Oceana: Turn AUU fishponds to mangroves
SCIENTISTS and more than 10 civil society groups like the international organization Oceana have called on the government to urgently revert to mangrove forests all abandoned, undeveloped and underutilized (AUU) fishponds. As mandated by the Amended Fisheries Code, this action will mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change.
The groups said that the Philippines had lost over 50 percent of its once thriving mangroves, which totaled an estimated 450,000 hectares in 1918. Fishpond conversion and other coastal development projects have damaged them, leading to the Philippines’ ranking as the second-worst country in Southeast Asia in terms of mangrove losses.
Their letter sent to Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Francis Tiu Laurel Jr. and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga in December 2023 emphasized that the National Climate Change Action Plan underscores actions that enhance adaptive capacity and the resilience of communities and natural ecosystems to climate change.
It pointed out that the rehabilitation of critical ecosystems like mangroves contributes to the country’s international commitments. Among them are the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which target the conservation of at least 30 percent of the world’s lands, inland waters, coastal areas and oceans.
Gloria Estenzo Ramos, Oceana vice president, raised concerns about the inconsistencies in the implementation of existing laws and the policies issued by DENR and DA-BFAR (Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources) to manage AUU fishponds.
Republic Act 7161 bans the cutting of all mangrove species. The Philippine Fisheries Code passed by Congress in 1998, and its Sections 46 and 49 mandated that all AUU fishponds be reverted to their original mangrove state.
Ramos said that the “the law is clear … the grant of Fishpond Lease Agreements (FLAs) come with mandatory conditions, such as automatic reversion back to mangroves once the fishponds have been abandoned, or remain undeveloped or underutilized.” She also pointed out, however, that “the implementation of this provision remains slow.”
The largest global advocacy organization dedicated solely to ocean conservation, Oceana is rebuilding abundant and biodiverse oceans by winning science-based policies in countries that control one-quarter of the world’s wild fish catch.
Policy inconsistency
The groups also cited inconsistencies in the policies with the Fisheries Office Order 115, issued by DA-BFAR in 2011, which provides for an institutional framework to make the AUU fishponds productive assets under a communitybased management system involving fisherfolk organizations and cooperatives. Then in 2012, BFAR issued Fisheries Administrative Order (FAO) 197-1 that sets out a process for the cancellation of FLAs and promotes aqua silviculture stewardship contracts.
According to Jurgenne Primavera, chief mangrove scientific advisor of the Zoological Society of London, the initial copy of FAO 197-1 has no provisions that are supportive of mangroves. She said that the “attempt to include mangrove-friendly aquaculture failed in defining the metrics to ensure” the mangroves’ survival.
Primavera, one of the letter’s signatories, emphasized the need for a comprehensive inventory of all FLAs and AUU fishponds, as well as a national guideline on determining the latter. She said a review of the practice of assigning FLA rights to financial institutions, coupled with the proposal to convert the AUU fishponds to salt farms, are among the issues that require the DA-BFAR and DENR’s actions and reexamination.
DA-BFAR data released in 2023 showed there are around 994 hectares of fishponds with or without FLAs that had reverted to DENR’s jurisdiction. The fisheries bureau identified 55 hectares of fishponds operating without FLAs.
Primavera said the reversion of AUU fishponds to mangroves is key to achieving the 4:1 mangrove-pond ratio required to attain environmental sustainability, according to a 2008 study. Achieving the ratio will also bring maximum economic value from combined mangrove goods and services including aquaculture ponds. The Philippines presently has a 1:1 mangrove-pond ratio of approximately 250,000 hectares each.
The groups said a win-win nature-based solution must be reached for the benefit of all stakeholders presently and in the future.