Fishing industry cries foul over radical Fisheries Code changes

Operators ‘frustrated’ over gov’t’s non-consultation in initiating amendments

ILOILO — The fishing industry is crying foul from the lack of public consultation over proposed amendments in Republic Act. No. 8550 (R.A. 850) or the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998.

Panay Fishing Boat Operators Association (PAFISBO) director Arnaldo M. Borres, Jr. said the country’s commercial fishing industry under the Alliance of Philippine Fishing Federation Inc. (APFFI) is “shocked and utterly frustrated” with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR)’s move to effect changes in R. A. NO. 8550, without consulting the fishing boat operators.

The Senate and the House of Representatives are scheduled to hold a bicameral session on November 24 to deliberate the proposed amendments on the law that aim to make the Fisheries Code at par with international standards.

“Time is running out and if the amendments are passed, it will have a major negative impact both on the commercial fishing industry and the consuming public,” Borres stressed.

The negative impact Borres speaks of entails a hefty increase in penalties for violating the new proposed amendments. From a mere 10,000, the new penalty imposed ranges anywhere from

500,000 to 1 million for violations of unauthorized fishing, obstruction of fishery law enforcers or failure to report volume of fish catch. The punishment also includes imprisonment of fishing vessel operator and confiscation of fishing vessels.

Similar increases in penalties will be imposed on operators and their fishing boat crew on mere suspicion of violation of the law.

Another concern of PAFISBO and APFFI is the amendment proposed by BFAR on Section 14 or the Monitoring, Control and Surveillance of Philippine Waters in the Fisheries Code. If passed, fishing vessel operators will be required to acquire substantially an expensive vessel monitoring system (VMS) unit to be installed in each fishing boat. The VMS is a satellite-based tracking system that BFAR will use to monitor locations of fishing boats. Not a few fishing boat operators, said Borres, “are wondering who will be supplying this expensive equipment. Will it be BFAR or a supplier favored by the agency?”

PAFISBO and APFFI are also crying foul over the proposed creation of a Fisheries Adjudication Board, which will be a separate judicial body from the regular courts, to handle cases involving violations of RA 8550.

Borres said the only time that PAFISBO and other APFFI members were called to a meeting with BFAR was last Saturday, November 14. He said he flew to Manila from Iloilo, where his fishing operations are based, and proceeded to the BFAR main office at Quezon City only to learn that BFAR Director, Atty. Asis Perez, was out of the country.

Borres lamented that BFAR only called for a meeting a week prior to the scheduled bicameral session.

In a letter written to Perez by PAFISBO through its President, Joemarie Borres, the group asked, that “more talks and public consultations are needed before the Fisheries Code is amended.”