GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines – One of the country’s leading tuna fishing companies said it has moved closer to totally phasing out the use of fish aggregating devices (FADs) in catching and landing tuna to comply with international clamor for stronger conservation measures and sustainable fishing practice.
RD Fishing Group, the flagship company of RD Corporation, said 84 percent of its tuna is already caught on free-school (FAD-Free).
“We have shifted and focused on free-school fishing to achieve sustainable fishing practices which would guarantee preservation of fish stocks for the benefit of future generations”, said Rodrigo E. Rivera, Sr., Chairman of RD Corporation.
RD Corporation is one of the country’s large-scale fishing companies with core businesses operating in the rich fishing grounds of the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO), more particularly at the waters of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA), namely: Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, The Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu.
The group currently operates sixteen (16) purse seiners, while reducing the number of support vessels. All their purse seine fishing vessels are regulatory compliant and duly issued with International Fishing Permits (IFP); they are also duly registered in the WCPFC list of vessels, as well as in the FFA and PNA registry. These vessels are also duly listed in the EU list of accredited establishments. They are fully equipped with state-of-the-art vessel monitoring system (VMS) with 100% observer coverage on board, to ensure compliance, monitoring and with full documentation and traceability of the catch.
The RD Fishing Group is supplying free-school tuna to Philbest Canning Corporation in the Philippines and RD Tuna Canners, Limited in Papua New Guinea. Currently, the RD tuna canneries are certified-MSC-CoC (Chain of Custody). The move towards sustainability is part of the RD Manufacturing Group’s larger goal to become the leading supplier of responsibly-sourced canned tuna products.
RD Manufacturing Group carries a wide-array of canned tuna products including its own Diana, Dolly, and Gold Seas brands – the premier brands in Papua New Guinea.
It is part of the long-term desire of the company to maintain a balance between business growth and social responsibility. RD is committed to providing the finest tasting sustainably caught tuna while supporting the conservation of the natural resources to sustain future generations. It adheres to its slogan, “Better.Life.Ahead.”