ILOILO City – Governors of the provinces of Iloilo (Arthur Defensor Sr.), Capiz (Antonio del Rosario) and Negros Occidental (Alfredo Marañon Jr.) agreed to protect the Visayan Sea, a rich fishing ground being threatened by illegal fishing activities.
Representatives of Masbate’s Gov. Antonio Kho and Cebu’s Gov. Hilario Davide III also signed the covenant to conserve the Visayan Sea on behalf of their principals.
The covenant signing on Sept. 28 in Oton, Iloilo was witnessed by Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) Region 6 assistant director for technical services Dr. Drusila Esther Bayate.
The Visayan Sea is a major fisheries area for sardines, blue swimming crabs and squids but BFAR studies showed a steady decline in its seafood supply since the 1980s.
This was due mostly to the prevalence of blast fishing, plus the encroachment of trawls, Danish seines and other destructive gears in municipal waters.
The five provinces agreed to adopt the Visayan Sea Ecosystems Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM) Framework which has three priority goals:
* restore the fishery resources and rehabilitate habitats of the Visayan Sea
* sustain livelihood, both fishery and non-fishery related, through enhanced capacities and equitable access to available resources
* establish efficient and effective governance structure with improved fishery law compliance and enforcement that addresses socio-economic security and ecological integrity
The Visayan Sea directly benefits 100,000 municipal fisherfolk and about a million rural folk in 33 municipalities in the provinces of Iloilo, Capiz, Negros Occidental, Cebu, and Masbate, according to international ocean conservation and advocacy organization Oceana./PN
