Fisherfolk count
gains one year after amended fisheries code
Press Release
March 2, 2016
MANILA – A year after
Republic Act (RA) 10654, which amended the Fisheries Code of 1998, was
passed, fisherfolk associations, civil society organizations and
environmental NGOs are underlining the gains of the amended law in a
press conference held today.
Senator Cynthia Villar,
chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture & Food and the
primary author of RA 10654 or the Amended Fisheries Code, joined the
groups and vowed continuous commitment towards enabling mechanisms for
the strict implementation of the law.
“I am happy to tell the
world, together with the more than 1.5 million municipal fisherfolk,
that our RA 10654 has ushered the end of rampant, illegal, unreported,
and unregulated fishing (IUUF). The urgency in addressing poverty and
allowing our seas to heal was my mantra in fighting back the lobby of
big commercial fishers and illegal fishers,” said Senator Villar.
Villar also commended the
Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) for facilitating the
formulation of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the law and
the Comprehensive National Fisheries Industry Development Plan, which
was crafted by stakeholders in aquaculture, marketing, post-harvest
and capture, and which contain targets and action plans for
development for the next five years. She also cited the creation of
Community Fish Landing Centers for the national development of
shellfish, crabs, and broodstock.
“It is our common interest
to make sure that there will be a continuous and healthy fishing
industry in our country, and it can only be achieved if we prevent all
forms of activities that jeopardize the sustainability of our
resources,” Villar said. “I encourage all stakeholders to join us in
making Philippine fisheries sustainable.”
Villar led the Senate in
voting unanimously for the ratification of the reconciled version of
Senate Bill 2414 and House Bill 4536 that amended the Philippine
Fisheries Code of 1998. This came after the Philippines almost faced
an export ban of fisheries product to the European Union (EU) for
failing to address IUUF. According to BFAR, Philippine fish exports to
the EU was valued at P9.4 billion (165 million euros) in 2013.
Fisheries and conservation
NGOs, together with municipal fishers, used the EU warning as an
opportunity to push for reforms to address the problems of the
Philippine seas.
“Amending the law is a
victory. RA 10654 provides the framework on the shift from an open
access regime, where everybody and anybody can extract from our
fragile coastal and marine ecosystems, to a sustainable fisheries
management regime, where strict regulations against destructive
fishing practices are in place and strictly implemented,” said Dennis
Calvan, Executive Director of NGOs for Fisheries Reform (NFR), one of
the organizations who pushed for the amendment.
Calvan added that the reason
more than 75% of our fishing grounds are overfished, as mentioned by
BFAR in the National Stock Assessment Program, is due mainly to the
long decades of neglect in implementing the Philippine Fisheries Code
of 1998, leading to the destruction of coastal and marine resources.
“A year into RA 10654,
strengthened fisheries law enforcement is already happening, with
almost weekly apprehensions of illegal fishers in our waters.
Increased penalties against dynamite fishing, cyanide fishing and
encroachment of commercial fishing vessels within the 15-kilometer
municipal waters, are now being strongly enforced in the Burias-Ticao
Pass in the Bicol Region. Some of the fish are coming back abundantly
in our waters,” said Miriam Belaos, a fisherfolk leader of Pantao
Fisherfolks Association, based in Bicol.
The Amended Fisheries Code
has strengthened the protection of the priority rights of municipal
fishers by making the penalties deterrents to commercial fishing
vessels plotting to conduct fishing activities inside municipal
waters.
“We won the first stage, but
we still need to do more by implementing harvest control rules for
fisherfolk to fish within the limits of the sea and implement strong
traceability system to make sure that the seafood that we are eating
are not illegally caught,” said Vince Cinches, Oceans Campaigner for
Greenpeace Philippines. “The solution is very viable as shown by the
recent success of the Sustainable Seafood Week, where major hotels and
restaurants pledged to only source and serve traceable and sustainably
caught fish.”
Cinches also said that while
the passing of the Amended Fisheries Law is a good start, he stressed
the importance of this year’s Presidential elections to sustain the
gains of the victory.
“While the year 2015 has
established the basic ingredients for healthy Philippine seas, it is
important that the next President of our country puts ocean
conservation at the heart of governance in order to address poverty
and usher in truly inclusive national development,” Cinches added.
Also present during the
press conference are Lito Pavia and Joel Convocar, Bantay Dagat
representatives from Ligao City, Albay; Bernie Castellano of the
Occidental Mindoro Federation of Tuna Fishers Association Assisted by
WWF; Councilor Pietro Pasigna and Jeruel Rizon, fisheries technician
from Guihungan City, Negros Oriental, assisted by Oceana.