Overfishing: Rampant in Visayas and Mindanao

Despite the killing of our good friend, Bantay Dagat Program Director Elpidio "Jojo" dela Victoria, whose advocacy included the closure of the Visayan Sea because of overfishing, commercial fishing operations have gone unabated which irked Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia, causing her to issue a stern warning that strong measures will be done to violators if they do not obey our fishing laws. As we've known through the years, the biggest problem that plagues this country is the lack of respect for our laws. With out the rule of law, we become a lawless nation, not much different from Iraq today which is ruled by the barrel of a gun.

Yesterday, thanks to Jojo dela Victoria, I was one of those who gave a eulogy (it was the first time I ever did that) for his necrological service at the steps of the Cebu City Hall. Jojo's killing stems from the fact that his killer did not want the Bantay Dagat or the Visayan Sea Squadron to implement the rule of law even in the seas! However, Jojo's killing has focused more attention on the issue of overfishing. Back in the days when there were no fishing trawlers, our poor fishermen always went home with fish to sell. But with commercial fishing poaching our shorelines, too often, these marginalized fishermen go home empty-handed.

At this point, one can safely say that the root cause of this problem can be traced to government bureaucracy and I would even dare say corruption within the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR). Last Monday, on the show with Ces Drilon over ANC, BFAR Assistant Secretary Ben Tabios was her guest and when she asked the poignant question, how many fishing licenses were given by BFAR, he couldn't give a figure. Surely our government bureaucrats should have an idea of how many commercial fishing licenses have they given out?

Once again, this brings us back to our never-ending fight between our central or unitary form of government, vis-à-vis the local government unit. It is for this very reason why every time we have problems such as this the question of why we haven't shifted to a Federal form of government always crops up! If the BFAR wasn't a national government agency, but an agency of a State, then I'm pretty sure that the BFAR official could answer the question of how many commercial fishing permits were given in our region. In a similar vein, ask any official of the Land Transportation Regulatory and Franchising Board (LTFRB) how many jeepney franchises that they have issued and I'll bet you that no one can come up with exact figures. I should know, when I was still with CITOM, we often asked this question and no LTFRB official could give us any credible answer.

Yesterday, there was a forum on the subject of Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) at the University of Cebu yesterday. MSY is the largest average quantity of fish that can be harvested from fish stocks/resources within a period of time. We never heard about MSY before until Jojo and the Visayan Sea Squadron told it to us. MSY is apparently the benchmark for the BFAR to monitor whether they should approve more commercial fishing licenses or not. But for me, it is more than obvious that BFAR officials never gave MSY its time of day; they rampantly issue commercial fishing license to those who were willing to pay for it above or under the table!

In yesterday's issue of the Business World, I saw a noteworthy news item which read, "Tuna fishers back catch restrictions." This story came from General Santos City, where a declaration apparently came from Mr. Bayani Fredelusces, Executive Director of the Socsargen Federation of Fishing and Allied Industries, Inc. who urged the government to implement as soon as possible limitation on the total allowable catch of three major tuna species, the Skipjack, Yellowfin and Bigeye tuna.

Whenever I'm in Davao or in Gensan, we always feast on sumptuous tuna dinner. One of my favorites is "Bijod", fish roe or fish eggs. However, whenever I get to eat this dish, I always feel guilty that we are eating the eggs of tuna fish that should never have been caught in the first place. If they stopped catching pregnant tuna, then for sure, they would always be assured of plenty stocks of fish.

Again, let me point out clearly that the issue of over-fishing is a reality in the Visayas and Mindanao. The people in Luzon couldn't care any less on this problem because it doesn't affect them the way it affects us here. I got a letter from Hon. Greg Jumao-as, chairman of the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources in the town of Cordova thanking me for making their fish sanctuary in Hilutungan our principal example in our column last Tuesday. Due to lack of space, we'll reprint his letter next week.

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