Help El Niño-affected fisherfolk, BFAR urged

MANILA, Philippines - A fisherfolk group has urged the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) to assist small-scale fishermen affected by the dry spell.

The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said BFAR should allocate additional funds to mitigate the impact of the drought on the fishery sector.

“Thousands of El Niño-affected fishermen are in dire need of support… BFAR should immediately provide genuine economic aid to El Niño-affected fisherfolk instead of squandering millions of public funds for the construction of patrol and monitoring boats that are not of significant help to them,” Pamalakaya vice chairman Salvador France said.

 “BFAR should also provide support to the fisherfolk to modernize their fishing gear so they can cope with climate change and uplift their impoverished condition,” France said.

BFAR had said at least 100,000 fisherfolk have so far been affected by the drought. The volume of fish caught in municipal waters, which is within 15 kilometers of the shoreline, is seen to decrease by 279,000 tons or 23 percent in the first quarter of the year, it added.

Pamalakaya said the dry spell is also causing fish kills and red tide, particularly in the Visayas and Mindanao. 

BFAR earlier said it is allocating P85 million to stock fingerlings and establish fish sanctuaries, P195 million to promote seaweed farming and P104 million to deploy payao – a fish aggregating device – and monitor its users, to cope with the effect of El Niño on the fishery sector.

A total of P225 million will be allocated to implement measures to prevent illegal fishing, including the protection of coral reefs, mangroves, sea grass beds, mudflats and juvenile fish, and increase the natural capacity of lakes, reservoirs and other fresh water bodies to produce fish, BFAR said.