Thesis, Undergraduate (BS Agribusiness Economics)--University of the Philippines, Mindanao

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General Santos City is the 'tuna capital' of the Philippines, with increasing demand of tuna products all over the world, there is a call for sustainability measures. The illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing affects the global stocks for tuna and it is repeatedly practiced in the Philippines. This study identified the level of IUU fishing in the tuna industry of General Santos City and identified key drivers in IUU fishing activities. Also, this study identified the implications of IUU activities to the technical efficiency of the fishing vessels. In identifying the IUU level in the tuna industry of General Santos City, two datasets were analyzed. The first dataset is composed of handling tuna fishing vessels under assumption of not having an IUU component, the technical efficiency of these fishing vessels averaged at 0.6580 in 2014. This level of technical efficiency was compared to the second dataset, composed of mixed vessels, in which technical efficiency scores were identified for years 2012, 2013 and 2014 to be 0.8018, 0.7162, respectively. Based on the results, the technical efficiency of fishing vessels conducting IUU activities is greater than the technical efficiency of the non-IUU participating fishing vessels. Also, this study found put that fishing in the Philippine waters was making the tuna fishing vessels inefficient while fishing in the international waters was making the fishing vessels efficient. Lastly, as more regulations against IUU were implemented, the technical efficiency increases due to improper implementation of these regulations.