HRM16 1. When you are researching in terms of topics related to your subject HRM16, which one do you want to work on/ research on? Check the topic you want to research on:
___a. issues regarding hotels contribution on the income of the place
___b. making a program so that hotels become more profitable
___c. importance of spa, salon, & resorts in promoting tourism of place
___d. is General Santos City’s tourism booming
___e. are personalities from General Santos City brings big income to the city? 2. Cite two-five studies regarding hotel & restaurants management. It could be foreign or local study. Case Study: Restaurant downsizing
Sally Smith is a manager at the Butcher Block Restaurant. Due to her extensive background in the restaurant business, she has great influence on the executive management and often makes significant recommendations for changes that are supported. The restaurant was closed two months ago after a news release issued by the regional Health Department claimed that at least twenty people had become ill apparently with the listeriosis infection after eating at the Butcher Block the month before. Listeriosis has been isolated in the feces of healthy humans, sheep, cattle and poultry, and the spread of this disease has been linked to the consumption of contaminated food production. Five of the sickened people had to be hospitalized. Although a thorough restaurant health inspection failed to prove the restaurant was responsible, the negative press intensified low attendance problems.
This downturn in the business has made it necessary to prepare for a reduction in the workforce. The terminations will be permanent and there are no termination benefits. Executive management has identified five employees as the first ones to be considered for termination. All five employees are at the same organizational level, but from different areas of the establishment. Bridgett is a server; Marc is a bartender; Neil is a cook; Jennifer is an expediter; and Stephen is a baker. One must be terminated and the rest ranked for future termination. Sally has a friendly working relationship with all of these employees and regrets having to let any of them go.
If you were Sally, determine who will be the first to go and rank order the remaining employees. Assume there are no union contracts, company policies, legal requirements or traditional business practices that constrain your decision making. Base your decision about an employee’s position on the termination list purely on your own judgment of fairness to the employees and benefit for the Butcher Block. Provide justification for your ranking and strategy for covering with one less position each time someone needs to be terminated.
Sally hopes to use her leadership skills to rejuvenate the restaurant and increase business. She has always been one to persevere in the face of adversity. Her employees are loyal to her because of her ethics, skill in running a restaurant and support and consideration in her relationships with them. At present, the negative press is coupled with a severe economic downturn that is impacting business even further. The prediction is that economic recovery may not happen for two years into the future, Sally is thinking about recommending to executive management that they downgrade the service level in the entire establishment, which would result in a change to their concept, in order to save labor costs. What ramifications might this idea have on: * the concept * marketing * costs * customer perception * customer visitation * and so on? * Do you think this is a good idea? Why or why not? * Identify the short-range (within two months), mid-range (within six months), and long-term (within two years) aspects of which Sally must be aware.
Case Study: Using and observing the SERVQUAL concepts
In small groups, find a restaurant or foodservice operation in your area or have one determined by your instructor. Get permission from the restaurant manager to interview him/her, as well as some front of the house and back of the house employees, and to utilize the establishment to attempt to observe the SERVQUAL concepts as listed below.
The SERVQUAL instrument is made up of 22 statements for evaluating consumer perceptions and expectations regarding the quality of a service. Respondents are asked to rate their level of agreement or disagreement with the given statements on a 7-point Likert scale. Customers’ perceptions are based on the actual service they receive, while customers’ expectations are based on past experiences and information received. The statements represent the elements of service quality. Refinement of this work reduced the original service dimensions used by customers to judge the quality of a service from ten to five. The five key dimensions (Parasuraman el al., 1991) that were identified are as follows: 1. Reliability – the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately. 2. Tangibles – the appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel and communications materials. 3. Responsiveness – the willingness to help the customers and to provide prompt service. 4. Assurance – the knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence. 5. Empathy – the provision of caring and individualized attention to customers.
