Visayan fishermen urge BFAR to lift ban

Visayas-based small fisherfolk groups on Tuesday asked the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) to lift the fish ban in the Visayan Sea, saying it is hurting the livelihood of small-scale fishermen.

The group, including Pamalakaya Fisheries and Marine Environmental Research Institute (FMERI) and the Visayan Sea Fisherfolk Forum (VSFF) said the fish ban is detrimental to the livelihood of small fishermen in the region.

"The idea is to ban large-scale commercial fishing vessels from the 15-kilometer municipal fishing water and strictly enforce the rights of small fishermen to traditional fishing areas. However the current fish ban imposed by BFAR targets the “small fish’ and not the “big fish,” Pamalakaya vice chairperson Salvador France said.

VSFF spokesperson Victor Lapaz said the fish ban in the Visayan Sea has triggered arrests and detention of small fisherfolk.

He said that ON Sunday, members of the Philippine Coast Guard arrested 15 crew members of a fishing banca who were caught engaged in fishing off Cebu.

Lapaz said the Coast Guard nabbed the fishermen on board F/B Entan San Antonio.

The PCG claimed the fishermen were using "fine meshed nets and active gear" but failed to establish if the fishermen were catching sardines and mackerel, the fish species specified by BFAR that should be prohibited from catching. The PCG said the vessel was intercepted 1.9 nautical miles west of Barangay Binlayan in Samboan, Cebu.

The BFAR said the fish ban covers 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.

The groups maintained that some 100,000 municipal fishermen in the Visayan Sea will be affected by the five- month fish ban. - Dennis Carcamo