Fisheries body beefs up law enforcement capability

To beef up its law enforcement capability against poaching and illegal fishing, the Department of Agriculture through the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) has established a central monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) station at the fish port complex in Navotas.

BFAR Director Malcolm Sarmiento said the MCS station in Navotas would be the command center for monitoring the operation and management of all the bureau’s land and sea assets.

"The Navotas fish port, being the biggest landing hub of most of the fishes caught around the country, is very strategic for the MCS station," Sarmiento said.

Sitting on a 3,000-sqm land donated by the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority, the MCS station is a modern facility with diagnostic equipment for detecting illegally-caught fish, making regular inspection easier, which will eventually discourage the use of illegal fishing methods.

Headed by Dr. Alma Dickson of BFAR’s Marine Fisheries Development Center, the MCS station cum fishing technology laboratory was established through the Bantay Dagat Program and the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act.

The Bantay Dagat Program is a joint project of BFAR and the National Agriculture and Fisheries Council, whose objective is to properly conserve and manage the country’s coastal marine resources, ensure food security and alleviate poverty. Funding came from the Japan International Cooperation Agency through the RP-Japan Increased Food Production program.

Inaugurated recently, the MCS station is also equipped with a database computer system that helps in tracking the operations of BFAR’s patrol vessels and facilitates the coordination of law enforcement operations against poaching, which accounts for more than P2 billion in fish losses annually.

Using its MCS patrol vessels, six arrests were conducted by BFAR with the Philippine Coast Guard and the Philippine Maritime Police in this year’s second quarter.

From April to May alone, five Taiwanese fishing vessels were caught poaching off Cagayan and Isabela provinces. Arrested were 13 Taiwanese, nine Indonesians, eight Chinese nationals, and 14 Filipino fishermen, Sarmiento reported.

Last June 18, eight Chinese fishermen were also apprehended on Balabac Island in Palawan for poaching. Their fishing boat yielded three live six-foot whales and 26 dead sea turtles.

To date, BFAR has a total of 14 high-speed MCS vessels patrolling the high seas. Operating these vessels are the joint teams of BFAR, Coast Guard, and Marine Police.

BFAR has also deployed 93 Bantay Dagat patrol boats to the different LGUs nationwide, especially in areas where illegal fishing is rampant.

"The deployment of these vessels is covered by a memorandum of agreement between BFAR and the respective LGUs that these boats shall be used solely for anti-illegal fishing operations," Sarmiento said.

"BFAR retains the right to pull out any of these patrol vessels from any LGU should these be found being misused and/or not properly maintained," Sarmiento added.