By Jonah Kayguan
MANILA – A new report shows the historical decline of fisheries in the country, and if not addressed, could lead to a national catastrophe.
For decades, Philippine fisheries has suffered simultaneously from the twin problems of declining fish production and overexploitation of remaining fish stocks. The situation is worsened by weak governance and multifarious attacks on small-scale and artisanal fishers.
In its report, Oceana Philippines and UP Visayas flagged strong ongoing pressures from commercial fishing interests and lack of transparency on vessel monitoring data as key hurdles to the enforcement of the Fisheries Code.
“Our fisheries are not just declining, they are in free fall,” said Von Hernandez, Oceana Vice President.
Seafood is an easy source of protein for most Filipinos. Municipal fisherfolks, which number around 2.5 million, are responsible for contributing a large chunk to the country’s food stores.
Despite boasting of having one of the world’s longest coastlines—at 36,000 kilometers—institutional support for coastal communities and marginalized fisherfolk remains negligent.
More than 350,000 fishers are now living below poverty levels, with younger fishers being chased away to other professions. The average age of fishers now stands at 50 years old. Experts say the Philippines is on the brink of a national food and nutrition crisis.
“The government is presiding over the extinction of a profession,” said Hernandez. “We are not just losing fish. We are losing an entire industry and culture.”
Even after the issuance of Fisheries Administrative Order (FAO) 263, establishing Fisheries Management Areas (FMAs) across the archipelago, key issues persist.
Aimed at grouping fishing grounds based on their ecosystem type rather than existing political boundaries, FMAs are managed by their own respective boards, which draws members from different groups in the fishing sector. Despite provisions to the contrary, small-scale fisherfolk remain underrepresented in these management boards. In most FMAs, fishers have only one representative standing in for multiple municipalities, making it easier for more powerful board members, such as those from the commercial fishing industry, to lobby other members. Meanwhile, small-scale fishers continue to be weighed by socioeconomic realities.
The passage of RA 10654, which amended certain provisions of the 1998 Fisheries Code, was aimed at addressing Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, governance structures, and vessel monitoring. Established four years after the passage of RA 10654, FMAs today continue to grapple with governance and implementation issues.
Despite using an ecosystem-based approach, implementation of harvest control rules and measures across the twelve FMAs remain spotty. “There is no updated, publicly accessible consolidated national database of stock status,” noted the report. “Based on the most recent available publication, approximately 88 percent of assessed fish stocks are in what is characterized as the ‘red zone’—indicating they are overfished, overexploited, or unable to replenish adequately.”
Certain questions on the status of municipal waters linger. While RA 10654 specifically mandates vessel monitoring measures, and FAO 266 details its implementation, the DA-BFAR has not been transparent.
The report revealed that from January 2017 to June 2024, satellite monitoring detected 270,165 lights from apparent illegal fishing activity in municipal waters. The report noted that the full implementation of the vessel monitoring measure (VMM) was stalled when the commercial fishing sector filed a case, and then the Office of the President issued a suspension order.
BFAR said that it oversees 90 percent of VMM implementation but has so far refused to share its data.
Additional pressures on small-scale fishers and lack of institutional assistance exacerbate the continued decline of the fishing sector, while continued attacks on the fisheries code and RA 10654 threaten to discredit science-based approaches in the name of industry.
“It’s an old story, something we’ve heard many times before. We have laws, we have science-based regulations, but we lack the will and capacity,” continued Hernandez. “The problem is not a lack of data and tools, for example, the Fisheries Code, as amended, is a strong science-based law; the problem is the regrettable failure and gaps in the implementation.”
Alarms were raised when in December 2024, a Supreme Court ruling upheld the Malabon RTC’s decision to allow Mercidar Fishing Corporation to operate within municipal waters. In response, BFAR mounted what critics called a ‘sluggish defense’ to appeal the SC ruling, vacillating between regulating authority and deferring responsibility. Earlier in 2021, a separate Mercidar case was also responsible for getting the Malabon RTC to rule FAO 266 ‘null and void,’ further blocking moves to monitor fishing vessels and making it easier to fish illegally.
“The collusion between the three capitalists: DA-BFAR, the courts, and commercial fishing companies is out in the open. When us fishers file a motion, we are ignored. If it’s Mercidar, there is a response,” said Pablo Rosales, president of PANGISDA.
“Is it because they have the means to fight out a legal battle? The government must step up,” he added.
Rosales and fisherfolk from PANGISDA claim regular harassment and mismatched enforcement of the law in and around Manila Bay. “There is fish in Manila Bay, but commercial fishers are the ones overharvesting, yet why are we the ones being harangued?” Rosales questioned.
While the SC ruling upheld the Malabon RTC’s decision, it is still not final and executory, legal observers say. Nevertheless, there are already reports of commercial fishing activity within municipal waters, specifically in FMA 5, which includes the waters of Palawan and Mindoro. Local fisherfolk have long noted such encroachment, however, suggesting a longstanding practice of violating municipal waters.
Fredel Mued, an FMA 5 management board member and indigenous leader of the Tagbanwa-Calamian tribe in Northern Palawan, bemoans the regular intrusion of commercial fishing vessels within ancestral waters.
“Our people rely on fishing for their way of life. Fishing is already harder nowadays, what more if you must compete with larger vessels that are heavily extractive?” he asked.
Waters around the Calamian group of islands have been declared ancestral waters after a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) was awarded to the tribes of Northern Palawan. “It took us eight to ten years to apply for CADT. Prior to that, we have been struggling for this for nearly 30 years,” said Mued.
Sagradong Bahura (sacred reefs) are another casualty in the war on municipal fishers. Preceding environmental laws by decades, these sacred reefs are traditional no-take zones protected by indigenous peoples. Commercial fishers are now turning their attention to these protected zones, where limited human activity has allowed marine life to flourish.
“They eye our sacred reefs because they know marine life is plenty there. The Supreme Court ruling has emboldened them to do this,” Mued said.
“While small fishers are in poverty, the DA-BFAR is unfortunately peddling amendments that would invite large commercial vessels into municipal waters,” Hernandez said during the official launch of the fisheries report.
“We call on President Marcos to declare a fisheries food security emergency, by launching an immediate and transparent investigation into enforcement failures. The President must mandate DA-BFAR to immediately stop all attempts and efforts to weaken the fisheries code,” she said.
“The first stage of resolving the wicked problem is recognizing the problem. The second stage is to accept the fact that we must do something about it. Third is to find viable solutions to address the problem,” said Dr. Alice Ferrer, scientist and UP Visayas Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, and one of the report’s principal authors.
“When we are addressing a wicked problem, we should look at the governance. We have all the laws, what we need to do is just to implement it correctly and for all agencies to perform their mandate,” she added.
The report recommends prioritization of key actions, mainly, to resolve implementation issues when it comes to vessel monitoring and fair resolution to the wider Mercidar case, proper delineation of municipal waters, and a halt to illegal fishing intrusions. (RTS, RVO)
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