One of the purposes of the SERVQUAL instrument is to ascertain the level of service quality based on the above five key dimensions and to identify where gaps in service exist and to what extent. The gaps are generally defined as: * Positioning gap – this is the manager's perception of customers’ expectations and the importance customers attach to the quality dimensions. * Specification gap – is concerned with the difference between what management believes the customer wants and what he/she expects the restaurant to provide. * Delivery gap – is concerned with the difference between the service provided by the employees of the business and the specifications set by management. * Communication gap – exists when the promises communicated by the business to the customers do not match the customers’ expectations of those external promises. * Perception gap – is the difference between the customers’ internal perception and expectation of the services (Zeithaml et al., 1990).
Using the SERVQUAL concepts, create a list of questions to ask the manager and desired employees and create a checklist of tangibles and intangibles to detect in order to discover the five key dimensions.
Conduct your interviews and observations, summarize your findings, and then present your findings to the manager and the class.
After determining the key dimensions above, see if you can determine where the gaps in service exist.

Case Study: Identification of atmosphere, mood and interior design of a restaurant
Restaurateurs know it is important to manage the meal experience in order not to leave guest impressions to chance. The book outlines this idea at length in chapter one.
Using the Case Study: Acorn House Restaurant in Chapter 4 work in small groups or as an overall class to visualize a consistent image of the interior of the Acorn House restaurant.
Identify what is meant by “intangibles” regarding the atmosphere, mood and interior design. Put these concepts in writing so a picture can be visualized that is consistent among all group members and classmates. In particular, identify how the following concepts would be seen and what they look like, or if not ascertained from the case study, make recommendations regarding what they should look like so there is an overall consistent image for the restaurant and it aligns with the meal experience, concept and menu.
Atmosphere and Mood * Intangible ‘feel’ inside a restaurant * Décor and interior design * Table and seating arrangements * Service accompaniments * Dress and attitude of staff * Tempo of service * Age, dress, gender of other customers * Sound levels, music * Temperature * Overall cleanliness
Interior Design
Overall design: size and shape of room, furniture, lighting, color scheme, air conditioning / heating. Is there a sense of coherence? What are these variables and how should they be exhibited at Acorn House?
Should customers linger at Acorn? If so, how do the design and atmosphere encourage them to do so?

3. Make a bibliography page with ten references.

1. Restaurant Management by Edna Reynoso-Anton and Rosanna Gonzalez Copyright © 2010. Published and exclusively distributed by Anvil Publishing Inc. 2. Hotel and Lodging Management Copyright © 2006 by John Wiley and Sons, Inc., Published by John Wiley and Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey 3. Food and Beverage Management Copyright © 2008, by Tata McGran- Hill Publishing Company Limited 4. Introduction to Food Service by Payne Palacio, June; Thesis, Monica, Published by Pearson Education Inc., Publishing as prentice Hall, Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc. 5. http://legal.icsf.net/icsflegal/uploads/pdf/instruments/phi4.pdf -http://www.esf-agentschap.be/uploadedFiles/Voor_ESF_promotoren/Zelfevaluatie_ESF-project/De%20Vaus%20ch%201.pdf 6. Food and Beverage Management 5th Edition by Bernard Davis, Andrew Lockwood, Peter Alcott, Ioannis Pantelidis 7. Parasuraman, A., Berry L. L. and Zeithaml V. A. , 1991, Refinement and Reassessment of the SERVQUAL Scale. Journal of Retailing, Vol. 67 (Winter), pp. 420-450. 8. Zeithaml, A, Pasuraman, A., Berry, L. (1990). Delivering Quality Service: Balancing Customer Perceptions and Expectations. New York: The Free Press Division of Macmillan, Inc. 9. http://sheilapontis.wordpress.com/2010/11/05/types-and-approaches-of-design-research/ 10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research 4. Present a title page of your prelims. HOW HANDLINE FISHERY HELPED THE TUNA INDUSTRY IN GENERAL SANTOS CITY 5. Give your research problem. See to it that your problem carries the following characteristics: Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic, Restrictive and Time bound. Also, when you develop your statement of the problem, be guided with the following research questions: Is it interesting to me? Is it manageable to me? Is it within the range of my competence? Is the data source reliable? Does it make a significant and original contribution? Is it (too) controversial? Answer the question (yes or no) then give your reason(s). Is it interesting to me? * Yes, it is indeed interesting to me, because the topic of the research is well known and easy to understand. Talking about tuna, you can easily give some ideas about it, and living here in General Santos where Tuna is one of the main sources of living. Is it manageable to me? * Yes, the research is manageable to me because it is realistic and specific. It is not hard to collect the data’s needed for the research that’s why it is not that hard to manage. Is it within the range of my competence? -for me yes, the research is within the range of my competence because I was able to gain a wide range of skills and by doing this research I was able to prove my competency.

