AN international ocean advocacy nongovernment organization (NGO) reiterated its call to the Duterte administration to exercise “political will” in implementing Republic Act 8550 as amended by Republic Act 10654 to protect the livelihood of small fishermen against commercial fishing vessels that regularly “raid” municipal fishing grounds.
In particular, Oceana said all commercial fishing vessels with a gross tonnage of 3.1 metric tons and above should be required to install a vessel monitoring device for proper monitoring and tracking of their movements.
At a news conference in Quezon City on Tuesday, Oceana President Jim Simon and Senior Advisor Michael Hirshfield together with Oceana Philippines Vice President Gloria Estenzo-Ramos said the installation of monitoring device will help prevent illegal fishing activities in areas where these commercial fishing vessels are supposed to be “off-limits.”
Commercial fishing vessels are not allowed to fish within the 15-kilometer municipal fishing grounds, including national and local marine protected areas (MPAs).
Hirshfield highlighted the science behind declaring the municipal fishing ground as an exclusive fishing ground for small fishers. The 15-kilometer fishing ground, generally, is the area where mangroves, seagrass beds and corals sit.
These so-called ecosystem-forming species help replenish fish stocks as they are feeding and breeding grounds of small fish.
He said that unlike commercial fishing vessels that use active fishing gear, small fishing boats that use hooks and gillnets have minimum impact on these ecosystems.
“Also, fishermen with small boats cannot go out farther away like commercial fishing vessels to fish. In a way, the wisdom behind it is ensuring equity,” he explained.
Simon said the Oceana, which is present in at least 12 countries, including Europe and in Asia, including the Philippines, is advocating the installation of a vessel monitoring device in commercial fishing vessels to monitor their fishing activities.
All of the world’s fishing grounds, including those in the Philippines, are already overfished. In the Philippines, commercial fishing vessels are known to catch fish within the 15-kilometer municipal fishing ground and, in some cases, even in MPAs like the Tañon Strait Protected Seascape.
Noting that the implementing rules and regulation of RA 8550 and its amendatory law, RA 10456, are not enough to compel commercial fishing companies to install vessel monitoring devices on their fleets, Ramos said Oceana is pushing for the adoption of a policy that will compel the government, specifically BFAR, or the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, to implement the law.
She said some gray areas in the amended Fisheries Code are being used as an “alibi” by commercial fishing companies from defying the law.
“We have very good laws. The problem is its implementation. We are appealing to the government now to exercise political will in implementing the law on vessel monitoring,” she said.
Ramos, a lawyer, said there are other ways to compel commercial fishing vessels to install a vessel monitoring device as mandated by law.
“The for commercial fishing vessels that dock and pass through Tañon Strait are now required to install vessel monitoring device. We have a resolution from the Protected Area Management Board for that. There are also some local governments, like the Provincial Government of Cebu, which are supporting the policy,” Ramos said.
Ramos also called on Protected Area Management Boards and local government units (LGUs) to put in place similar measures that will add another layer of protection for MPAs and municipal fishing grounds across the country.
Oceana Philippines had earlier called for transparency on the amount the BFAR is planning to spend to subsidize the vessel monitoring requirements of the commercial fishing industry.
According to Ramos, unlike small fishermen, commercial fishing companies are financially capable of spending monthly subscription for the installation of a vessel monitoring device that will allow the fishing company, BFAR and other law-enforcement agencies to track their movement.
In a way, she said, vessel monitoring is useful in times of calamities where fishing vessels sometimes are lost at sea and the crew in danger of being swept away by the strong currents and lead to tragic deaths.
Hirshfield and Simon added that vessel monitoring, more important, will address the global concern of unreported, illegal and unregulated fishing, as well as monitoring compliance of the fisheries law across the globe.
The Philippines, they said, currently ranks as the 12th-biggest source of captive fisheries in the world, making it one of Oceana’s advocacy priority areas.