By EUGENE ADIONG
BACOLOD City — A group of small-time fishermen in Negros Occidental and its partner institution have expressed support to the provincial government’s campaign against illegal fishing.
The Negros Occidental Small Fishers Alliance (NOSFA) and the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM) Negros said they are strongly against all forms of “environmental encroachment.”
They called on local government units to intensify their effort against illegal fishing.
“Under the Local Government Code and the [Philippine Fisheries Code], LGUs exercise primary jurisdiction over the protection of municipal waters,” the groups’ joint resolution stated.
“Illegal fishing continues to happen with apparent impunity in many coastal areas of the province, bringing destruction to delicate marine and aquatic ecosystems, endangering the already limited fishery resources,” it said.
This puts at risk the livelihood and welfare of small-time fishers in the coastal communities, said the resolution.
Adriano Gomez, chair of NOSFA, said that “at the heart of NOSFA’s struggle for sustainable fisheries management is the protection of coastal communities from illegal fishing and other forms of encroachment.”
For his part, PRRM–Negros chair Isagani Fernandez said the two organizations appreciate and laud Gov. Alfredo Maranon Jr.’s political will to end illegal fishing.
Fishermen and fishing operators in the 5th District feared losing their livelihood once the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) carries out a clampdown on prescribed fishing gears.
The use of non-prescribed gears, including Danish seine and modified Danish seine, and illegal fishing methods like hulbot-hulbot will be strictly banned.
Because it is costly, many fishermen failed to change the fishing gears they are currently using into prescribed ones before the BFAR-imposed deadline on April 15.
“Hulbot-hulbot destroys the seabed, where the [small-time] fisherfolk fish,” Marañon said./PN