Is the data source reliable? * Yes. The data’s that have been collected are reliable and achievable. In our research, where you can discover something new and can give you more knowledge about the tuna here in General Santos City. In our research I don’t have any idea about the handline fishery but now I know about its advantages. Does it make a significant and original contribution? -Yes, the research does make a significance or influential effect on the people. Learning new things in this research helped me to understand deeper. Is it (too) controversial? -Yes, the research is controversial because there are some sectors that are related in the tuna industry are being affected in some issues. That issues, for me is considered as controversial. 6. Look for examples of conceptual framework, and research design. Just get the diagram of these two.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK RESEARCH DESIGN

ANALYZING THE TUNA FISHING SECTOR IN GENERAL SANTOS
By the Pamalakaya FarSouth Mindanao and Fisher folk Resource Development Center
Overview
General Santos City is regarded as the Tuna Capital of the Philippines. The City has the capacity to produce in abundance high-quality tuna products which are being marketed locally and internationally. Tuna fishing serves as a main livelihood not only to the small fisher folk and fish workers but also to the small tuna producers commonly called here as tuna handliners.Such livelihood is now threatened due to the inevitable globalization (nee: full liberalization) of the Philippine Economy following the Philippine Government's ratification of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in 1994. This paved the way with the restructuring of all government laws, programs and policies so as to conform with the GATT and the WTO policies. In the fishery front, this is being manifested through the enactment and implementation of laws attuned to liberalization and globalization policies. Example of which are the Fisheries Code of 1998 and the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act of 1997. These laws are clear example of how the government serves as the subservient tool of the big business and TNCs as well as the globalization institution like the WTO. This is to the utter detriment of the small tuna players and the fisher folk and fish workers depending on the sector for survival. One effect of this passive adherence to the WTO liberalization policy is the Philippine government's implementation of the fish importation policy which both the local commercial fish producers and fishers have protested during the height of these fish importation practices. Moreover, because of the pro-globalization laws and policies of the government the big players in the local fishery production have been put in a greater position to control and monopolize fisheries production and exploitation. David versus Goliath in Tuna Fisheries Big local and foreign tuna producers and exporters who are actually a combination of local big business groups and individuals as well as their TNCs-MNCs allies possessing enormous capital to own and operate big, sophisticated fishing vessels capable of catching tuna by the volumes have dominated all the more the Tuna Fishing sector in all its facets, that is from catching or harvesting, to processing and marketing/exporting of the produce. This is a fact that holds true not only in General Santos but in the entire Tuna Fishing Sector of the country. The small tuna producers who are still employing the traditional way of catching tuna or via the hand line fishing method is definitely no match with the big players who do not only have capital but enjoy as well the full backing of the government. Consequently, the small tuna producers and the ordinary fisher folks are in distress because they are being cast away by these turn of events.
No shores within site
Among the latest complaints the tuna handliners are waging albeit helplessly before the Philippine government is the particular provision under the Fisheries Code putting tuna handliners within the category of small scale commercial fishing. This vis-à-vis the international regulations on commercial fishing that will entail them to hire professionals and degree holders such as nautical engineer, marine engineer, licensed seafarer, etc, to be able to obtain a permit or license as tuna fishing operator. Stated otherwise, small fishers and fish workers who may have sufficient fishing expertise but are not qualified and schooled accordingly will not be allowed to work on board the fishing vessels of the small tuna handliners. One tuna handliner usually employ about 35 personnel and fish workers who are being recruited direct from the local fishing community.
This alone would mean the natural death of the small tuna fishing or tuna handline fishing as well as the small time operators, the fish workers and fishers depending on the former for their livelihood and subsistence.
