A fishermen’s group blamed the dwindling catch in municipal waters to the provisions of the amended Fisheries Code under the Republic Act 10654, including the registration and licensing schemes.
The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya-Pilipinas) cited the recent report of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), during the third quarter of 2017, that total volume of production for fisheries was estimated at 971,000 metric tons, 3.89 percent less than 2016 numbers.
According to the statistics, municipal fisheries production went down by 0.68 during the quarter alone.
For its part, the fishermen’s group said strict fishing restrictions, such as the registration and licensing schemes that curtail the fishing activities of small fisherfolk affect fish production.
It added that the depleting fish catch in the municipal waters was due to continuous entry of commercial fishing fleets that exploit municipal water resources.
Small fishers bear the brunt of high costs of boat registration and licensing fees, failure to comply dreads them with another costly fines and strict penalties like community service, confiscation of fishing gears and worse, imprisonment, Pamalakaya chairperson Fernando Hicap said.
Hicap, who is also a local fisherman in Rosario, Cavite, said he spent around P800 for the registration of his fishing boat.
In the Caraga region in Mindanao, fishermen do not only have to register their fishing boats, but even their fishing equipment.
Under the guise of monitoring the fish stock in the sea, the government imposed highly absurd fishing rules that meant to abate fishing activities of small fishers, Hicap said.
Some fisherfolk have been discouraged to continue fishing because of these unjust restrictions, which is actually the central objective of the amended Fisheries Code to sever the traditional capture fisheries and give way to aquaculture industry, he added.
The group is calling for the scrapping of the amended Fisheries Code and pushing for a new genuine fisheries reform law that will strengthen the local fish production and empower small scale fisherfolk of their right to the fishing waters.
2016 mb.com.ph | Philippine News