Source: Fiji Times

About 700 workers of the Fiji tuna canning company were laid off indefinitely pending a resolution to the import restrictions in the US market of mostly albacore tuna.

Pacific Fishing Company chairman Bhan Singh said the factory shut down in early July because of import restrictions imposed on the company in its attempt to export products to the US market.

PAFCO was opened in 1976 and was the largest private employer in the old capital of Levuka on Ovalau.

In June, the company laid off workers for a week over poor fishing season and the shipment of fish abroad had also contributed to the shortage of fish for processing at PAFCO.

During the 2011 Budget announcement, the Government had announced a levy of $350 per ton on the transshipment of fish.