Add the Foreign Tuna Intrusion
Before, there used to be only an issue of Taiwanese Fishing Vessels (POACHING) encroaching on Philippine waters, now the issue already is the intrusion of Taiwan tuna producers and their tuna catch into the country. For reasons known only to the Philippine government and its liberalization policy, Taiwan Vessels like King Pord Vessels and East Asia, along with their counterparts from the Philip Processors of the United States and the Pesca Rich of Japan were allowed intrusion into the local tuna sector of General Santos. These foreign tuna fishing industrialists now control the prices of tuna. They also dictate the classification of the
Tuna Fish Quality, and terms of payment of the tuna fish they are buying from the local traders. The Taiwanese Long Lines are direct competitors of the Filipino Handliners in SOCSARGEN (South Cotabato, Sarangani, and General Santos) and Davao City. Before, these foreign fishing vessels spend a lot of time and money on their former traveling route which is via Bitung or Manado, Indonesia, and from there, they will fly their tuna to Japan via Jakarta or Singapore. However, when they changed their route from Davao City to Manila, the cost of travel goes down dramatically. They are now accumulating more profits to the tune of $2 per kilo of tuna. Like the Filipino exporters, Japan is the target market of the Taiwanese for their tuna. But then again, because of the lower expenses spent in the transportation of the tuna fish, they can also lower the prices of their export tuna products. In this situation, the Filipino or local tuna industry of General Santos City as a whole is being killed gently.
Aside from this, the handliners are affected by the standardization of tuna for export to Japan. In cases that the Taiwanese tuna fish would be found oversize or undersize based on the new standards, these Taiwanese longlines would just dispose the tuna in the local markets of Davao and General Santos City at a very low price.
Finding what is missing at a rich tuna production data
SOCSARGEN is teeming with both marine and inland water resources. Its production reached 71,748,953 kilograms in 1990. In 1994, General Santos registered a total fish production of 8,750,770 kilos; only 12,106,000 of which came from the municipal fishery production while 76,644,770 kilograms came from the commercial production, tuna production among others.

In 1999, the General Santos Fish port Complex registered a total fish haul of 48,815,890 kilograms of which 76% was commercial catch while 24% was municipal catch. Among the noted commercial fishes are the yellow fin tuna, skip jack, loins, steaks , fillets, round and big eyed scad, frigate mackerel, flying fish, anchovies, etc. In 1999 also, General Santos emerged as the leading producer of sashimi grade tuna which totaled about 8,548 metric tons. Presently, it remains to be the leading tuna producer in the country and because of
SOCSARGEN’s contribution to the tuna production, the Philippines ranks second in Asia and 7th in the world in that category. Fishing, particularly commercial tuna fishing is the prime industry in General Santos City and is in fact largely responsible for the economic boost being enjoyed by the city today. Overall, the city comes a close second to the Navotas Fish Port complex (the other international fish port situated in the National Capital Region, Luzon) in terms of daily fish landing volume. However, General Santos City's fish port ranks first in terms of high value fish. The city has now over 50 commercial fishing companies that are landing a collective volume of 8,000 metric tons of sashimi grade tuna per month. Some o these companies, their owners and the average volume of catch is shown through the chart below: DEEP FISHING COMPANIES IN GENERAL SANTOS CITY | COMPANY | OWNER | Ave. Vol/ No.