Untold losses of Filipino fishermen at WPS
HUNDREDS of Filipino fishermen making their livelihood in the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea) are suffering from untold losses of personal income and business profit for almost four years now, but their suffering appears to be ending.
That vast sea had been their well-spring of sustenance for years. But at the beginning of 2012, when Beijing began its massive reclamation work in Scarborough Shoal and nearby areas, the Filipino fishermen were driven away from their means of support.
The new intruders, well-armed and threatening, meant business. The Filipinos were water-cannoned, and at one time their wooden boats were rammed by the steel vessels of the invaders.
There has been no report of fatalities, though.
Significantly, our own coast guard and naval forces have played it cool and have not shown credible retaliatory tactics.
But four years after the first reclamation work, Beijing (they claim ownership of the huge body of water by virtue of its being called South China Sea.), local fishermen have been pouring their anguish to the Manila government.
Out of work, they have accepted all kinds of jobs in their respective provinces to keep body and soul together, and for the upkeep of their miserable family.
The national government, on the other hand, realizing our inferiority in an armed confrontation with the invaders, chose to go to court instead.
And so it was that our case was filed with the United Nations-supported Permanent Court of Arbitration on the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Sea located in The Hague, Netherlands.
And then on July 12, 2016, the PCA issued its landmark decision.
But Beijing will have none of it. They are still there patrolling the vast sea day in and day out, this time driving away not only local fishermen but even Filipino groups of observers that were surveying the disputed area after the July 12 ruling.
So, how can the ousted Filipino fishermen recoup their four-year losses in income?
Diplomacy will help. US Secretary of State John Kerry was here July 26 and 27. He reiterated in official statement and in talks with various government officials that the PCA ruling is “legally binding.”
By the way, the sea is fertile ground for commercial fishing. A former college classmate – Alex Quibin – invested part of his retirement money (after a good number of years of working as a Meralco executive) by engaging in deep-sea fishing in WPS some years back.
He said that what makes the area rich in marine life is the vast spread of corrals underneath.
By laying a one-kilometer-long net at daytime, his men would have bountiful catch after just one hour. Alex and other deep-sea fishing investors are ecstatic over the PCA decision.
Meanwhile, in a related development, people around the world have significantly increased their consumption of fish. (Read Manila Bulletin, Page B-8, July 28, 2016). To quote:
“According to The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2016, world per capita fish consumption increased from an average of 9.9 kilograms in the 1960s to 14.4 kilograms in the 1990s, 19.7 kilograms in 2013, and 20.1 kilograms in 2014.”
The record consumption is the result of increased supplies from fish farming, growing demand linked to population growth, reduced wastage, rising incomes and urbanization, and a slight improvement in some fish stocks, said the UN report.