Fisherman Have Serious Doubt About Benefits Of Yellowfin Farming ff

An Australian-inspired project to breed yellowfin tuna in the Tuamotu atoll of Hao, and meant chiefly to breathe new life into the French Polynesian fishing industry, might never get off the ground if Tahiti fishermen have their way.

Local fishermen can hardly see how the project can generate income, considering the market price of yellowfin, and the fact that yellowfin has not been farmed successfully before.

A number of associations representing a depressed fishing industry that saw its annual catches drop from 7,811 tons in 2001 to a little over 5,000 tons last year are pressing President Oscar Temaru to scrap the project, which costs between USD 15.8 and USD 20 million, Tahitipresse reports.

”We are joining forces in opposition to the government's decision to finance the Haopa Project” said the head of a commercial fishing vessel association, Georges Moarii.

The Hao Fishing and Aquaculture project was envisioned to recoup income that previously came from a French military base that carried out nuclear testing on the Tuamotu atolls of Moruroa and Fangataufato, between the late 1960s and 1996. Moreover, it was deemed an ideal solution to a fishing crisis that forced commercial fishing fleets into fronting soaring fuel costs to target more tuna in faraway waters.

There is a shortage of tuna in French Polynesian waters, and long trips make fishing unviable.

”We’re a little astonished by this decision because besides that there is a complete inertia when it comes to resolving the crisis we're undergoing,” Moarii said.

He hinted that the yellowfin tuna breeding project would not produce the desired effect of solving the fishing crisis, as the species has never been bred in captivity before. Moreover, according to Moarii, yellowfin tuna sells for much less than bluefin tuna. Its market value is reportedly three times lower than the more expensive bluefin variety.

Meanwhile, the French Polynesian president joined a national delegation, which included the mayor of Hao, to visit tuna breeding farms in Japan.

The breeding farm was initially planned as a mirror of tuna growing farms thriving in Port Lincoln, Australia.

Source: Tahitipresse