MONDAY next week, Feb. 15, the three-month fishing ban in the Visayan Sea would be lifted. The yearly ban aims to conserve sardines, herrings and mackerels in the area.
Areas in Western Visayas covered by the ban are adjoining waters from the mouth of Danao River in Escalante, Negros Occidental to the lighthouse on Gigantes Island (Iloilo), to OlotayanIsland to Culasi Point in Capiz, eastward along the northern coast of Capiz to Bulacaue Point in Carles, Iloilo, southward along the eastern coast of Iloilo to the mouth of Talisay River, westward across the Guimaras Strait to Tomonton Point in Occidental Negros, eastward along the northern Coast of the Island of Negros and back to the mouth of Danao River in Escalante, Negros Occidental.
The annual closed season makes sense. As an island nation, the Philippines necessarily depends on its fishery resources for its food. Fish used to be among the cheapest sources of protein for Filipinos but now, some fish products are even more expensive than pork or chicken.
Constituting the country’s territorial waters is a 220-million hectare fishing ground, of which 193.4 million hectares are oceanic waters and 26.6 million hectares are in the Exclusive Economic Zone. Within it are 38,000 hectares of lush mangrove cover and 810,000 square kilometers of coral reefs, home to mangroves, coral reefs, and fish species. The utilization and development of these marine and fishery resources had been constrained by inadequate laws and the government’s lack of focused attention.
In 1975, all laws and decrees affecting fisheries were revised and consolidated under Presidential Decree No. 704. However, the country’s fishery resources have been degraded, if not completely destroyed, by pollution, illegal fishing, and by the use of fishing methods which irreversibly harm natural marine and fresh water habitats. Among the major causes of degradation, overfishing deserves the most attention. This overexploitation of traditional fishing grounds inevitably resulted to a decline in their productivity.
We must protect and conserve the country’s fishery and aquatic resources within sustainable limits to ensure sufficient food supply.
