MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture has approved the importation of 60,000 metric tons (MT) of fish to augment local supply during the closed fishing season.
Agriculture Secretary William Dar approved the issuance of a certificate of necessity to import (CNI) 60,000 MT of fish.
Dar said the approved volume was based on the recommendation of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), in coordination with the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA), and in consultation with the National Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council and fishing industry stakeholders.
“We are doing a balancing act, wherein our primordial concern is to enhance and sustain the development of our fisheries sector, and provide our fellow citizens affordable fish on their table,” Dar said.
“Further, such policy decision eases the pressure on food inflation, thus benefitting mostly our poor countrymen whose purchasing power has been reduced due to the economic slowdown and the Covid-19 pandemic,”he said.
The CNI approval aims to augment current local fish production, maintain sufficient supply, and make it affordable to consumers, particularly in the last quarter of the year, when the closed fishing season is imposed in various fishing grounds in the country.
The closed fishing season is implemented annually to allow fish stocks to replenish and recover, in a bid to ensure the abundance of the supply.
According to the DA, the closed fishing season is implemented at the Davao Gulf from June 1 to Aug. 31; Visayan Sea from Nov. 15 to February 15; Sulu Sea from Dec. 1 to Feb. 28; and in Northeast Palawan from November to January.
The approved CNI volume includes small pelagic fishes like roundscad or galunggong, mackerel, and bonito that will be sold in public wet markets for the benefit of consumers, particularly in Metro Manila and fish-deficient areas in the country.
It added that CNI is valid from Sept. 2 to December 2021.
The approved quantity is slightly smaller than the supply deficiency as projected by the BFAR at 65,000 MT in the fourth quarter.
The National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) earlier recommended a maximum importation volume of 200,000 MT for the fourth quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022.
Fisheries Administrative Order 259, Section 4 states that the DA Secretary shall issue a monthly importable volume for the duration of the closed fishing season, upon the recommendation of the BFAR, in coordination with the PFDA, and in consultation with the NFARMC and fishing industry stakeholders. The policy decision considered the historical volume of production for the last five years, the level of demand or projected consumption, and existing trends of fish prices in the market.