Fisherfolk say Aquino’s revised Fisheries Code is invalid and undemocratic

Press Release
September 16, 2014

MANILA – Around 100 fishermen from the Save the Fisheries Now Network (SFNN) trooped to the Makati Business District to deliver a letter to the European Union (EU) Delegation, citing complaints against the Aquino government for hastily amending the Philippine Fisheries Code (RA 8550), which the president will be presenting to the EU Council in Brussels, Belgium later today. The group said that the Fisheries Code was quickly revised without due process, after the Philippines received a “yellow card” sanction from the EU over the country’s failure to combat Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IUUF).

"Fisherfolk, who already feel disadvantaged, also feel discriminated against by our own government for not informing us in the first place that the country got sanctioned by the EU. The yellow card sanction, plus the new amendments have a direct impact on fishermen who rely solely on fishing,” said Pablo Rosales, National Chairperson of Pangisda Pilipinas. “No consultations at the national scale were initiated. As stakeholders, municipal fishermen should have been informed and consulted.”

The sense of frustration among small-scale fisherfolk left them no alternative but to send a distress call to the EU Delegation in Manila. SFNN sent a letter to the EU Ambassador Guy Ledoux in Manila, since part of President Aquino’s agenda in Europe is to assure the European Community that drastic measures are now being taken to deter IUUF.

Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing has long been the scourge of Philippines seas and remains a big threat to small-scale fishermen who easily lose their fish catch to large commercial fleets that encroach on municipal waters. SFNN is deeply concerned that trade-related incentives, concerning tuna imports bound for the European markets, were government’s only consideration for complying with EU regulations.

"We’ve long asked help from the government to combat IUUF but it seems they will do whatever it takes to continue ‘unlimited fishing’, even step on the rights of marginalized fisherfolk, just to satisfy the greed of large tuna companies," said Ruperto Aleroza, spokesperson of the Pambansang Katipunan ng Samahan sa Kanayunan (PKSK).

Save the Fisheries Now Network said that the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) convened a meeting in August, mostly attended by the commercial sector and non-government organizations, but with hardly any representatives from small-scale fisheries. SFNN questioned BFAR’s lack of transparency and accountability, arguing that the government should have given all stakeholders enough time to study and even propose provisions that should have been included in the Fisheries Code amendment. While the group agreed to the high penalties to be imposed on violators, the lack of consultation makes the amendment process undemocratic and discriminatory.