Congress urged to pass bill on archipelagic baselines

The Department of Agriculture (DA) is urging Congress to pass the long pending bill redefining the Philippines’ archipelagic baselines to prevent the country from losing by default its claim to extended continental shelf (ECS) areas which are teeming with fishery and mineral resources.

Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) Director Malcolm Sarmiento said loss of the country’s ECS would result in significant financial losses to the country’s fisherfolk and the fishing industry.

The long pending bill seeks to establish the standard 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

In an interview with The STAR, Sarmiento said the Philippines previously had a baseline marking. Unfortunately, that previous reading was considered invalid because it did not conform with the United Nations mandated baseline measurement.

Sarmiento said the Philippines was supposed to undertake and submit a new baseline measurement which the UN must approve.

Without an approved baseline measurement, the Philippines’ claim to its extensive archipelagic baselines may be lost. The UN has set May 2009 as the  deadline for filing such claims.

The DA and BFAR have been part of a multi-sectoral lobby for  congressional action to stave off what Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said could result in a “disastrous consequence” for the Philippines from the  forfeiture of its territorial claim over such ECS areas as the Kalayaan Island Group and Benham Rise.

“The unresolved issue on the delineation of a new Philippines baseline has likewise become a major source of worry,” Yap said adding that “if we fail to come up with a new Philippine baselines law that is compliant with the requirements of the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Seas (UNCLOS) before the expiration of the international deadline next year, we will lose our claim to Benham Rise in the northeast which is a rich spawning ground and the Kalayaan Island Group in the west which serves as a gene pool for fish larvae that replenishes adjacent Palawan waters.”

Yap said the DA and BFAR are spearheading efforts not only to ensure that the baseline measurement is approved before the expiration of the international deadline,  but also that the baselines definition that will hopefully be adopted by Congress will result in expansion of the country’s fishing grounds.     – Marianne Go