INSTEAD of pushing for amendments to the Fisheries Code of the Philippines, the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) has pitched calls for a marine products “export holiday” to address the domino effect of overfishing in the country.
Pamalakaya believes that the Fisheries Code of the Philippines must be repealed and replaced with a law that will empower small fishermen rather than fishing companies that export fish to other countries.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) is planning to allow the importation of fish to augment the supply coming from small fishermen who have been complaining of dwindling fish catch resulting in price hikes, making fish less affordable.
In a news statement, Pamalakaya said the illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing is not the primary problem on the country’s fishing industry but overfishing to supply other countries of fish.
“It is the country’s export oriented policy that resulted to the IUU fishing because it seems like we are always on the race when it comes to catering the needs of the foreign markets like the European Union, the United States and Japan,” Pamalakaya Vice Chairman Salvador France said.