CV muro-ami fishers employ 400 children

Commercial muro-ami fishing operators are now illegally employing some 400 children in Central Visayas alone, Bohol Rep. Ernesto Herrera said yesterday.

Citing a report by the US Agency for International Development-funded Coastal Resource Management Project, Herrera said most of the child laborers were "bought" or recruited by muro-ami operators from Negros Oriental, Bohol and Southern Leyte.

Many of the children, he said, now live and work under "severe" conditions in fishing vessels off the coast of Palawan.

"No effort should be spared to save these children who are being exposed to life-threatening work everyday," Herrera said in a statement, adding that many of the victims also suffer from neglect, abuse and maltreatment on board fishing vessels.

Herrera assailed police, labor and social welfare officials in Central Visayas for failing to take swift action against the illegal fishing operators.

Herrera earlier sought the creation of a government task force that would crack down on muro-ami, the banned and environmentally destructive fishing method that drives out fish by pounding on coral reefs.

Muro-ami operators prefer to use children as divers who strike coral reefs with repeated heavy blows using steel pipes.