for satellite fishing.

Maritima de Muse! in Gijon hasbeen contracted by Mexican investorsto construct four tuna purse seiners(A/eta series). Banpesca is financingthe purchase for Compania Mexicanade Tunidos and Pesquerias del Pacifi­co (two seiners each). The seiners willbe identical to those being built byMaritima de Axpe and will also bedelivered in 1982 and 1983. The first ofthe four vessels, A/eta Amarilla, hasalready set sail for Mexico.

Mexican investors have also report­edly ordered 10 more tuna seiners fromother Spanish shipyards. Informationon these orders is contradictory andfragmentary. The vessels reportedly

'Unconfirmed reports suggest that the Axpeorder may be modified. One report indicatedthat from one to three additional seiners mayhave been ordered. Another report claims thatthe original order has been cut back to onlyfive seiners.

Marine Fisheries Review

JAPANESE 1981 SURIMI PRODUCTION UP 6 PERCENT

cent, land-based production. Whencompared with 1980, the 1981 produc­tion of factoryship-processed surimiincreased 4.9 percent and productionof land-based surimi increased 8.3 per­cent. The trend in the production offrozen surimi for 1972-1981 is shownbelow in Table 1. (Source: FFIR 82-6.)

Table l.-Japanese frozen surimi prOduction, 1972·81, metric tons.

Year Facloryshlp Land-based Tolal Year Factoryship Land-based

1972 193,500 161,200 354,700 1977 168.823 191,7691973 223,600 159,100 382,700 1978 183,012 132,4331974 195,300 152,800 348,100 1979 180,401 114,4251975 191,200 166,000 357,200 1980 183,232 105,6681976 187,000 198,000 385,000 1981 192,264 114,393

cost about $11 million each. Delivery isscheduled for 1982 and 1983.

United States

U.S. shipyards are generally recog­nized to be the world's leader in theconstruction of tuna purse seiners.Many Mexican investors have a prefer­ence for U.S.-built vessels. U.S. ship­builders, however, have had difficultysigning contracts with Mexican com­panies because of low interest finan­cing made available by some foreigncountries to attract orders for theirdomestic shipyards. U.S. shipyardshave, nevertheless, won orders fromsome private Mexican investors.

The Bender Shipbuilding Company,Mobile, Ala., is building four 1,200ton tuna purse seiners for various Mex­ican concerns. Two of the vessels, Bru­ja del Mar and Bucanero, have alreadybeen delivered to two Mexican com­panies, Atunera La Tris and Atun delCaribe respectively. The remaining twoseiners currently under constructionare for another company, Atuneros delGolfo y Pacifico, and should bedelivered in 1983 at a cost of $8.4million each.

Marco in Seattle, Wash., is buildingthe last three 33 m purse seiners forMexico, out of a nine vessel order. Thepurchase is being financed byBanpesca. Each vessel has a carryingcapacity of 200 metric tons. Therefrigeration units that are being in­stalled can be used either for the tunaor the sardine fishery. It is likely thatthese vessels will be used in the sardinefishery as Mexico's current tuna fleet isalready supplying more tuna thanMexico can utilize. All nine vessels areto be delivered to an unknown com­pany in Mazatlan.

The Tacoma Boatyard, Tacoma,Wash., is building two 75 m tuna purseseiners for the Mexican Government.Each vessel will have a carrying capaci­ty of 1,400 tons and cost $8 million.The delivery dates were May and June1982, but the Mexican Governmentreportedly asked Tacoma Boatyard todelay delivery until late in 1982, as aresult of a foreign exchange shortagecaused by the February 1982 devalua­tion of the peso.

August, /982,44(8)

Types of Vessels

Most new tuna vessels ordered byMexico are large tuna purse seiners. Itis not known why the Mexicans choseto base the expansion of their tunafleet primarily on these large seinerswhich are the most expensive type ofvessel available for tuna fishing.

Large, modern purse seiners employa relatively small number of fishermenand can operate at great distancesfrom their ports. As a result, eventhough they may be costly to build,they are efficient fishing vessels forcountries with high wage rates locatedat great distances from the fishinggrounds. Mexico has, however, gener­ally low wage rates, a severe unem­ployment problem, and several portslocated near grounds which, in recentyears, have been some of the most pro­ductive in the eastern tropical Pacific.

