FOLLOWING the recent Recto Bank incident where a Chinese vessel hit a Filipino fishing boat then abandoned the 22 Filipinos onboard as their ship sank, the Department of Agriculture (DA) is pushing for the legislation of a fisheries modernization program to improve the fleet of Filipino fisher folk.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. PIñol disclosed that the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) is now drafting a bill legislating a Philippine Fishing Boats Modernization (PFBM) program.
The bill, PIñol added, will be sponsored by lone Occidental Mindoro Rep. Josephine Ramirez-Sato in the 18th Congress.
The agriculture chief said the PFBM program is much like the Duterte administration’s jeepney modernization program.
“The PBFMA, which has long been in the hatching stage in the DA-BFAR, was highlighted by the recent incident in the Recto Bank where a Philippine wooden fishing boat was damaged when it was rammed by a steel-hulled Chinese vessel on June 10,” he said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
PIñol explained that the envisioned PBFMA will provide incentives for fishing boat owners who volunteer to modernize their fleet.
“This is expected to improve the efficiency of the Philippine fishing boats and increase productivity in the fisheries sector,” he added.
PIñol said the BFAR has just started to install transponders on fishing vessels so that their movements could be monitored by government through its vessel monitoring system program.
PIñol earlier proposed the modernization program, an idea he got from one of his Facebook followers, to the government’s Cabinet-level Economic Development Cluster.
“Admittedly, our fishing boats are old and made of wood. There are now modern fishing boats. Why don’t we replace with steel-made boats complete with modern equipment our current fishing boats that are made out of wood,” he said in an interview with reporters on June 17.
“We look at this crisis as a window of opportunity – a wake up moment for us that it’s time modernize our fisheries sector,” he added.
Image credits: Department Of Agriculture via AP