High-level panel for talks on fishing grounds backed

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino supports the creation of a dedicated, high-level negotiating team that will pursue bilateral talks with neighboring countries for access to their fishing grounds by Filipino fishermen.

In a speech delivered by Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala at the opening of the 13th Tuna Congress in General Santos City, the President expressed his support for the local tuna industry which has been affected by dwindling catch due to overfishing and by an existing ban imposed by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC).

The WCPFC imposed a two-year high seas fishing ban on two areas, thereby affecting Philippine tuna fishing vessels.

The two-year ban is supposed to end in November this year and the Philippines is renewing its appeal for the lifting of the ban even as a group of Pacific Island nations known collectively as the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) continue to advocate the closure of the two areas to allow the fish stocks to recover.

In his speech read by Alcala, the President said “we will continuously pursue bilateral agreement with neighboring countries and territories on access to expand our fishing grounds.”

The President expressed his support “for the formation of a dedicated, high-level negotiating team that will pursue such talks, notably with Indonesia, Palau, the Solomon Islands, Nauru, Kiribati and the Federated States of Micronesia.”

He said the DA-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and the Department of Foreign Affairs, would spearhead the negotiations.

Indonesia recently closed off its fishing grounds to Philippine fishing vessels unless they invest in Indonesia and put up their canning and processing facilities there.