A GROUP has been calling for the establishment of the Department of Fisheries (DOF) to effectively address the issues of the fisherfolk.
During the conference on the Philippines as a Marine and Archipelagic Nation (Mana), Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM) President Edicio Dela Torre said that the department’s creation would address the issues and concerns of the fisherfolk including the “overfishing of China in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) and harassment of Filipino fishers.”
Dela Torre earlier also mentioned that one of the major problems of the fisherfolk is the overfishing of Chinese vessels in the WPS, citing that our Filipino fishermen catch lesser fish.
During the recent conference of Mana, which focused on problems and solutions of the Filipino fisherfolk, the conferees also touched on the implementation of the archipelagic principle. This means “all waters contained within the baselines drawn around the outer islands of a state which is entirely formed by one or more archipelagoes are the internal waters of that state and subject to its sovereignty.”
They also want to draw attention to the subject of fishing as “a focus or a priority in municipalities. It was noticed that in the many coastal municipalities or cities in the Philippines, there is hardly a municipality that has a fishery technician or a Municipal Agricultural Officer that had fisheries as a course.”
Leonora Lava, project manager of PRRM, mentioned that, “oftentimes, their course is agriculture and sometimes, not even one, but they are a municipal agricultural officer. That is a general observation. That is on a local level so how much more on a municipal level?”
She continued that “even just the delineation of municipal waters is not done. It has taken decades and it still is not given attention. There is no municipal fishery development plan for a comprehensive plan on the subject of fisheries.”
For his part, de la Torre said that many government officials are convinced of the need to establish the Department of Fisheries to address these concerns and mentioned the support of both the executive and legislative sectors. (PR)