The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) assured the public it is taking steps to ensure adequate supply of fish and other seafood products amid clashing sides on the implementation of an administrative order requiring all commercial fishing operators to install a vessel monitoring system for tracking and reporting of catch.
In a statement, BFAR said “prices are dependent on the sufficiency of fish supply,” which the government ensures through various programs.
This is in reference to the warning issued by fishing groups Fisheries Administrative Order (FAO) 266 series of 2020 will result to higher prices of fish.
BFAR said the government has the following sustainable fisheries production programs: the national payao, national lambaklad program, national mariculture, legislated hatcheries, fishing boat and gear distribution program, broodstock development and maintenance, fingerling production and distribution, fish cage distribution, as well as the operation and maintenance of technology stations, national centers and hatcheries.
BFAR said it supports the implementation of FAO 266 mandating the installation of vessel monitoring measure (VMS) in commercial fishing vessels. For now, the FAI is suspended on orders of the Office of the President which also directed all concerned government agencies, including BFAR, to strengthen the government’s response against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU).
“As a tool for monitoring, control, and surveillance, VMM can effectively help in the prevention, deterrence, and elimination of IUU fishing. As the primary government agency mandated to manage the country’s fisheries and aquatic resources, the BFAR remains strongly committed to increasing production and ensuring fish sufficiency through sustainable means and without compromising the ecological integrity of our aquatic and marine environment,” BFAR said.
Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) criticized the price shock warning of the commercial fishing sector if the VMM scheme will be enforced, claiming it is only an “excuse” to continue operating unregulated and unsustainable.
“The FAO 266 is a welcome measure to regulate the unsustainable and often destructive method of fishing of commercial vessels. Operated by big fishing firms, these commercial vessels are the ones exhausting and exploiting the fishery and marine resources in our seas. Commercial fishing vessels usually swarm the 15-kilometer municipal waters, outcompeting and overwhelming the traditional and backward fishing methods of small fishers,” said Fernando Hicap, Pamalakaya national chairperson, in a statement.
Hicap said the commercial fishing industry not only depletes domestic market supply but also the fish stocks in our seas.
“For us, small and municipal fishers, we don’t buy the drama of some commercial fishing groups that complying with the vessel monitoring scheme could pose negative impacts to the local production, because their production is based on export to begin with. We instead urge the commercial fishing industry to strictly observe the regulatory measure to ensure that our fishing grounds, especially the municipal waters, are genuinely protected and preserved for our domestic fishery needs,” Hicap said.
Pamalakaya added the government should strengthen the production of the municipal fisheries subsector through adequate state support, production subsidy and ensure the exclusive rights of small-scale and subsistence fisherfolk to fishing grounds and coastal communities.
