Responsible seafood sourcing (RSS) practices are already encouraged in current fisheries policy, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) said.
At a briefing at the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Sustainable Seafood Summit, BFAR spokesman Nazario C. Briguera said fisheries law recognizes the need for RSS.
RSS is a USAID-BFAR project which started in 2018, with the goal of reducing illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUUF).
“If we are going to analyze it the concept of RSS is actually embedded in our existing law, the Fisheries Code, because there is no such thing as RSS if you have poor compliance with your fisheries laws,” Mr. Briguera added.
Republic Act No. 10654 or the Amended Fisheries Code of the Philippines addresses IUUF.
“We just need to increase compliance with our fishing laws. Kapag wala kang illegal fishing na nangyayari eh di responsable ang pag-aani ng stocks mo (If there is no illegal fishing, the harvesting of fish will be responsible),” he said.
He said that the agency also implemented the Malinis at Masaganang Karagatan (Clean and Bountiful Seas) program to encourage fisheries protection and conservation.
“It is an incentive program for the local government units to scale up in terms of coastal resource management,” Mr. Briguera said.
“So, there are already existing mechanisms that are actually leading to RSS,” he added.
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Senior Program Manager Rebecca Andong said responsible fishing is mostly self-regulating.
“The RSS standard is self-regulation. It is led by the private sector, so there is no need to have a policy to implement it; because they have accountability in their business processes,” Ms. Andong added.
She said that the organization is also collaborating with local government units to reinforce sustainable sourcing practices.