Raping municipal waters

Over 1,600 fisherfolk groups to date have signed a petition opposing House Bill 7853, which seeks to allow commercial fishing vessels to encroach into municipal fishing grounds by five kilometers, thus amending the current Section 18 of the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998.

Affected municipal fisherfolk and their respective cooperatives and organizations have reason to protest this if their growing narratives are to be believed. We continue to read of fishermen’s tales of dwindling catch and of “poaching” by big commercial vessels in fishing territory supposedly off limits to them.

Actually, poaching is a weak word; in reality, these commercial fishing boats suck the fish from small fishers’ territory with “super” lights to attract almost all marine life in the adjoining area, and through fine-meshed nets, empty the sea of even juveniles.

For the small fisher, the next few weeks will mean lean harvests to barely feed his family, let alone bring some cash to buy rice or to spend on other basic needs. No wonder that our coastline fishing families live in continually deteriorating conditions.

While the fate of HB 7853 hangs uncertain, given the fact that several provincial government and over a thousand other groups and civil society organizations have joined in opposing the proposed law amendment, the idea of allowing large fishing boats in declared municipal waters reflects the growing conflict between small fishers and commercial fishing.

Weak enforcement

Ever since the fishing code was passed, commercial fishing vessels have become bolder in their incursions – mainly because they realize government enforcement continues to be weak and they can bully the small fishing boats and fishing folks when encounters are inevitable.

Coastal fishing grounds, many of them within the 15-kilometer safe zone dictated by the law, are teeming with rich marine catch, thanks to presence of coral reefs and favorable water temperatures that provide spawning protection.

When commercial fleets illegally maraud municipal waters, they are able to extract tons of fish that leave the affected areas ecologically traumatized. Waiting for the fish population to mend itself to healthier levels takes months, which means little catch during the duration for small fishers.

Such illegal fishing continues largely unchecked because of both the local and national government’s limited resources – both in the number of boats and personnel available to effectively patrol 266,000 square meters of municipal coastal waters.

Even if small-scale fishermen or their organizations report sightings of such aggressions to the concerned agencies, any investigation that leads to cases filed in court against the perpetrators are too few to be regarded as deterrents to the malpractice.

Over the last two decades, the law that was created to protect our small fishers has not been properly implemented. In addition, the incursion of commercial fleets into shallower waters has aggravated overfishing in many coastal areas, and in some cases, destruction of the coral reefs.

The government must act to protect the estimated one million small fishers whose livelihoods have been affected enough to pull them deeper into poverty. One way is to tighten controls on commercial fishing fleets, many of them involved in illegal and unregulated fishing.

Overcrowded waters

In recent years, commercial fleets have filed reports that indicate significant decreases in fish harvests. Owners decry the dwindling catch outside municipal waters, and going farther only increases their operating costs without necessarily yielding better harvest.

This could explain why many of them brave entering restricted territories, and it could likewise account for hedged fishing reports of catch, which if truthfully declared, could indicate poaching in municipal waters.

More than 8,000 commercial vessels are entered in the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources’ (BFAR) boat registration system, and while it is difficult to avoid registering such big-sized boats, not properly reporting the amount of fish harvest is prevalent.

A study initiated by the USAID with the Department of Agriculture’s BFAR has estimated unreported fish catch at up to 422,000 metric tons a year, which would largely make up for an underreporting of about P62 billion annually of the country’s total fish harvest.

Too many commercial vessels

Another way to look at all this information is the presence of too many commercial fishing vessels that compete outside the 15-kilometer off-limit grounds of municipal waters. Such overcrowding makes the teeming population of fish inside protected municipal waters too irresistible to ignore.

Unfortunately, as more commercial vessels step beyond their boundaries, overfishing happens. Even all the municipal fishing boats of small fishers combined are no match when it comes to the harvest capability of even just a handful of commercial vessels.

There is a desire that, in the absence of effective government enforcement, organized fishing communities will be able to help create a framework for sustainable fishing in municipal waters. Empowered and emboldened local fishing groups are being encouraged to ramp up their patrol capabilities to protect their turf.

The government, through an overhauled fisheries policy in 2019, is also pinning its efforts on a new fisheries management system that can mitigate illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. By defining fisheries management areas (FMAs) based on range and distribution of fish stocks, regulation is focused on smaller areas that matter – instead of the country’s whole coastline.

It’s too early to tell if these initiatives will create the desired environment that will rightfully restore the income-generating opportunities that the law gives to our fishing folks, and more importantly, enable an ecosystem that will allow the growth of sustainable fish supply for the country’s growing population. For sure, though, something sensible needs to be quickly done.

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