Municipal fishing interests in the Philippines are pushing for legislation to create a Department of Fisheries to ensure adequate enforcement of the recently amended Fisheries Code.
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), an agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA), is not enough to fully realize the benefits of Republic Act (RA) 10654, which revised the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998 (RA 8550), according to participants at a two-day forum.
The conference produced the Katipunan Declaration on Sustainable Fisheries, containing proposals that were presented to the BFAR amid calls for a unified front to address illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing.
It’s up to the legislature. I agree, it’s necessary, because you need a vehicle. You want to go somewhere, the problem is how do you get there? BFAR isn’t enough. Structurally, it’s not enough, BFAR chief Asis G. Perez said on Tuesday in Quezon City.
Pablo R. Rosales, president of municipal civil group Progresibong Alyansa ng mga Mangingisda sa Pilipinas and member of the implementing rules and regulations committee of RA 10654, said there is a need for an agency independent from the DA.
We think there is more need right now for a full-blown department to protect our fisheries, an attached bureau will not work for us, said Mr. Rosales.
Our fisheries have vast resources, since we are an archipelagic country. (We need) to make sure that RA 10654 is implemented, he added.
Conference participants said collectively that support must reach the front lines in coastal communities to allow the law’s revolutionary provisions to play out. These provisions include stiffer monetary penalties and a speedier judicial process due to the granting of adjudicating powers to BFAR.
USAID, Greenpeace, Oceana, and the World Wide Fund for Nature, together with the municipal fisheries community, while throwing their full support behind the amended law, voiced out concerns on the actual prosecution of IUU fishers.
2013 BusinessWorld Publishing Corporation