The militant Philippines fisherfolk group Pamalakaya on Wednesday scored the government’s plan to impose a fishing ban in Ragay Gulf in the Bicol region, saying it would affect more than 100,000 fishermen in the area.
Pamalakaya said the plan to ban fishing in the gulf and four other fishing areas in Bicol will displace at least 102, 000 municipal fishermen, 1,264 licensed commercial fish workers, 250 commercial fishing operators and 389 commercial fishing vessels operating in the region.
The group said the closure of Ragay and other fishing areas in Bicol will effectively stop 20,678 motorized bancas and 32,045 non-motorized boats from fishing in Ragay and other fishing grounds in the region.
Pamalakaya chairperson Salvador France said several fisherfolk groups in Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Albay, Sorsogon and Masbate deplored the proposed closed season of Ragay Gulf.
“The closure of Ragay Gulf is an open declaration of war against the small fishermen of Bicol. We have no option but to resist this insane idea in the parliament of the streets and before appropriate agencies of the state and in the court of public opinion,” France said.
Ragay Gulf is one of the four major fishing grounds in Region 5 and encompasses the municipalities of Burias and Ticao Islands, the coastal towns of Donsol, Pilar and Castilla in Sorsogon, Pio Duran, Ligao, Oas and Libon in Albay, Bato, Balatan, Bula, Minabalac, San Fernando, Pasacao, Libmanan, Sipocot, Lupi, Ragay and Del Gallego in Camarines Sur and Tagkawayan in Quezon province.
France said the other major fishing grounds in Region 5 are San Miguel Bay, Sorsogon Bay and Lagonoy Gulf, which the government had proposed to also be placed under close season or effective fish ban.
He said the ban will affect the livelihood of fishing villages all over the region which is spread in 94 coastal municipalities and 1,067 coastal barangays.
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) had blamed overfishing in the region for the decline in fish catch over the last eight years.
It said the growing population of fishermen in the region had increased pressure on resources and fishing efforts resulting to the fast decline in fish harvest starting in mid 90s.
According to BFAR there are 70 fishermen for every hectare of fishing waters in the region which it said had extremely damaged the capacity of marine resources to regenerate.
But Pamalakaya dismissed BFAR’s claim as baseless.
“The government wants our fisherfolk eliminated from Ragay Gulf and the rest of the major fishing communities in the region because they want offshore mining and magnetite mining to proceed in the municipal and ocean waters of Ragay Gulf, Sorsogon Bay , San Miguel Bay and Lagonoy Gulf,” France said.
2011. Philstar Global Corp