DONSOL, Sorsogon, 24 July 2013
(PNA) – Overfishing, widespread corruption and uncooperative local executives
are the key factors hampering the government’s campaign against illegal fishing
practices which, according to a study, are slowly killing the industry, a
Bureau of Fishery and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) official said.
In a media briefing, Francisco
Ombao, BFAR Fisheries Regulatory and Law Enforcement Division chief, said the
study blamed the indifference of local officials in implementing the campaign
against illegal fishing activities.
Ombao disclosed that there had
been instances where commercial fishing vessels were sighted operating within
the 15-kilometer economic zone reserved for municipal fishers along the
Ticao-Burias Pass, which covers the provinces of Sorsogon, Masbate, Albay and
Camarines Sur.
Commercial fishing vessels of
more than three tons are prohibited to catch fish within the zone reserved for
municipal fishermen.
Ombao said the implementation
of fishery laws and regulation are devolved to the local government units
(LGUs) as provided in the Local Government Code.
He said LGUs are empowered to
carry out this law, saying, “with the police and village chiefs, and hundreds
of “barangay tanods” and other resources under them, “I cannot imagine how the
campaign would fail.”
Ombao lamented that lack of
support and political will of coastal town chief executives and the overlapping
of functions of enforcers are factors that weaken the implementation of the
government’s anti-illegal fishing campaign.
He claimed that corruption is
getting its toll at its highest levels wherein coastal town mayors allegedly
receive millions in grease money to allow operators of commercial fishing
vessels to illegally operate in their respective coastal waters.
Ombao said his office is
planning to file administrative and criminal charges against local town mayors
found coddling illegal fishing operators as a sanction and those with poor
performance against the campaign.
Asked to name operators of
commercial fishing vessels violating the 15-km zone delineated for municipal
fishing covering the Tacao Burias Pass, Ombao named eight fishing vessels of
the Divine Mercy Fishing Corp. owned by Rodolfo Apuli, a resident of Pioduran,
Albay; three vessels from a Lucena-based operator; and fishing vessels owned by
one lawyer William Enrile from Camarines Norte.
According to Prof. Victor
Soliman of the Bicol University, a recent study indicates overfishing in the
Burias-Ticao Pass is an urgent concern that must be immediately addressed.
The study further claimed that
the intrusion of commercial fishers in Donsol harvest about 12,000 metric tons
of fish annually while municipal fishers annual fish harvest is only about
1,350 metric tons.
“The fishing exploitation
level gas gone over the optimum,” Soliman said. He added that Donsol fisherfolk
are presently earning a measly P2,000 a month.
Currently, the fisheries
sector only contributes about 2.4 per cent to the country’s gross domestic
product.
The Municipal Fisheries and
Aquatic Resources Management Council in the Ticao-Burias Pass is pushing for
the following measures: a total ban against commercial fishing; declare a close
season for fishing and declare the Ticao-Burias Pass as fish sanctuary.
At the same press conference,
Vince Cinches, Ocean campaigner for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, confirmed
Ombao’s revelation, saying corruption and uncooperativeness of local executives
on the campaign against illegal fishing are signs of a “weak institution to
enforce the law.”
Earlier, over a thousand
individuals from the local government, academe, youth, non-government
organizations, church and fisher folk marched in the ten-kilometer road from
the Donsol town boundary to the Vitton Beach Resort bearing streamers with
various slogans denouncing illegal fishing practices.
The march was joined by
campaigners from the Greenpeace ship Esperanza (Hope) which anchored off the
coast of Donsol town, about 47 kilometers from this city.
The Esperanza, which is
touring the Philippines to promote ocean protection, arrived on Saturday in
Donsol town straight from a five-day sea patrol against illegal fishing jointly
conducted with representatives from the BFAR in Bicol.
Cinches said 10 of the 13
fishing grounds in the country are heavily exploited due to overfishing; of
these two are in Bicol.
Ticao-Burias Pass, located on
the eastern coast of Bicol, is among the area’s most productive fishing
grounds.
They are also listed as two of
the country’s major fishing grounds and considered to be the manta bowl and
whale shark capital of the country. (PNA)
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Panelists during the Press
Conference at Vitton Beach in Donsol, Sorsogon, July 20, 2013: (from L-R) Mr.
Frank Ombao, BFAR Fisheries Regulatory and Law Enforcement
Division chief; Dr. Victor Soliman, Bicol
University Professor; Mr. Vince Cinches, Greenpeace Southeast Asia Oceans
Campaigner; and Msgr. Angel Dy, Executive Director, Sorsogon Social Action
Foundation, Inc.
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