Philippine fisherfolk alliance Pamalakaya has said that the Philippine Government has failed to come up with a contingency plan to address the imminent wide-scale job loss when a two-year ban on tuna fishing is implemented this year.
Some 150,000 jobs relating to the tuna fishing industry will be put on the line when the ban is executed by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.
The alliance said that the ban on tuna fishing was not aimed at preserving tuna stocks in the west and central Pacific, but to dislodge fishing companies in developing countries to allow tuna fleets from the EU and Japan to take over.
The group said that Japan was poised to take over Philippine waters under the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement and that EU would have a share of Philippine territorial waters under a Philippine-EU free trade pact.
The group is now calling for the Japanese deal to be scrapped and for the nationalisation of the tuna industry to stem job losses.
The tuna industry at General Santos City, the Philippines' tuna capital is worth an estimated US$380 million. The alliance said that the city would lose its profits should Japanese fleets start entering Philippine waters.
The Philippine tuna industry produces 400,000 tonnes of tuna per year, 85 percent of which is exported.
The EU receives 40 percent (64,000 tonnes) of the Philippines' fresh and canned tuna exports.