The Philippines Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) assured fishermen yesterday the government’s plan to import fish was not yet final.
BFAR Director Asis Perez said in a press briefing on Wednesday that consultations would be done with various stakeholders before any decision is made. This would take six to 12 months before the government comes up with a decision on the matter, he said.
We are having shortage in fish supply, but we have to give our fishing waters a rest, so we need to have a source of fish. But we want a local source as much as possible. But if the local source is not enough, we can allow direct importation. We are not making a decision yet, that’s why we are opening it [draft administrative order] up to a public debate, Perez said partly in Filipino.
The draft administrative order passed through first reading last December. As a target, we want to decide on this within six months to one year. It will go through a long consultation process because many Filipinos are not convinced that this is necessary but we are willing to listen to their comments, Perez said.
The planned importation of fish would be the first for the Philippines. Currently, the country only allows the importation of fish for processing plants that manufacture and distribute canned fish.
Perez said while fisheries production has been on the rise, the increase was largely due to the rise in aquaculture production, particularly seaweeds, which account for 70 percent of total output.
BFAR data showed that total fish production declined by 3.47 percent to 4.98 million metric tons (MMT) from 5.16 MMT in 2010.
Perez said this was why it was important for the government to implement management measures like closing some areas to allow fish varieties to propagate.
The government’s conservation efforts include the Sardine Management Plan, which is the three-month closed season for fishing sardines. This season will last until March 1, 2012, and already has a 99.8- percent compliance rate.
Apart from sardines, the Philippines also agreed to the ban on tuna fishing imposed by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.
Consultations at the commission are due in March and the Philippines is leading the countries lobbying for the lifting of the ban.
These conservation measures contributed to the decline in agriculture output in the fourth quarter of 2011 which contracted by 2.11 percent the fish supply during the period and caused an increase in the prices of canned sardines.
Under the draft administrative order, the government will allow the importation of some 2.75 MMT of all food fish and fishery products for distribution to wet markets, supermarkets and hypermarkets in the country for two years.
Perez’s announcement of consultation came as fishermen belonging to the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) denounced the government’s plan to allow the importation of fishes that can be obtained locallysuch as galunggong (round scad), tulingan (tuna) and hasahasa (adult mackerel). They said this will adversely affect the livelihood of small fishermen.
Pamalakaya National Chairman Fernando Hicap said opening up the domestic market to fish imports from China, Japan and Taiwan will eventually kill the livelihood not only of small fishermen, but those who depend on local fish producers.
The group is planning to conduct a nationally coordinated protest actions in different parts of the country, including fluvial parades and floating protest simultaneously, on February 24, in time for the Edsa people power celebration to demonstrate their indignation and stiff opposition to the plan to import fishes.
According to Hicap, fishermen will not be able to compete against cheaper, imported fish and other fish products.
The landing cost of highly subsidized imported galunggong is P20 a kilo while local galunggong is sold at P40 a kilo.
The group said that even if imported cheap fishes are sold in the local market, the retail price will remain over P100 a kilo due to control and unscrupulous practices of local traders engaged in buying and selling of imported fish.
Perez said part of the country’s galunggong supply now comes from either China or Taiwan.
He said fish accounts for 80 percent of the animal protein intake of Filipinos, who each eat 28 kilos of fish annually.
Perez said BFAR and the DA were compelled to open the domestic market to imported fish because of the declining fish catch.
Pamalakaya said they would call for the scrapping of the 14-year old Fisheries Code of 1998, which he described as a 14-year-old white elephant, anti-fishermen and pro-landlord.
Pamalakaya said the Fisheries Code of 1998 merely justified the entry of commercial fishing vessels inside the 15-kilometer municipal fishing waters and effectively reduced fishing activities of small fishermen through the imposition of zoning ordinances, color coding schemes and exorbitant fees and penalties ranged against marginal fishermen.
The group rebuked the findings of DA and BFAR that 10 of the 13 major fishing grounds in the country are overfished due to overcrowding of small fishermen.
The findings are strongly biased against small-scale fishermen and only meant to justify the importation and mass flooding of fish imports, Hicap said.
The government has blamed the overcrowding of fishermen for overfishing asserting that there are 70 fishermen per square kilometer.
But Pamalakaya said it is a flimsy excuse, saying a very backward fishing boat and passive gear cannot even go beyond the 10 kilometer to 15 kilometer municipal fishing water and such backwardness of small-scale fishing cannot even catch more than five kilos of fish a day.