( MT) | 01. Roel Fishing Industry | Carmen Granfon | 75 | 02. Alphine Fishing | A. de Leon | 46 | 03.Rell & Renn Fishing | N. Caballero | 52 | 04. Romel Fishing | Rufo Talab, Jr. | 4 | 05. RH Fishing | Roberto Herana | 194 | 06. Seaward Ventures | Manuel Esma | 36 | 07. JV Fishing Ind. | July Y. Tan | 14 | 08. RRC Fishing Ind. | Romeo Cantoja | 66 | 09. Phil. Kingford | Evelyn Chua | 25.2 | 10. Ocean Corp. | Salubre/Japanese (sosyo) | 12 | 11. Salubre Offshore | Salubre/Japanese (sosyo) | 42 | 12. Mira Fishing | Mirabueno | 28 | 13. Bertuna Sea Ventures | Bernardo R. | 12 | 14. Pescador | D. Jasmin | 64 | 15. BTC Trading | Jose Orel | 45 | 16. Emmanuel Tuna Traders | Rock Garay | 6 | 17. Gen San Aqua Traders | Roger Lim | 97 | 18. Veres Trading | Veres | 10 | 19. Oescarich Mfg. Corp. | Japanese | 47 | 20. A & J Marine Products | Amagan | 2 | 21. SOMIFISHCO | Association | 39 | 22. Jannalyn Jun Fishing | Lito Vargas | 31 | 23. DTFI | Domingo Teng | 10 | 24. Astral Traders | Willy Ng | 27 | 25. SAFI | Marfin Tan | 16 | 26. Melvie Trading | Jake Farujano | 20 | 27. DJL Tuna Magnet | D. Lauron | 27 | 28. SOLFISH | Sol Managuil | 2 | 29. NOLA Marice | Mercy Ong | 18 | 30. MGTR | Jake Lu | 106 |

Source: FRDCI Research Data, As of
July 2001 SASFA MEMBERS (Sarangani Association Sustenance Fisherman Association) | 31. Amadeo Fishing Corp. (AFC) | Patricio Amadeo | 10 | 32. NH Agro Industrial , Inc. | Felipe Yu | 16 | 33. Gladery Fishing | Rey Gacete | 50 | 34. Rugela Fishing Ind. | John Yap | 125 | 35. Templado Deep Sea | Templado Family | 223 | 36. MGTR | Joaquin T. Lu | 152 | 37. RD Fishing Industry | Rodrigo Rivera | 224 | 38. San Andres Fishing Ind., Inc. | Marfenio Tan | 714 | 39. DTFI/STP (Kimball) | Domingo Tan | 356 | 40. B. Laguna Fishing Corp. | Romeo Laguna | 16 | 41. Island Gulf Fishing (IGF) | Dr. Ernesto Salazar | 54 | 42. FA Laingo | Faustino Laingo | 31 | 43. LK Fishing, Inc. | Gabriel Estocapio Sr. | 195 | 44. St. Mary Fishing | Ermelita Ortilla | 62 | 45.Don Agri Industrial | Dioscoro Nunez Sr. | 28 | 46. Cantoja Deep Sea Fishing | Rosalinda Veloria | 99 | 47. Joberlie Fishing Corp. | Bernardo Templado | 146 | 48. Damalerio Fishing Ind. | damalerio | - |

Source: FRDCI Research Data, As of
July 2001
While the tuna production data is promising, the benefits of it do not actually go to the fishers and fish workers. The benefits being derived there from are being cornered essentially by the dominant players as shown above.
The Exportation-Importation ironies
General Santos City ships tuna to many foreign countries and also to leading hotels and restaurants in Metro Manila (yes despite the issue of massive fish importation by the Philippines due to the WTO liberalization policy). Because of the large volume of daily catch, the tuna canning industry became the leading support industry in the processing, marketing and exportation of this prime product.
Fishing is a PhP50 billion industry in the Philippines, contributing about 4% of the country's GNP. With an annual average production volume of 2.8 million metric tons of fish, it directly provides livelihood and employment to over one million Filipinos. Tuna is among the 200 or so species within the category of high commercial and exportable value found in the country. The Philippines ranks 7th among the top tuna producing countries in the world, both in terms of fresh/frozen tuna and canned tuna. Big portion of this production is being exported to countries like Japan, US and Europe. Then again, as earlier stated, while exporting tuna, the country is also continuously importing surplus fish products from these countries. In 1994, our yellow fin tuna production totaled 6,742.2 metric tons and the bigger portion of which was exported, whereas we imported at the same time tuna/skipjack totaling 1,541.4 metric tons, which has an amount of P31, 454,898.00. It is also from aforesaid countries where we import surplus second hand fishing vessels, equipments/materials.
In 1994, General Santos City imported fishing vessels/boats and equipments, which has a total weight of 5,757.2 metric tons with a corresponding price amounting to P139, 713,855.00 (Bureau of Customs, Makar, GSC). The real beneficiaries of the importation and exportation of fishes and even the fishing vessels/boats/materials are not the marginalized fisher folk but the big businessmen and their collaborators in the government.
