Environmental groups are urging the Duterte administration to enforce the ban on the destructive Danish Seines and Modified Danish Seines fishing methods as mandated by two Department of Agriculture-Fisheries Administrative Orders (DA-FAO) to protect the country’s remaining healthy coral cover.
DA-FAO 246 issued in 2013 imposes the ban, while DA-FAO -1 outlaws the mere possession of Danish seine fishing gear, locally known as hulbot-hulbot and the Modified Danish Seine or buli-buli.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol signed on July 5 Fisheries Administrative Order 246-1, which updates FAO 246, authorizing the ban of seine fishing in Philippine waters.
Although the fishing methods were banned by the DA-FAO 246, the order was never really implemented, said Vince Cinches, Ocean Campaigner of Greenpeace Southeast Asia-Philippines.
According to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), around 300 commercial fishing vessels that make use of this destructive fishing method continue to operate, Cinches said.
The leniency for hulbot-hulbot and buli-buli operators, purportedly to cushion the economic impact of the ban on commercial fishing vessel worker, went on for five years, Cinches said, which is partly to blame for the current sorry state of the country’s coral areas.
“We believe they [hulbot-hulbot operators] have been given enough time to find alternative livelihood for their workers,” Cinches said.
“What we want is for the DA to fully enforce the ban, hopefully, within the year. We are hoping that the DA can draw a timeline so that, by the end of the year, there will be no more hulbot-hulbot operating in the Philippines,” Cinches said.
Cinches added that BFAR should commission an investigation to identify commercial fishing vessels that make use of hulbot-hulbot and buli-buli, and all other destructive fishing methods, and cause their decommissioning, to protect the country’s fishing grounds from further destruction.
He noted that the latest study revealed that only 1 percent of the country’s coral reef areas remain in excellent condition, something all stakeholders, especially the Philippine government should worry about.
Cinches said they also opposed to the proposal of some hulbot-hulbot operators to allow them to convert their fishing vessels and resume operations, saying it violates the processes to operate commercial fishing vessels under licensing and permitting rules under the Fisheries Code and the Amended Fisheries Code.
The Danish Seine and Modified Danish Seine are active fishing gears, which consist of a conical net with two long wings that form a bag where the fish are collected. What makes it destructive is the fact that the ends of the net are connected to a robe embedded with buri, plastic strips, or other sinkers that is hauled by a mechanical winch or by hands, dragging the net and fish at the bottom of the ocean, thereby destroying corals below.
The net also catches including non-targeted species.