THIS Feb. 15 the annual three-month fishing ban in the Visayan Sea which started in November last year would end. The yearly “closed season” aims to replenish sardines, herrings and mackerels in the Visayan Sea. Catching, killing, selling or possessing these fish species are prohibited in the three-month period.
As an island nation, the Philippines necessarily depends on its fishery resources for its food. 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.
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.
Increasing national productivity is an urgent matter if we are to industrialize. But development should not be at the expense of rapidly depleting our marine resources. Our immediate goal should be to protect and conserve the country’s fishery and aquatic resources within sustainable limits, to accelerate the integrated development of the fishery industry, and to protect the rights of small and subsistence fisherfolk and fish workers to preferential use of such resources.
Here’s another thing. The utilization and development of our marine and fishery resources have 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. In recent years, there have been proposals to create a Department of Fisheries to focus on this sector. One of the proponents is Cong. Raul Tupas of Iloilo’s 5th District which enjoys the bounty of the Visayan Sea. Up to now, however, the proposal has not moved a bit in Congress.
We must ensure sufficient food supply to millions of Filipinos through the development of the vast potentials of Philippine fisheries. The bottom line is our food security.
