Fishy business. The Social Impact of SST.pdf - Act Now!

pool of low-cost labour. This is in turn because Wewak and the Sepik are relativelyundeveloped in a modern economy sense; it provides the company with a good investmentopportunity. As part of the quid pro quo for this, the SSTC should undertake to take an activepart in sustainable development of not just Wewak but the province. The company has said itwill do this in its Environmental Plan. What is needed now is the detail of how this will happen.As noted above, WWF is working with Provincial and Local Level Government on this issuealready; as a major developer, SSTC should be prepared to invest both time and money into thisprocess. On the assumption the tuna factory is given approval to go ahead, discussions on theextent to which the company should do this should be part of the next phase of the development.n. Factory site visitsVisit of 8/7/05. A group of St. Benedict’s College lecturers and associates visited the factory at9 am, and were warmly welcomes by the Community Relations Officer, Frances Sumanup. Hewas happy to have representatives from educational institutions come see and appreciate whatwill be generating income for the Sepik people. South Seas Tuna Corporation’s first year ofoperation was 2004. It was opened Feb 14, 2004. The company is in partnership, Sumanupsaid, with:! FCF of Taiwan! Jacksons of the Neatherlands! BSP! The East Sepik Provincial GovernmentInterestingly, this information does not conform to what we were told on a second visit, whenIan Boatwood himself said FCF and the ESPG were the sole owners.Visitors took notes on the processes that were explained by company representatives as theymoved through the factory. For examples:The company aims to produce 200 tonnes of tuna per day, but cannot at present because there isno direct shipment of the loins to Western Samoa for canning. The product has to pass throughLae and then to Western Samoa at present. SST exports 12 containers of fish a week.The receiving section measures the fish and weighs it, then sends it to the freezer section. Thefreezer section stores the fish and removes it to the butchery section. As much as 750 fish arestored and removed at a time. They cut and supply it to the steaming section where they steamthe fish and send it to the cooler section, where they store the fish and send it to the loiningsection, where they skin and then remove the red meat from the fish with the bones and produceand pack the white meat.LandownersThe State has agreed to provide the land for 10 years. There are no spin offs offered by thecompany. The company would point to the Provincial Government to assist landowners toorganize and so provide bus and canteen services.The impression given was that there hasn’t been good liaison between SST and the ProvincialGovernment. Then-Governor Authur Somare brought in the project but did not have any ideawhatsoever of how to help the people.84