Environment group lauds fishing ban in Visayan Sea

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — The temporary fishing ban in the Visayan Sea will “undoubtedly increase” its biomass and will “redound to the ultimate benefits of small fishermen,” contrary to the claims of dire effects from other groups who were against it.

The Visayan Sea Squadron (VSS) recently wrote President Benigno Aquino III last Nov. 18: “...for the first time ever, the BFAR finally implemented the law” on fish ban.

The law, called Fisheries Administrative Order 167, was passed in 1939 but was never implemented since. It declares a closed season for catching herring, sardines, and mackerel in the Visayan Sea from Nov. 5 to March 5 of every year, according to lawyer Antonio Oposa Jr., who heads the VSS.

Oposa said the VSS—composed of volunteers such as divers, marine enforcement personnel, legal experts, teachers, architects, and doctors—commends the administration of Aquino and BFAR director Asis Perez “for this long overdue but most necessary initiative.”

The Visayan Sea is “the geographic heart of marine biodiversity on Earth, yet it has suffered severe damage as a result of the destructive fishing methods for the last five decades,” Oposa wrote in his letter to Aquino that was also signed by Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr., an advocate for the protection of the Visayan Sea.

On its website, the International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement, said the Visayan Sea is a relatively shallow body of water at the heart of the Sulu Sulawesi Marine Triangle and contains some of the richest biodiversity in the world. Running from the Philippine Islands down to Borneo, Malaysia, and across Indonesia, the triangle is so rich in fish and coral life that one square kilometer of its coral reef contains more species of coral than all the coral of the Caribbean Sea, it said.

Its marine populations include more than 12,000 species of fish - an abundance that once seemed so limitless it was referred to as the “Alaska of the Philippines” only 40 years ago. But harmful, unsustainable human practices now threaten the area’s biodiversity, bringing it to the verge of near total collapse, the website read.

However, some Visayas-based small fisherfolk groups had asked the 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 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 has triggered arrests and detention of small fisherfolk. He said that last Sunday, the Philippine Coast Guard arrested 15 crewmen of a fishing banca who were caught fishing off Cebu. VSFF maintained that some 100,000 municipal fishermen in the Visayan Sea will be affected by the five- month fish ban.

Oposa, chairperson of the National Environmental Action Plan of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, however, said the launch of the fish ban in Bantayan Island, Cebu last Nov. 14 was “very successful” since it involved local stakeholders like the local government, fishermen, and commercial fishing boat owners.

With the implementation of the fishing ban, the underwater world of the Visayan Sea is beginning to change, Oposa added. (FREEMAN)