Food security advocacy group Tugon Kabuhayan urged the local government units (LGUs) to bankroll a P12.28-billion fisheries modernization program to improve the capabilities of municipal fishers and increase their productivity.
The group made the proposal as it joined other fisheries groups calling for the rejection of House Bill 8550 that seeks to allow commercial fishing inside municipal waters that has less than 10.1 kilometers of municipal water area.
The group argued that the socioeconomic benefits of improving the municipal fishing fleet even just 10 percent of the 245,481 registered vessels would be far greater than of allowing commercial fishing vessels inside municipal waters.
The group explained that their proposal could be financed by the LGUs in light of the effectivity of the Mandanas-Garcia ruling next year, which would hike the budget of LGUs by P234 billion.
“The cost of this program to upgrade and rehabilitate 24, 548 or 10% of the registered municipal fishing vessel is around P11.046 billion to P12.28 billion; and if designed for completion in 6 years, only P1.84 billion [to] P2.045 [billion] is needed each year,” the group said. The group proposed that the municipal fishers be equipped with three-gross tons vessels fitted with gear and cargo hold capable of storing 500 kilograms.
If 10 percent of the municipal fishers or about 24,548 would have this type of vessels their total annual fish catch would be 1.991 million metric tons, which is higher than the 1.927 MMT recorded production of the commercial and marine municipal production last year, the group added.
“If the government will help upgrade the municipal fisherfolk’s productivity, the vessel should be made from fiber glass material, fitted with flotation chambers, and has separate compartments for ice and fish that will maintain the quality of the fish,” it said.
“If we design these municipal fishing vessels properly, they have the potential of operating beyond these waters, enabling them to catch more fish and, at the same time decrease the pressure on the municipal waters,” it added.
The group together with PANGISDA noted that the entry of commercial fishing vessels in municipal waters has resulted in decline of catch as seen in the past.
PANGISDA President Pablo R. Rosales pointed out that the government should focus its resources providing municipal fisherfolk with efficient equipment that would help them improve their income and rise from poverty.
Dr. Lemnuel Aragones, professor and former director of the University of the Philippines Institute of Environment and Meteorology, noted that allowing commercial fishers within municipal waters would worsen the continuous decline in the average catch in these waters. Aragones explained that the average catch per unit effort by municipal fishers has declined to 2 kilograms today from 10 kilograms in the 1950s.
Tugon Kabuhayan added that municipal fisherfolk are now staying longer hours in the waters – about 8 to 10 hours – just to catch 2 kilograms of fish from what used to be just two hours for a 10-kilogram catch.