The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (Bfar) assured that the rules on vessel-monitoring systems (VMS) would soon be in place to boost government efforts to stop illegal fishing in the Philippines.
The Bfar said the National Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council (NFARMC) has adopted a draft Fisheries Administrative Order (FAO) governing the operation of VMS and endorsed it for the approval of Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol.
The NFARMC serves as the Department of Agriculture’s advisory and recommendatory body to policies related to the fisheries sector. The Bfar is an attached agency of the DA.
The agency issued the statement after nongovernment organization Oceana Philippines disclosed that it is planning to ask the Supreme Court (SC) to compel the Bfar to implement Republic Act (RA) 10654, or the Amended Philippine Fisheries Code of 2015.
“The Bfar is seriously committed to carry out its mandates as stipulated by the implementing rules and regulations of the Amended Fisheries Code,” the Bfar said in a statement sent to the BusinessMirror.
“The Bfar has been working on the subject regulations since the late-2016 followed by consultations participated by stakeholders including Oceana,” it added.
BFAR Assistant Director Drusila Esther E. Bayate told the BusinessMirror that once the FAO is signed, then the rules on VMS are automatically promulgated.
The attached agency of the DA said the draft FAO was adopted by the NFARMC on September 4 in General Santos City.
Bayate also said the Bfar has allocated over P600 million, which would be used for the procurement of transponders next year.
Gloria Estenzo-Ramos, vice president of Oceana Philippines, earlier said the Bfar has yet to implement various provisions of RA 10654, including the promulgation of the rules on VMS.
The non-implementation of the provisions drove Ramos’s group to consider filing a petition for a writ of continuing mandamus before the SC.
Protection for fishing grounds
Oceana has also called on the government to issue guidelines that will protect the country’s major fishing grounds against overfishing and illegal fishing activities in municipal waters.
According to the group, such rules should ensure that the livelihood of small fishers all over the Philippines.
Oceana is referring to a draft Administrative Order designating 15 major fishing grounds as a Fisheries Management Area. Once declared as an FMA, a fishing ground will undergo a management regime that will ensure stronger protection measure geared toward
sustainability.
An island archipelago, the Philippines is a major producer and exporter of fish. However, dwindling fish catch has taken its toll on small fishermen who complained of poor income and consumers who complained of the high price of wild-caught fish that had exceeded the price of chicken, pork and beef.
The government has intermittently enforced closed fishing seasons to allow fish stock to replenish, and has allowed the importation of round scad to arrest the rising price of fish in the market.
Round scad is considered “the poor man’s fish” in the Philippines decades ago, because it is affordable and is commonly sold in fish markets all year round.
“The policy, as among those provided for under the amended Fisheries Code, pertains to the designation of Fisheries Management Areas, or FMAs, in the country,” Ramos said in a statement.
“It is envisioned that a comprehensive science-based fisheries-management plan will be enforced on these areas to ensure sustained productivity and protect them from overfishing, illegal fishing and destructive fishing practices that destroy critical marine habitats,” she added.
The designation of FMAs is needed to rebuild and restore the abundance of the country’s fishing grounds.
Based on recent studies, Ramos said two-thirds of the country’s fishing grounds are considered as overfished.