Tunas are highly migratory and inrecent years, yellowfin and skipjacktuna schools in the eastern tropicalPacific have appeared off Mexico insignificant quantities. This couldchange, however, because of themigratory nature of tuna and the greatannual variations in its appearance. Inprevious years, tunas have appeared inlarger quantities off Central and SouthAmerica.

Japanese frozen surimi (minced fish)production during January-December1981 amounted to 306,657 metric tons(t), up 6.1 percent from the 1980figure. Of this quantity, 192,264 t or 63percent consisted of factoryship-pro­cessed production (motherships andlarge trawlers) and 114,393 t or 37 per-

Many Mexican investors were re­portedly impressed by the modernU.S. seiners which used to land tuna atEnsenada. This may have influencedthe decision of some of the investorswhich ordered the seiners. Mexican of­ficials may also have wanted vesselscapable of fishing outside their claimed2(X)-mile Exclusive Economic Zone(EEZ). Some Mexican observers arenow questioning the decision to con­centrate on seiners, but as most of theseiners are already under constructionit is too late to change the decision tobuild a major seiner fleet.

Mexico has not restricted its tunafleet expansion program exclusively topurse seiners. Some longliners andbaitboats are also being built. Mexicohas ordered IO longliners from Japan,but they will, reportedly, be deployedin the shark fishery. One longlinevessel, however, is doing experimentaltuna longlining in the Gulf of Mexico.Joint ventures along the Pacific coasthave been formed with Japanese andKorean companies which make de­tailed reports to the Mexican Govern­ment on the quantity and compositionof their catch. The catch of these jointventures, however, is mainly billfish.

Mexico also plans to expand thebaitboat fleet. Sixteen baitboats are be-

Total

380,592315,445294,827288,900306,657

27

Norway's Fishing Fleet Growth Slowing Down

ing constructed in Mexican shipyardsfor PPM. Some observers believe thatthese smaller, more labor-intensivebaitboats could prove to be the mostefficient vessels for the Mexican tunaindustry, especially if they were owneroperated. PPM reportedly plans, how­ever, to lease the new baitboats to co­operatives. As a result, many observ­ers, who have little confidence in thecooperatives, are skeptical about thebaitboats.

Number of Vessels

Mexico's decision to build so manynew tuna vessels is difficult to explain.Many Mexican observers, both Gov­ernment officials and private investors,now consider it to be a serious mistake,and newspaper articles criticizing theGovernment's tuna policy have begunto appear.

The massive build-up of the Mex­ican fleet is the largest and the mostrapid in the history of the easternPacific tuna fishery, despite Mexico'scutting back on its original plan. TheMexican Secretariat of Fisheries hadinitially planned on a tuna fleet of 150large seiners. In an October 1981

The Norwegian fishing fleet willreceive only about 100 new vessels thisyear and this is much fewer than hasbeen customary in recent years. Thenumber of new vessels begun in thecategory 40-80 feet is expected to behalved from 20 to 10, and no newvessels of over 80 feet will be built,states Arnulf Midtgaard, director ofthe state fishermen's bank.

This is an unsatisfactory develop­ment for the over-40-feet category butthere has been a strong renewal of thecategory 30-40 feet. Midtgaard saidthat the average age of large vessels hasreached 20-30 years and this is toohigh. Although the interest for invest­ment in the fishing fleet has declined,there is still such a large number of ap­plications that they correspond to anamount three times as high as the loan

28

meeting with tuna industry leaders,Mexican Fisheries Secretary FernandoRafful announced that the tuna fleet,however, should not exceed 100-120seiners. It now seems likely that theMexican tuna fleet will be limited tothe lower level of 100 seiners.

