Oceana Philippines urges coastal mayors to fight overfishing

OCEANA Philippines has tapped the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP), particularly mayors of coastal towns, to address overfishing and to implement other provisions of the fisheries code.

Oceana, an international ocean preservation advocacy group, gathered mayors from different municipalities in the country at the Cebu Parklane International Hotel on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019, to discuss challenges that coastal municipalities face.

Ways to ensure sustainable management of marine life were also discussed.

Gloria Estenzo-Ramos, vice president of Oceana Philippines, asked mayors of coastal towns around the Tañon Strait to make sure laws prohibiting commercial fishing in the area are enforced.

Ramos expressed her opinion regarding the one-month moratorium on the arrest of small- to medium-scale fishing 10.1 kilometers to 15 kilometers from the shoreline of the local government units along Tañon Strait.

“That’s an illegal order. Clearly, we have the laws. In fact, it’s a protected area under the fisheries code. There should be no fishing allowed under the expounded measure of the National Integrated and Protected Area System (Nipas) Act. Any official who does not implement the law or violates the law can be sued.” she said.

According to Ramos, they have to implement rules and regulations to ensure protection of the habitat that includes Tañon Strait. The strait is covered by the Nipas Act because of its unique significant features, which need to be preserved.

“I hope that the present administration looks into the basis of why such an ordinance is illegal, is unconstitutional, because our small fisherfolk are being deprived of their livelihood if you allow commercial fishing in municipal waters” she said.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources does not allow commercial fishing in the Tañon Strait, according to Ramos.

“It is nothing if the laws are not being implemented and another is the continuing destruction of our sea grass, corals, mangroves, sedimentation so these destroy the marine habitat of our young fish so we really have to work together,” Ramos said.

She said fish population in the area has been declining since 2009.

She said the state of fisheries in the country is alarming, adding that it is plagued by illegal and unregulated fishing, destructive fishing and habitat destruction, among others.

To prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, the Fisheries Code of 1998 was amended in February 2015. It required the installation of a vessel monitoring system and raised penalties, among others. (KFD)

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