Negros, Panay to join nationwide ‘fish holiday’ Amended Fisheries code akin to putting a gun to our heads – PAFISBO
ILOILO CITY – As a sign of protest against a new law described as “prohibitive,” and which fishing boat operators in the Visayas and in other parts of the country fear could lead to the death of the Philippine fishing industry, fresh fish and other seafood will not be sold in Panay and Negros islands for two days next week.
“We are joining the nationwide fish holiday and we will not be supplying fresh fish,” said Arnaldo M. Borres Jr., a director of the Panay Fishing Boat Operators Association (PAFISBO).
Along with the umbrella Alliance of Philippine Fishing Federations, Inc., Borres said PAFISBO will support the vigil of small-scale fish operators at Plaza Dilaw in Manila. The action will be held to indicate opposition against the full implementation of Republic Act (RA) No. 10654, which amended the Fisheries Code of 1998.
Borres explained that the no-selling and trading of fish even by local fish pond operators for two days next week, will show a unified stand against RA No. 10654 which he said is “designed to appease foreigners – the European Union (EU) whose highly prohibitive demands on the Philippine fishing industry have been adopted by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and which we see as having an adverse impact on the food supply chain of regular Filipinos.”
While the new law wants to curb “illegal unreported and unregulated fishing,” Borres noted that provisions such as mandatory installation of a GPS-tracking system on commercial fishing boats are too much.
“These are very expensive devices that small-scale fishermen cannot afford,” Borres explained.
The new law pushed by BFAR under the Department Agriculture (DA), also imposes “very exorbitant penalty fees ranging from 500,000 to 1 million for unauthorized fishing activities.” Also, the fishing boat and fish catch can be confiscated.
“The implementation of this law is like putting a gun into someone’s head,” Borres expressed.
“Due to the small size of our vessels, many of us stand to experience permanent loss of viable fishing areas and will be forced to stop operating. RA No. 10654 is oppressive and confiscatory because it imposes large penalties, imprisonment and confiscation of gear/vessel,” PAFISBO echoed in a statement.
PAFISBO considers the new law, which was passed without proper consultation from major players in the country’s fishing industry, as “defective and wrong” for its “harsh penalties.”
Meanwhile, in a statement, the Bisaya Alliance of Fisher folks and Operators for Reform (BAFOR) who said its members are “operators using internationally accepted methods of sustainable fishing” announced that it will also be joining the rest of the commercial fishing operators and fish traders in the country in “strongly protesting passage of RA 10654.”
The BAFOR said “no commercial fishing operator from Central and Western Visayas, the National Capital Region, Bicol, Quezon, and Zamboanga will land fish at any market starting Sept. 22 until Sept. 23, creating a nationwide fish holiday.”
Both PAFISBO and BAFOR and their fish traders in Iloilo, Negros and Cebu will support this movement.
As part of the national protest, NCRbased federation, Pederasyon ng mga Mangingisda sa Buong Pilipinas Inc., composed of small scale fishing operators and led by its President, Dr. Mario G. Pascual, will lead a rally on Senate grounds followed by a vigil at Plaza Dilaw.
Pascual said “RA No. 10654 is cruel because it displaces thousands of small scale commercial fishing operators. For instance, thousands of fishing operators will be subjected to enforcement, through huge penalties and threat of imprisonment, of an arbitrary line that is unsupported by scientific study. This arbitrary line states where we can and cannot fish. Thousands of us are realistically artisanal in nature but we will be forced out of our traditional fishing grounds with limited capacity to go elsewhere. Due to the small size of our vessels, many of us will experience permanent loss of viable fishing areas and will be forced to stop operating.”
He also stressed that “government, under RA No. 10654 will impose penalties on us that are harsher than in any other similar industry, such as mining and forestry. The government will be harshly penalizing us under a law that is defective and wrong. In effect, the law has arbitrarily made thousands of sustainable fishermen illegal.”
Pascual also lamented that “government passed a law that is defective. We object to RA No. 10654’s Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) which cannot fix a law that is broken. We expressed our strong reservations to the IRR committee. We believe that government’s actions will lead to the collapse of the fishing industry, which, in turn, will result in higher unemployment.”
The Pederasyon’s head asked for “support to save our livelihood and support the millions of people who rely on the fishing industry to live and eat.”