The number of vessels Mexico isadding to its fleet is clearly not justifiedby the quantity of tuna available inMexico's 200-mile EEZ. The entire in­ternational seiner fleet only caught anaverage 87,800 tons of tuna per year inthe Mexican EEZ during 1977-81 whentuna abundance off Mexico was atrecord high levels. This means that,theoretically, all of the tuna availablein the Mexican EEZ could be caught inone trip by Mexico's new tuna fleet.Most Mexican tuna seiners, however,make three to four trips per year andthus the planned 1983 fleet will havethe theoretical capacity of catchingover 270,000 tons of tuna annually.(Based on the actual performance ofMexican tuna fishermen, however, thecountry's 1983 fleet could realisticallybe expected to catch about 150,000tons of tuna, still substantially morethan is available in the EEZ.) The tuna

frame within which the bank operates.The loan frame this year is US$38.6million and of this US$8.3 million goesto new vessels, US$14 million to con­versions, and US$6.6 million in con­nection with the sale and purchase ofsecond-hand vessels.

The Ministry of Fisheries has in­structed the bank to limit loans to ves­sels of 30-40 feet and reduce thenumber from 120 annually in the pre­vious 2 years, to under 100 this year.

A vessel of 60-70 feet costs aboutUS$833,000 and today it is impossibleto pay the interest on this amountthrough investment in a fishing vessel.There are few who have private capitalwhich can make it possible to acquire avessel of this size, Midtgaard said.(Source: Norwegian Information Ser­vice.)

available in the Mexican EEZ couldthus be fully utilized by a tuna fleetmuch smaller than the one Mexico isbuilding.

To justify such a massive increase inits tuna fleet, the Mexican Governmentmust have planned on fishing off otherLatin American countries. A catchaveraging 88,000 tons per year will notsupport a fleet profitably with a carry­ing capacity in excess of 90,000 tons.The huge number of new vessels Mex­ico is adding to its fleet is probably noteven justified by the tuna available inthe entire eastern Pacific Ocean.

Most biologists believe that theyellowfm tuna stocks, the most impor­tant tuna species in the eastern Pacific,are already overfished and that the im­pact of the greatly expanded fishing ef­fort planned by Mexico is impossibleto project. Yellowfin tuna yields havebeen declining for years, and manyfishermen do not believe that they cancontinue fishing profitably for long ifyields continue to decline. Whileyellowfm yields in the eastern Pacificas a whole have been declining, thedecline has been much less severe in thenorthern area of the fishery off Mex­ico. It is likely that the increased Mex­ican effort will further impairyellowfin tuna catch rates, making thefishery even less attractive for U.S. andother foreign fishermen operating inthe eastern Tropical Pacific.

Vessels

The total cost of the tuna vesselsMexico is currently building exceeds anestimated $0.5 billion, excluding fman­cing (Table I). The cost of financingand fully equipping these vessels couldbring their total cost to almost $1billion. Most of the vessel constructionloans are for a IO-year period with in­terest rates running 7 to II percent.Banpesca charges an additional 1.8percent charge for processing andguaranteeing the loans. Most of thenew vessels are being financed throughBanpesca, either with direct loans orwith loan guarantees. This means thatif the private owners cannot meet theirpayments, the Mexican Government isobligated to repay the loans. The onlyseiners being built without Banpesca

Marine Fisheries Review

funds or loan guarantees are the onesunder construction by Bender and theTacoma Boatyard in the United States.

Economic Implications

The economics of the Mexican tunaindustry have changed radically since1979 and 1980 when many investors,some with no prior fishing experience,rushed into what they thought wouldbe a lucrative new fishery. Manyobservers now believe that the Mexicantuna industry may require massiveGovernment subsidies. Many privatecompanies, already in the tuna in­dustry, are now asking the MexicanGovernment for assistance. The newcompanies whose tuna seiners are stillbeing built may require even greaterfmancial aid following the devaluationof the Mexican peso.

The February 1982 decision by theMexican Government allowing thepeso to float has adversely affected thecompanies which ordered seiners inforeign shipyards. In just a few days,the Mexican peso fell from 23 pesosper US$1 to 45 pesos per US$1. Thedevaluation effectively doubled thepeso value of the 36 seiners orderedabroad from 8.3 to 16.3 billion pesos,since all contracts with foreignshipyards were denominated in U.S.dollars. If Mexico were successfully ex­porting most of its tuna, the impact ofthe devaluation would be less severebecause the dollar earnings could beused to repay the loans. But Mexico ismarketing most of its tuna domestical­ly. About 55,000 tons of Mexico's76,000-ton 1981 tuna catch wasmarketed domestically. The earningsfrom such domestic sales are in thenow devalued pesos. Mexican com­panies are faced with a serious dilem­ma. They will need to increase thedomestic price of tuna to repay thedollar-denominated foreign loans. Asubstantial domestic price increase,however, would adversely affect salesand diminish the already inadequatedomestic market.

