Commercial fishing companies press for review of DAO 17

Commercial fishing companies are lobbying vigorously to pressure government into allowing them to operate in municipal fishing waters currently limited to small-scale fishermen.

The push so far has prompted two line departments to review Department of Environment and Natural Resources administrative order 17 (DAO-17). Under DAO-17, municipalities were given control over revenue collections, law enforcement and resource allocation of its territorial waters DAO-17 also provides for the exclusive use of municipal fishers and off limits to large commercial fishing vessels.

"We still believe that it’s (DAO-17) legally wrong. It should be the DA that should issue the administrative order, not the DENR," said Alonso Tan, president of the 200-strong Alliance of Philippine Fishing Federation Inc. (APFFI), an umbrella organization of commercial fishers.

Tan said the DENR violated Republic Act 8550 or the Fisheries Code, when it issued DAO-17.

He said the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA), an agency attached to the DENR, makes use of archipelagic principles which expands municipal waters "from the farthest isle." This is in contrast with the DA’s standpoint that municipal waters start from the normal coastline.

Tan said earnings of commercial fishers nosedived by 30 to 40 percent, roughly translating to about P2 billion since DAO-17 took effect October last year.

He added that with DAO-17, both commercial fishers and small-scale fishermen lose. Commercial fishers are unable to exploit rich fishing grounds while small fishers do not have the technical capabilities or means to fish in deep waters.

In signing DAO-17, former Environment Secretary Heherson Alvarez said this will help small-scale fishermen derive higher revenues from an expected increase in fish catch because of the expanded coverage of municipal waters to 15-kms from seven kms.

Following a meeting last week, Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. said he and DENR Secretary Elisea Gozun will jointly review and study the issues surrounding DAO-17.

"I just discussed with Secretary Gozun the details of the problem and we will review the rules. As of now, nothing has been resolved yet. All I know is that the catch went down as stated by representatives of commercial fishing industry," Lorenzo said.

Citing data from the Philippine Fisheries Profile prepared by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Lorenzo said fish production from the commercial fishing totaled to about 946,485 metric tons employing 374,408 people.