MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Agriculture (DA) is bent on curbing illegal fishing nationwide after President Duterte gave his go signal to remove government officials who will fail to do so.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said the President has approved the department’s recommendation to suspend local government unit officials who fail to halt illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
The government has given an ultimatum of six months or until June 2017 for local officials to clean up the coastal waters within their communities.
“In the last Cabinet meeting, he (Duterte) announced that mayors and barangay chairmen of towns and villages where illegal fishing is prevalent would be publicly identified later on,” Piñol said.
“We are giving them six months, until June. After that, the DA will file administrative charges against mayors and barangay chairmen who could not stop illegal fishing in their communities,” he added.
Apart from protecting critical marine habitats and important fishing grounds, the DA also intends to bring back fisheries abundance in the country.
“The President has made it clear that just like the campaign against drugs and criminality, the campaign against illegal fishing will also be very strict. This is part of our advocacy to protect our fishing industry,” the Agri chief said.
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources said 10 out of the 13 major fishing grounds surveyed in the Philippines are already overfished.