Groups to protest Visayas fishing ban

Fisherfolk groups based in Visayas will stage a protest rally next week to oppose the fish ban imposed by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources all over the Visayan seas.

The groups - Pamalakaya - Eastern Visayas, Pamalakaya - Panay and Guimaras Island, Pamalakaya - Negros Island, Pamalakaya -Central Visayas, Pamalakaya - Masbate, the research group Fisheries Marine and Environmental Research Institute (FMERI) and the Visayan Sea Fisherfolk Forum (VSFF) - will hold series of protest rallies on Nov. 21.

VSFF spokesperson Victor Lapaz said they will also call on President Benigno Aquino III to reconsider the fish ban because it will "kill" the livelihood of fishermen in the region.

"We urge President Benigno Simeon Aquino III to rethink this fish ban or brace himself with a highly predictable Visayan fisherfolk revolt against fish ban," Lapaz said.

The BFAR earlier said that the implementation of the ban, which has started Thursday (Nov. 15) and end in March 2013, would increase the production of mackerel and sardines in the Visayas by 20 percent.

The fishing ban covers the Visayan seas, which covers the waters of Masbate and fishing grounds encompassed by the Western, Central and Eastern Visayas regions.

BFAR said the coverage of the prohibition on sardine and mackerel fishing will start from the mouth of the Danao River on the northeastern tip of the Bantayan Island to Madridejos, through the light house on the Gigantes Island to Clutaya Island, to Culasi Point in Capiz Province, coastward along the northern coast of Capiz to Bulacaue Point in Carles, Iloilo, southward along the eastern coast of Iloilo to the mouth of Talisay River, westward across Guimaras Strait to Tomonton Point in Occidental Negros, eastward along the northern coast of the Island of Negros and back to the mouth of Danao River in Escalante, Negros Occidental.