Oceana Philippines welcomed the issuance of Fishery Law Enforcement Manual of Operation by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR). The Flemop sets the standard operating procedures for the conduct of preventive and corrective fishery enforcement operations.
“The value of the Flemop is that it addresses the overlapping functions of multiple enforcement agencies at the national scale,” said Atty. Gloria Estenzo Ramos, vice president of Oceana in the Philippines.
The Flemop was launched by BFAR in December 2018, coinciding with the first command conference of the Philippine Committee on Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing Ramos explained that regions like Central Visayas are impelled to form voluntary alliances, such as the Coastal Law Enforcement Alliance in Region 7 to address the overlapping functions through an interagency Memorandum of Agreement. With the Flemo other regions are now guided. Republic Act 10654, or the amended Fisheries Code of the Philippines, authorizes the BFAR, the Philippine National Police, the PNP Maritime Group, the Philippine Coast Guard and the Philippine Navy to enforce fishery laws rules and regulations, while the municipal and city local government units have been given expressed mandate by RA 7160, or the Local Government Code, to enforce fishery laws in their respective municipal waters.
“Apart from setting the standard, the Flemop provides detailed instructions for enforcers in the conduct of both sea-based and land-based operations,” Ramos said.
“Enforcing fishery laws require technical, tactical and procedural approaches. Unfortunately, not all agencies have these competencies that is why it is imperative that multiple agencies work together. The Flemop is the document that will bind these agencies under a common framework,” she explained.
“Oceana Philippines congratulates the BFAR for this important milestone and calls on them to disseminate the Flemop to a wide audience as much as possible and implement fully the amended Fisheries Code of the Philippines. For our part, we will do our share to help the government disseminate and explain the Flemop especially to the field enforcement community, the local government units and the prosecution service,” she added.
Ramos noted that this year, Oceana Philippines would start a nationwide anti-illegal fishing campaign focused on the full implementation of the ban on commercial fishing vessels in municipal waters.
“It will be a robust campaign against the intrusion of commercial fishing vessels in municipal waters,”
Oceana is the largest international advocacy organization dedicated solely to ocean conservation. It is rebuilding abundant and biodiverse oceans by winning science-based policies in countries that control one third of the world’s wild fish catch.
With over 100 victories that stop overfishing, habitat destruction, pollution and killing of threatened species like turtles and sharks, Oceana’s campaigns are delivering results. A restored ocean means that 1 billion people can enjoy a healthy seafood meal.