DA sees higher growth for fisheries sector

MANILA, Philippines - After regaining fishing acess to Pocket 1 of the Pacific Ocean and being granted an extension until 2014, the country’s fish production is expected to register positive growth in the second half of 2013, according to the Department of Agriculture  (DA).

During the first nine months of the year, the fisheries subsector, which accounted for 19.37 percent of the total agricultural production for the period, suffered a 2.57-percent contraction because of the sardine fishing ban implemented in the Zamboanga Peninsula  from Dec. 1, 2011 to Feb. 28, 2012 and the closure of the high seas.

The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) banned tuna fishing in certain pockets of the Pacific Ocean from Jan. 1, 2010 to Dec. 31, 2011 to protect the population of the yellow fin and big-eye tuna.

“Next year, after the first semester, fish production must return to zero and by the second semester it should register positive growth,”  Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said.

During the meeting held in Manila early this month, the WCPFC granted the Philippines an extended fishing access to Pocket 1 of the Pacific Ocean from March 1, 2013 until Feb. 28, 2014. 

Last March, the WCPFC granted the Philippines a special access to the High Seas Pocket 1 from October to Feb. 28, 2013 on the condition that it would implement conservation measures.

The WCPFC is composed of 24 member countries, seven territories and 11 cooperating non-member countries that bind together to ensure the proper management of the tuna population in the western and central areas of the Pacific Ocean.

The Philippines sought an extension of fishing access amid calls by Pacific countries to impose tighter tuna conservation measures in the high seas including controls on fish aggregating devices and closure of pockets where there is overfishing. 

In its petition, the Philippines stated that by extending the country’s fishing access in the high seas, overfishing of juvenile tuna population within the Philippine exclusive economic zone would be prevented. 

Alcala earlier said that the country sent a good signal to the WCPFC by implementing strict fisheries conservation measures such as the implementation of the fishing ban in the Visayas Seas and the re-imposition of the fishing ban in the Zamboanga Peninsula to increase the spawning areas of sardines and herring (tamban).