Using Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite, commercial fishing vessels were frequently detected in municipal waters in various parts of the Philippines.
The Karagatan Patrol, a Facebook page created by Oceana, a nongovernment international ocean conservation advocacy group, frequently reported “sightings” of commercial fishing vessels in these areas.
The mere presence of commercial fishing vessels in municipal waters is highly suspicious because Republic Act 8550 as amended by RA 10654, or the Amended Fisheries Code, declared these fishing grounds for the exclusive use of small fishermen
Municipal fishing grounds are the areas between the shorelines and 15 kilometers (km) toward the sea. They are for the exclusive use of small, mostly subsistence fishermen, who have limited capacity to fish in distant waters.
Sadly, these areas are already overfished.
Fish stocks are depleted in many of the country’s so-called traditional fishing grounds due to overfishing. Even with a law that prohibits commercial fishing in these areas, small fishermen witness the rampant violation being committed by commercial fishing companies, hauling fish as they please.
Commercial fishing, exemption
In the Philippines, commercial fishing are classified either as small scale, or fishing with passive or active gear with fishing vessels of 3.1 gross tons up to 20 gross tons; medium scale, or fishing with gears and vessels of 20.1 gross tons up to 150 gross tons: and large-scale, or using gears and vessels of more than 150 gross tons.
Small and medium-scale commercial fishing may be allowed by concerned local government units (LGUs) that have jurisdiction in municipal fishing grounds between 10.1 km to 15 km from the shoreline, provided they are with the depths of at least 7 fathoms, or 12.8 meters deep, as certified by the appropriate agency.
Threat to municipal fishing
Considered a serious threat to municipal fishing grounds, allowing commercial fishing in these areas is about to get even worse.
A proposed measure—stiffly being opposed by 1,100 fisherfolk organizations, nongovernment organizations (NGOs), environmental groups and conservation advocates—will allow commercial fishing without the need for special permits from concerned LGUs.
Filed by Cebu Rep. Pablo John F. Garcia, House Bill 7583 seeks to allow commercial fishing between 8.1 km to 15 km inside the municipal fishing ground.
In his explanatory note, Garcia said amending the law that will include an exception ensures that the various economic gains brought about by fishing may be experienced by more LGUs, fishers and families nationwide.
“This pandemic has debilitated many industries and has left many workers destitute. All efforts must be exerted toward recovering from this crippling period of our nation’s history,” he said.
The fisherfolk groups from Aklan, Albay, Antique, Aurora province, Biliran, Bohol, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Camiguin, Capiz, Catanduanes, Cavite, Cebu, Eastern Samar, Guimaras, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Palawan, Samar, Siquijor, Southern Leyte, Surigao del Sur and Zamboanga Sibugay believe the measure will surely impact on their livelihood.
Oceana is among those at the forefront of the nationwide campaign against the passage of the bill.
Danny Ocampo, senior campaign manager at Oceana, said fisherfolk organizations are coming together to fight against the passage of the bill.
“It is significant because it shows that the main sector that will be affected by this bill is opposing it. Fisherfolk are the second poorest of the poor in our country. This bill will further curtail their [exclusive] rights to municipal water resources,” Ocampo explained.
Fragile ecosystem
Oceana, together with other civil society organizations (CSOs), including Rare and the NGOs for Fisheries Reform, said House Bill 7853—which seeks to amend Section 18 of Republic Act 8550, or the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998 as amended by RA 10654 of the Amended Fisheries Code—will affect the sustainability of the country’s already fragile marine ecosystem.
Oceana Vice President Gloria Estenzo Ramos reiterated that municipal waters are important areas that are highly productive because they harbor important ecosystems and habitats, such as coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangroves.
“These provide shelter and reproduction areas for fishes and other marine organisms. It is important that they are healthy and resilient to the impacts of the climate crisis and to the health emergency we all face,” she said in a statement issued on April 29.
Moreover, Rose-Liza Eisma-Osorio, legal and policy director at Oceana, said the Philippine Constitution protects the preferential rights of subsistence fisherfolks to fish within municipal waters.
“This protection is also enshrined in the amended Fisheries Code. The Constitution also promotes the social justice principle that those who have ‘less in life, must have more in law,’” Eisma-Osorio told the BusinessMirror via e-mail on April 28.
Increased fishing pressure
On April 28, Diovanie de Jesus, Campaign and Science Specialist at Oceana, said in a separate e-mail that allowing commercial fishing in municipal waters will increase fishing pressure in these areas.
“Though this may increase the commercial fishing production initially, eventually this is not sustainable because our waters are generally overfished already,” she said.
According to de Jesus, small fisherfolk are at the losing end of the deal if the proposed measure is enacted.
“Because their [commercial fishing vessels] gears can catch more fish, they can have higher income at the expense of the small fisherfolks; and displace small fisherfolks, the tragedy of the commons,” she said.
Threat to other marine wildlife
Commercial fishing in municipal waters, she said, is a threat to other marine wildlife species.
“These are called bycatch. They can be sea turtles, marine mammals like dolphins, whales, seabirds and other nontargeted fish like sharks and rays. Though smaller fisherfolk can have bycatch also, commercial fishers have the higher potential and magnitude for bycatch,” she added.
What makes commercial fishing in municipal waters dangerous, de Jesus said, is the implications, such as inequality and displacement of small fisherfolks.
She explained that higher catch, which may lead or worsen overfishing, also leads to the higher magnitude for bycatch and higher potential for habitat destruction because of the nature of gears.
She added that commercial fishing use active gears, which are bigger and cover more areas, while other methods like trawl fishing may damage substrate.
Another Oceana marine scientist, Alvin Simon, agreed with de Jesus that allowing commercial fishing between 8.1 km to 15 km from the shoreline will increase fishing pressure.
“This may induce ecological collapse since overfishing tends to erode the food web which can lead to the loss of other important marine life, including those that are vulnerable, such as marine turtles, sharks, marine mammals and other megafauna,” he said via e-mail on April 29.
Worse, he said commercial fishers can outcompete the small-scale fisherfolks since they have higher capacity to catch more fish in the municipal water.
Moreover, Simon said there is a possibility of a dispute arising in the community once commercial fishing is allowed in municipal fishing waters, “especially since small-scale fishers will be affected.”
Still recovering
Marita Rodriguez, executive director of the NGOs for Fisheries Reform, told the BusinessMirror in a telephone interview on May 11, that allowing commercial fishing will adversely affect the livelihood of small fishermen.
Rodriguez said municipal fishing grounds have yet to fully recover from the impact of decades of destructive fishing methods.
“In the 1970s and 1980s, the policy of the government then is to extract [fishes]. But in the 1990s, together with other NGOs helping small fishermen, we learned about the problem of overfishing, the destruction of marine and coastal ecosystem, that’s why RA 8550 was enacted to promote sustainability,” she explained.
“Small fishermen can only fish near the shores because they do not have a big fishing boats to start with,” she said.
Rodriguez added that small fishermen do not have the means unlike commercial fishing vessels to go out and fish in distant waters with the gasoline requirement, food and other provisions.
Important ecosystems, resources
Municipal waters are important areas that are highly productive because they harbor important ecosystems and habitats, such as coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangroves.
“These provide shelter and reproduction areas for fishes and other marine organisms. It is important that they are healthy and resilient to the impacts of the climate crisis and to the health emergency we all face,” she said.
According to Ramos, sustainable fisheries supply will be in gross danger, especially now that the country is facing the Covid-19 pandemic and aggravated by low protein source from pork as a result of the Asian swine fever outbreak.
She said, “We need to protect our fishery resources now more than ever.”