Fathoming the Fisher Folk’s Poverty and Misery
According to the 1993 Records of the Bureau of Fishery & Aquatic Resources (BFAR) based in General Santos City, of the total number of population in Sarangani and General Santos City; more or less 36% live in coastal barangay areas. Of this number, 19,483 are fishermen principally dependent on fishing for survival. While 3,845 are called “seasonal fishermen”. The depletion of marine resources greatly affects the livelihood of fisher folk.
Under the SOCSARGEN Area Development Plan, intensive exploitation of marine resources is increasingly becoming rampant. The presence of the International Fish Port complex in the city will add more credence to this intensive exploitation and massive commercial fishery production for export. This massive exploitation however is counterproductive however to the municipal fishers or small traditional fishers depending the municipal fishery area for their livelihood. They are now complaining either declining fish catch or no catch at all because of commercial fishing.
Meanwhile, in the whole SOCSARGEN area, some 25,000 fishermen, with ages ranging from 15-50 years old, including the 100,000 family members are bound to wallow in deeper hunger and poverty upon further implementation of the unjust policies of importation and liberalization in the tuna industries. The labor force of tuna handliners composed of 20,000 will be further deprived of employment. When this tuna handliners eventually lose whatever grip they still have in the industry, these fishermen will also lose their livelihood. It should be noted that in 1999 alone, the volume of tuna caught through the handline method reached 9,824 tons and valued at $18.1M.
The industry is a source of livelihood to 25,000 individuals that earned a net income that ranges from P2, 000 to P7, 000 for every 12 to 20 days deep sea fishing. In one study, their income could already support a family of 5 members. The Fisheries Code connection the government has allowed through the Fisheries Code of 1998's certain provisional loopholes that permit continued commercial fishing operations within the 15-kilometer municipal fishing ground. Commercial fishing operation within the municipal fishery area is one of the reasons why a marginalized fisher would return almost always empty handed after a day of fishing. Our fisher folk, with their almost “obsolete” means of fishery production cannot in any way compete with the modern means being employed by commercial fishing.
In one study conducted by the Fisher folk Resource Development Center, of the Php 100,000.00 average net gain of one commercial tuna vessel in 15-20 day single fishing operation, a meager four percent of that would go to the fish workers on board that vessel.
Opening the can of exploitation and oppression in the city's tuna canning industry
This city is home to seven (7) out of the nine (9) Tuna Processing & Canning Factories all over the Philippines. It has a combined canning capacity of 570 metric tons a day. Recently, 60% of the total labor force in General Santos is into the tuna industry. There are in the direct tuna fishing labor but the bulk is dispatched as casual, irregular and underpaid workers in seven tuna canning companies all over the city.
Most of these tuna canning workers would not last six-month of continued employment and would be dismissed outright in order for the canning companies elude the provision in the Philippine Labor Code that requires that once a worker exceeds 6 months of continued employment, he automatically acquires regular employment and therefore is entitled to benefits and security of tenure as a regular employee or worker. Likewise, workers in the canning factories receive a very low wage as compared to what is being provided for by law as minimum wage. Also, women workers there are oftentimes experiencing several forms of sexual discrimination and harassment.
TUNA MANAGEMENT
Scientists from the RFMOs use the most recent and best available data and information to evaluate the stocks and provide advice for management. Government representatives do not necessarily fully respond to such advice, but many actions have been taken including those responding to environmental or ecosystem concerns (mostly mitigation of incidental bycatch). The adoption and implementation of management measures has become more difficult in recent years due to the global excess fishing capacity. As tuna fisheries are multispecies and multigear, when a regulation is adopted spillover of fishing capacity inevitably occurs and thus global management of fishing capacity is an urgent need.
Management measures, including those to combat and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and other unauthorized activities, can have a negative effect on fishing efficiency. In particular, recent by catch mitigation measures have had a major impact on fisheries in general, especially longliners. As a result, gains in fishing efficiency have slowed. This is important since it may cause scientists to overestimate increases in catchability, fishing efficiency and fishing capacity for recent years.
