BFAR: Fishing ban won’t affect product price

CEBU, Philippines -  The three-month closed season for catching sardines, herrings, and mackerels in the Visayas Sea effective on Friday will not affect the prices of the said products, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources- Central Visayas assured.

BFAR-7 assistant regional director Allan Poquita said that even with the decrease in the supply of such fishes, the prices will remain, saying there could still be supplies from other areas.

“Visayas Sea ra man and only a portion of it; dili man tanan prohibited,” said Poquita.

To give enough time for the said fishes, especially sardines, to spawn, the BFAR has been implementing Fisheries Administrative Order No. 167 series of 1989 for three years now.

Under the order, “It shall be unlawful for any person, association, or corporation to kill or catch, or cause to be killed or caught or taken from those waters, purchase, sell offer or expose for sale, or have in possession or under control any sexually mature sardines, herrings, or mackerels or their larvae, fry, or young during the closed season.”

Violators will be subjected to imprisonment of six months to six years or a fine of P6,000, and by forfeiture of the catch and cancelation of fishing permit or license.

Poquita said that canning factories are looking forward to the closed season.

“Lipay gani ang canning factories kay after spawning season, daghan ang supply unya mas dagko ug mas nindot ang ilang produkto,” he said.

Larson Tan, BFAR-7’s aquaculturist, said that no one is exempted from the law, but owing to human conside-rations, fisherfolk who are dependent on fishing for their consumption are allowed to catch the said fishes.

“Commercial fishing vessels with the use of illegal gears are not allowed. Those who only fish for consumption are allowed for consideration,” Tan said.

BFAR’s Composite Law Enforcement Agencies in Region 7 will focus the implementation of the ban in northern Cebu.

The Northern Cebu Commercial Fishing Operators Association supports such move of BFAR. — (FREEMAN)