The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Tuesday added to growing voice against House Bill (HB) 7853, which seeks to allow commercial fishing vessels to catch fish within the 15-kilometer municipal fishing ground.
The proposed measure will allow commercial fishing vessels to enter between 10.1 and 15 kilometers inside the 15-kilometer municipal waters. The zone is designated by the existing fisheries law as exclusive for municipal fisherfolks.
In a news statement, Pamalakaya said the bill is “very, very dangerous to the municipal fishery resources and disadvantageous to the municipal fishers.”
Commercial fishing vessels are those weighing 3.1 gross tons (GT) and above. Under the amended Fisheries Code of 1998, commercial fishing vessels are only allowed outside the 15-kilometer municipal waters.
“Commercial fishing vessels with advanced fishing technology and gear would outcompete small municipal fishers who engage in backward and jurassic methods of fishing. Big fishing vessels would wipe out and exhaust the resources in the municipal waters with all their might. That is why we highly oppose this measure proposed by a legislator who appears to have no background on fisheries,” Fernando Hicap, Pamalakaya national chairman said.
The group is supporting a House Bill 7524 filed by the Makabayan bloc, seeking “special protection to coastal fishing communities for sustainable small-scale fisheries in the country.”
“In stark contrast to HB 7853, HB 7524 seeks to protect coastal communities and municipal waters against all forms of profit-oriented and environmentally destructive projects, including entry of large-scale commercial fishing fleets within the municipal fishing grounds. We vow to support and uphold any bill that would be favorable to small fishers, and oppose any measure that is deemed disadvantageous to the already impoverished sector,” added Hicap.
The House Committee on Aquaculture and Fisheries Resources commenced its deliberations of the said House Bills on Tuesday.
On Friday, various stakeholders who took part in an online forum and news conference organized by Oceana Philippines expressed stiff opposition to the plan to allow commercial fishing within municipal waters.
They said commercial fishing will further threaten the already vulnerable coastal and marine ecosystem and deplete fish stocks in the country’s already overfished municipal waters.