EDITORIAL - Keep fishing

There is only one proper response to a fishing moratorium within Philippine waters that is not imposed by the country: Filipinos should continue fishing within our own waters and exclusive economic zone.

This is apart from the protest lodged by the Department of Foreign Affairs over the three-month fishing moratorium unilaterally imposed by Beijing over nearly the entire South China Sea, which it continues to claim despite an international arbitral ruling invalidating its greedy “nine-dash-line” claim that might one day include even the beachfronts of its Asian neighbors.

The moratorium is supposed to give fishing grounds in the disputed area a breathing spell to allow the replenishment of depleted stocks and renew the marine ecosystem. This is from a country whose construction of artificial islands has destroyed vast stretches of coral reefs that are spawning grounds of marine life, in waters over which its claim has been invalidated.

Aside from ignoring such unilateral pronouncements, the Philippine government must assert its sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea by conducting patrols to ensure that Filipinos will not be prevented by any foreign intruder from fishing in Philippine waters.

This need not entail a military confrontation; the country can deploy patrol assets of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources as well as the Philippine Coast Guard, both of which are under civilian departments. Never mind if China deploys massive militia fleets of about 200 boats backed by its coast guard, which is now under its military. Filipinos should show the world that might does not make right in maintaining a rules-based international order.

The Philippines also observes a fishing moratorium within its territorial waters and 200-mile maritime exclusive economic zone, as defined under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, to which China is also a signatory. Until such a moratorium is announced by our own government, Filipinos should keep fishing.