OPERATIONS against the sale of pink salmon and pompano in wet markets and groceries are indefinitely suspended, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources said yesterday.
BFAR officer-in-charge Demosthenes Escoto, during a hearing of the Senate committee on agriculture, said the moratorium on the confiscation of pink salmon and pompano in wet markets stays until the agency comes up with an order that will be “more poor-oriented.”
Escoto made the statement after Sen. Grace Poe asked until when BFAR will implement the moratorium on banning the sale of pink salmon and pompano in wet markets. “We have already announced in a press briefing that we will defer the operation in the wet market for the implementation of FAO 195.”
Poe said if the order has been deferred, “so the order is still there pending your studies?”
She said she wanted to make sure that the moratorium stays indefinitely because several importers have started to buy pink salmon and pompano after the moratorium has been issued. She said traders should be given the assurance the fish imports will not be spoiled.
Sen. Cynthia Villar, committee chairman, said BFAR will study FAO 159 so that reforms can be instituted for the order to be “more poor-oriented.”
Last month, the BFAR announced it will conduct a crackdown on sellers of imported pink salmon, pompano, and other frozen fish products in public markets.
It said the agency will strictly implement Fisheries Administrative Order No. 195 which has been in place since 1999 and which restricts sale of those fishes in grocery stores. The ban should have taken effect on December 4.
Sen. Raffy Tulfo, in a privilege speech delivered after the BFAR issued announced the implementation, slammed the agency for prohibiting the sale of pink salmon and pompano in wet markets, saying the move was anti-poor because those fishes can be sold only in hotels and restaurants.
As a result, BFAR issued an order stopping the strict implementation of FAO 195.