The 1980 U.S. tuna embargo5 hasdenied Mexican tuna companies accessto the world's largest tuna market.Mexican companies have had difficul­ty fmding alternative foreign markets.Much of the tuna that Mexico has

August, 1982,44(8)

been able to export has reportedly beensold at prices well below those pre­vailing in the United States. Tuna fish­ermen have been forced to rely onMexico's small, domestic market fortuna. This has radically reduced theirplanned profits.

The prices available for tuna toMexican tuna fishermen have declinedsharply, and it is not yet clear at whatlevel the Mexican Government willsupport those prices. Until the U.S.tuna embargo, Mexican fishermencould sell their catch to the UnitedStates where, in 1980, premium gradeyellowfin tuna averaged $1,184 perton, while the premium grade skipjacktuna averaged $1,082 per ton.Throughout most of 1981, massivepurchases by state-owned Mexicancanneries maintained domestic pricesnear U.S. levels, guaranteeing profit­ability to Mexican tuna fishermen.Mounting stocks of unsold cannedtuna, however, have forced Mexicancanneries, including the state-ownedones, to reduce or suspend tuna pur­chases in late 1981. As a result, tunaprices declined sharply, and some tunawas reportedly sold for as little as $600to $700 per ton. The fishermen and theGovernment are now negotiating acontract which would ensure aguaranteed price. As of April 1982,however, the agreement had not yetbeen fmalized. The Government isreportedly concerned about the poten­tial cost of supporting the price nearthe U.S. levels as the fishermen aredemanding.

Mexican tuna fishermen will be ableto export some of their yellowfin tunacatch, mostly to European countries,at acceptable price levels, but exportsales of skipjack will be much moredifficult as European importersprimarily want yellowfin tuna. Italy isMexico's primary European customer,and almost all of the shipments to Italyhave been yellowfm tuna.

'The United States imposed the embargo ontuna and tuna products as a result of Mexico'sseizure of the U.S. tuna vessels which weresubsequently charged and fined for fishing fortuna in Mexico's 200-mile EEZ. The UnitedStates does not recognize coastal state jurisdic­tion over highly migratory species such astuna.

Shipments to Europe will also yieldprofits below previous sales to theUnited States. The cost of shippingtuna to distant markets reduces theprofits to Mexican companies. Beforethe U.S. tuna embargo, the tuna wassimply landed in Ensenada andtrucked across the border to nearbycanneries in southern California.

Asian sales will be extremely dif­ficult for Mexico. Countries such asthe Philippines and Indonesia havebegun to develop their skipjack tunafisheries and, added to the alreadysizeable fisheries of Japan, Korea(ROK), and Taiwan, have sharply in­creased the quantity of skipjack tunaentering the international market. Theincrease has caused international skip­jack prices to decline to as little as $800per ton in early 1982.

Prices for skipjack tuna from thewestern Pacific (fish over 2.5 kg) atJapan's Shimizu market, for example,declined from $1,134 per ton inDecember 1981 to only $796 per ton inearly March 1982. Unconfirmedreports, however, suggest that pricesmay have begun to increase somewhatin early April.

The Mexican Government facessome difficult economic choices. Thecountry has not been able to market allof its 1981 tuna catch. Massive stocksof both frozen and canned tuna arereported in the ports of Ensenada andMazatlan. By 1983, the tuna vesselsordered by Mexico will enable fisher­men to increase significantly their tunacatch. Unless Mexico is able to findsizeable new export markets (whichseems unlikely), the country will haveto continue to rely on its domesticmarket. This will require the MexicanGovernment to budget substantialsums to subsidize domestic tuna sales.Failure to do so could mean thebankruptcy of many Mexican tunacompanies, in which case the Govern­ment, through Banpesca, would beresponsible for debts exceeding $1billion. In addition to the tuna vesselscurrently under construction, Banpes­ca has previously financed the con­struction of an unknown number oftuna vessels as well as loans for theconstruction of cold stores and can­neries for the tuna industry.

29