Business
The Future of United States Fishing Fleet in Region
Could it be coming to an end?
The United States purse seine fishing fleet does not have a long-term future in the Western Pacific, nor do American Samoa's two tuna canneries, according to Chris Lischewski, chief of the United States seafood company, Bumble Bee Seafoods. Once a dominant presence in the region, the United States fleet operates under a 10-year agreement, just renewed, that gives it access to tuna inside the 320-kilometre fishing zones claimed by Pacific Islands states.
Prior to joining Bumble Bee in 1999, Lischewski spent 10 years with Starkist Seafood, part of the H J Heinz group and operator of one of the American Samoan canneries.
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"You will see probably in the next 10 years the United States will be out of purse seining," he told Pacific Magazine after signing the extension of an agreement for buying tuna loins from the Levuka-based Pacific Fishing Company cannery in Fiji. "It is not only the economics of United States boats. These boats were owned by canneries, which sold them to captains, who became boat owners.
"The canneries kind of protected the boat owners, then walked away from them. The captains had to become businesspeople, which they are not. They are all getting older; the kids are not coming up into the business; they are all based in American Samoa and very much linked to the future of the canneries there.
"There used to be over 50 boats. I think they are down to 32. There are a couple of powerful groups coming out of it. Trimarine just bought the entire Starkist fleet.
"They have staying power, but I think over time it is going to be difficult to sustain the United States fleet. I just don't see a lot of investment and growth."
Lischewski says the decline of the United States fleet will be decided by the timing of a move to give Ecuador and Colombia complete free access to the United States for canned tuna. "If that happens, you are going to see a reasonably rapid decline in American Samoa. At US$3.10 an hour for labour there, they can't compete with 50-cent rates elsewhere.
"American Samoa needs to start developing other industries. There is a shelf life for the tuna industry there," he said.
Bumble Bee is a latecomer to the Pacific tuna business, dated from its first deal with the Fiji cannery in 1999.
"In the Western Pacific, you have some Europeans coming in, but only because the Europeans are the only ones expanding their fleets and buying boats," he says.
Since the Forum Fisheries Agency at Honiara controlled access to Pacific fishing grounds, he didn't anticipate a developing international battle for fishing licences.
"In the past 10 years the number of fishing vessels has not increased significantly. But productivity between 1980 and 2000 with the same boats rose by about 35 percent with technology. In fact, what is happening now is that major fleets are meeting every quarter to limit production.
"What I am seeing is an OPEC (the oil producers' cartel) starting to be created. Productivity increased, but consumption of canned tuna is not increasing.
"The United States market has flattened down; the European market, which exploded between 1980 and 1995, is not flat. Areas like Latin America are growing, but on such a small base that demand for actual tuna is growing at only one to one and a half percent."
The growth of canned tuna consumption had become impeded by many substitutes, more convenience packaging, move to fresh foods, and more alternatives. Lischewski says none of the three major United States seafood businesses (Bumble Bee, Starkist and Chicken of the Sea) can afford to not have a presence in the Western Pacific.
