GENERAL SANTOS CITY - is proud to be the "Tuna Capital of the Philippines".

 The morning scenes at the Gensan fishport where the tuna bounty is unloaded and hauled, weighed, classified,

and sold. Gensan is considered to be the Tuna Capital of the Philippines - processing tons of tuna daily, from

yellowfin to skipjacks.

Tuna bounty

This is definitely big business here. With a world class fish port (officially called General Santos Fishport Complex)

capable of handling hundreds of boats daily, tons of tuna changes hands here. Some go straight to export, other

to the tuna processing plants and canneries. Gensan has 7 of the 10 canneries in the country, generating

thousands of jobs.

Of the variety of catch that reaches the fish port, more than 50% are tuna species. An adult yellowfin tuna can easily

weigh 30-50 kg. All around the fish port you'll see men carrying these huge tuna.

These are the folks who make it happen. They are away for weeks and go to fishing groups as far as the borders

of Indonesia and Palau. Before they leave they usually borrow money from the financier/boat owner and leave it

with their families. If they get lucky they'll have sufficient haul to cover their debts when they get back. If not, they'll

try again on the next fishing expedition. According to some fishermen, its getting difficult to catch tuna and they have

to get farther out.

The Gen. Santos Fishport which is the most modern in the country and is accredited with US FDA and EU FDA

Standards has just undergone expansion.