I have heard it almost every day during the last two months. Why don't they STOP FISHING skipjack ? Many buyers of canned tuna are confused, so are traders and processors. Most of them are surprised that the price of skipjack can be so incredibly low, for such a long period of time. How can it be that, when tuna boat-owners make us believe their cost-price per M/T is about $ 625 p. M/T, they continue to fish for more then half a year with a market prices between $330 to $400 landed ? Why don't they stop ?

Have costs always been much lower, have we always paid too much for skipjack, is it still attractive to continue ? These questions arise, when we are confronted with the fact that even a heavily over-stocked and depressed market, with hardly any demand does not seem to motivate fleet operators to come to their senses and start reducing their production / supply dramatically.

How can they survive much longer ? Don't these boat-owners realize they are shooting in their own foot ? I am afraid that the answer the first question is No, on the long run some of them may not survive if this continues much longer. And Yes, they are smart enough to realize, and feel they are digging their own grave ! The sad part is however, that most seiner owners targeting skipjack do not have enough confidence in the other party, nor enough control over their own hunting instincts to save themselves. The Korean and part of Taiwanese fleet had stopped fishing for a while, but soon found out that when they were in port, others were continuing full blast, so what's the use anyway ?

As recent as the World Tuna conference in Bangkok this year, it was argued by boat-owners that the prohibition of the use of Hydro Protein ( mostly used in USA canned product to increase the water intake of tuna) would increase the consumption of tuna in the USA by abt 15%. That's a real good point ! But definitely not a short term solution for a heavily over-supplied market. In the last 6 months there have been several closed meetings between tropical tuna boat owners, but none of them resulted in any realistic short term measures. Koreans, Spaniards, Americans, French, Japanese and Taiwanese have sat around the table but they did not manage to come to a single concrete solution to their mutual problem. If you listen to fisherman their arguments to continue fishing are : " We'll get in trouble with our bankers if we do not pay our interest, we cannot trust the others if we stop, who is going to check a laying-up of seiners ? A quota system or other control measures cannot be monitored and executed effectively and besides it restricts our freedom ".  Conclusion : there is no solution to this continuing over-supply ? No ! some boat-owners say, there is a solution : Buy more tuna. Sell more tuna, Eat more tuna.

Personally I have come to the stage that I am wondering if not the only alternative solution to the problem is : STOP BUYING skipjack tuna ! We have all already covered skipjack tuna long term anyway, and even the most patient canned tuna buyer or processor has now already covered his position for the next few month, some even well into next year. So the risk for tuna Buyers will be limited.  Perhaps this activity will lead to a cost-price of frozen round skipjack of eventually only USD 250, hopefully then the laws of economics would force fleet owners to take their faith in their own hands, and come up with some very urgently needed measures to revive this skipjack market, and provide a healthy future business for all of us !!