EDITORIAL — Discouraging fishing

The country is almost completely dependent on imports for its salt and milk requirements. Rice may eventually be added to the list. Several studies in recent years have shown a continuing decline in the number of young Filipinos engaging in rice farming. Apart from threatening domestic rice production, the declining population of rice farmers has contributed to the deterioration of one of the country’s top tourist destinations and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Ifugao Rice Terraces.

Now another economic sector is facing a similar dilemma. Data gathered by the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that there has been a decline in the number of youths engaged in fishing. PSA data showed that between 2012 and 2022, more households engaged in fishing, but there was an increase in the number of household members younger than 50 who left fishing for better jobs and livelihood opportunities.

The data came from the PSA’s 2022 Census of Agriculture and Fisheries, whose results were released last month. Between 2012 and 2022, the number of households with fishing operators rose by 9.3 percent, from 760,297 to 830,954. But the number of fishing operators under 50 years old went down by 3.6 percent, while those older than 50 increased by 36.4 percent.

An aging population in any sector is generally a cause for concern. A recent Supreme Court ruling upholding a Malabon trial court decision, which favored commercial operators over marginalized fisherfolk can only exacerbate the problem.

The Department of Agriculture and its Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources should have fought tooth and nail for the marginalized fisherfolk. Republic Act 8550, the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998, as amended by RA 10654 against illegal and unregulated fishing, gave small-scale fishers exclusive access to municipal waters – or inland and marine waters within 15 kilometers from shorelines.

The Supreme Court, however, went along with the Malabon court’s ruling that the access limitation is unconstitutional. The SC ruling effectively allowed commercial operators with their large vessels to fish in municipal waters. The BFAR, under a department headed by a member of a family engaged in large-scale commercial fishing, has announced it is appealing the SC ruling. Regardless of the outcome of the appeal, the case is likely to drive more youths to leave fishing for better livelihood opportunities.