In conclusion, most of the long-term changes in the fisheries have acted to increase the fishing efficiencies of all fleets. However, many of the recent changes, particularly for longline fisheries (i.e. tuna stocks are approaching or exceeding their full exploitation level; Y/R is reducing due to increasing juvenile catches; the number of regulations is growing; obligations for by catch mitigation are expanding; competition among gear types has been accentuated; and both global fishing capacity and operational costs have risen) have had a negative impact on tuna fisheries (e.g. Reduced efficiency) and, if not decreased, at least slowed down the trend of increasing catchability.
TUNA STOCK STATUS AND CHANGES IN FISHERIES
World tuna fisheries are reviewed in terms of commercially important species, by ocean and by major fishing gear types. In volume, the most important catches are of skipjack tuna at 50.7 percent of the global total, particularly in the Pacific Ocean, followed by yellow fin tuna at 31.7 percent and big eye tuna at 10.8 percent. Albacore and blue fin tunas – Atlantic blue fin, Pacific blue fin and southern blue fin – are caught in much smaller quantities. The Pacific Ocean yields more than half of the world’s tuna production (64 percent), followed by the Indian (25 percent) and Atlantic (11 percent) Oceans. The catch by purse seiners has increased very rapidly and now forms the majority of the total yield (from 300 000 tonnes in 1970 to 2.8 million tonnes in 2006). Longline used to be the dominant gear type but it is now rapidly losing its share (from 500 000 tonnes, 34 percent of the total in 1970, to 650 000 tonnes, 15 percent of the total in 2005), though coastal small-scale longlining is increasing.
Stock status is reviewed according to the most recent, formal assessments by each of the tuna Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs). The review is based on two aspects: whether the biomass (or spawning biomass) is above or below the reference point (RP); and whether fishing mortality is higher or lower than the level equivalent to the sustainable yield (as represented by the RP, which is generally the maximum sustainable yield [MSY]). Catches of big eye and yellow fin have continuously increased in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, whereas in the Atlantic they peaked in the 1990s and thereafter decreased or stabilized. Stock biomass of tropical tunas (big eye, skipjack and yellow fin) is generally above but close to the RP, and the exploitation level is close to the MSY, except for skipjack which still appears to be underexploited.
Current fishing mortality coefficients for big eye and yellow fin are generally below the level of the RP, except those for big eye in the Pacific Ocean and yellow fin in the Indian Ocean which are above the MSY level. The temperate tunas (albacore, southern blue fin, Pacific blue fin and Atlantic blue fin) are more heavily exploited. In particular, southern blue fin and Atlantic blue fin are both in an overfished state and are currently being overfished.
The technological and physical development of fishing gear and its deployment is continuously progressing. The most recent change with the greatest impact on fisheries was the introduction of fish aggregating devices (FADs) by the purse seine fleet. The recent increase in purse seine catches is directly related to the increase of small-sized tropical tunas caught in association with FADs. At present, sets on FAD schools take most of the fish in the habitat developed under the FAD; hence the species and sizes are highly variable, including many non-target small tunas and other species. Since the stock size of big eye is small compared to yellow fin and skipjack, the capture of juvenile big eye underneath FADs has a more substantial impact on the stock. This has significantly altered the yield per recruit (Y/R) of big eye stocks as well as the allocation of stocks between longline and surface fisheries (particularly purse seine). The greater use of at-sea transshipment (mostly by distant water longline fisheries) and increased use of supply vessels (by purse seine) have increased the fishing capacity of the fleets, even if the number and fish holding capacity of the fleet has been held constant.
The development of coastal fisheries, including coastal longline fisheries, is also an important feature of the last two decades. This is primarily related to the establishment of Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs), but is also very closely linked to cost effectiveness and management schemes aimed at distant water fleets. The establishment of tuna farms has also had a major impact on fisheries, particularly through changes in market price and trade and market structure. As a result of farming, fishing pressure has increased for both large and small fish.

HOTEL and RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT TOURISM RESEARCH

By:
SHANE MARIE NOBLE
REMA DELA TORRE
JASON DURO
DIANA ROSE ELAN
QUENELYN GALANG
ANALOU GINO