Creation of fisheries department pushed

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna, Philippines  – A move to create a Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DFAR) in on.

At the House of Representatives, four House Bills (HB) have been filed while a similar legislative measure has also been submitted in the Senate.

Already introduced in the lower house were HB 4085 by Rep. Angelo B. Palmones of Party-list AGHMA (Alyansa ng mga Grupong Haligi ng Agham at Teknolohiya para sa Mamamayan), HB 824 by former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, HB 65 by Rep. Luis Villafuerte of Camarines Sur, and HB 1541 by Rep. Ramong “Bong” Revilla.

It also was gathered on the move to create a Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in his keynote address at a recent program marking the 23rd anniversary of the Los Baños-based Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development (PCAMRD).

PCAMRD, headed by OIC-Executive Director Cesar Pagdilao, is the research council of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) that coordinates, evaluates, and monitors aquatic and marine research and development (R&D) activities in the country.

The council coordinates the national aquatic resources research and development system (NARRDS) now composed of more than a hundred R&D and academic institutions and entities in the country.

Theme of this year’s PCAMRD anniversary was “Igniting Innovations Toward Technology Commercialization”.

Palmones, director (on leave) of ABS-CBN’s Radio Network (DZMM) and host of the multi-awarded radio-television science program “Bago Yan Ah!” said HB 4085 proposes the creation of DFAR “to ensure the preservation and proper development of the country’s archipelago waters and marine resources.”

“The DFAR shall have the power to manager, develop, protect, conserve, and utilize all fisheries and aquatic resources of the country, except for municipal waters, which shall remain under the jurisdiction of local government units,” it stated.

The proposed department shall also regulate the production, capture, processing, and marketing of fisheries and marine products in the country. This is to make sure that the country’s marine wealth is to be exclusively used for the benefit of the Filipino people.

As envisioned, the DFAR will “correct the traditional bias of government for land-based agriculture and provide the long delayed attention local fishermen and Philippine water resources need. It will give impetus to the government’s continuing efforts to increase food production to meet the demands of the country’s fast-growing population.”

DFAR’s functions will be carried out by bureaus, agencies, and services to be created.

The proposed bureaus are Aquaculture and Inland Fisheries; Postharvest and Fisheries Products Standards; Fisheries Extension, Training, and Support Services; Fishing Technology and Capture Fisheries; Marine Resources Conservation and Management; Marine Protected Areas and Wildlife; and Fishery Economics and Statistics.

The other entities under DFAR are the Fisheries Modernization Credit and Financing Agency and Fisheries Inspection and Quarantine Inspection Service.