Small fishers picket DA over commercial fishing in municipal waters

MANILA, Philippines — Small fishers belonging to the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA) yesterday picketed in front of the Department of Agriculture to denounce the ruling allowing commercial fishing vessels to operate within the 15-kilometer municipal waters.

PAMALAKAYA vice chairman Ronnel Arambulo said the DA is accountable over its alleged failure to uphold the preferential rights of small fisherfolk to traditional fishing grounds.

“The DA is mum at the height of the noise of small fishermen against the big businessmen inside our fishing grounds,” Arambulo said.

On Dec. 19 last year, the Supreme Court (SC) nullified provisions of the Fisheries Code restricting commercial fishing within municipal waters.

Some members of PAMALAKAYA’s provincial chapter in La Union also joined the protest.

Timek ken Namnama dagiti Babassit a Mangalap ti La Union (TIMEK) president George Cacayuran said that even before the decision, commercial fishing vessels such as trawls and buli-buli (modified Danish seine) are rampant in their municipal waters.

Cacayuran noted that only 10 percent of municipal waters are less than seven fathoms deep.

“This means that around 90 percent of municipal waters that are more than seven fathoms deep are open for exploitation of big fishing firms if the ruling is fully implemented,” he said.

Fisherfolk from several areas in Manila Bay, La Union and Cebu joined the mass action.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) has asked the SC to reverse its decision allowing commercial fishing within the country’s 15-kilometer municipal waters reserved for small-scale fishers.

Former agriculture secretary Leonardo Montemayor has accused the BFAR and the DA of “sleeping on the job and failing to appeal the SC’s decision within the required period.”

It also upheld a Malabon regional trial court decision that deemed preferential access for small-scale fishers unconstitutional.

The ruling was in response to a petition by Mercidar Fishing Corp.

However, a ranking DA official yesterday denied the allegations of Montemayor and PAMALAKAYA that the DA was “sleeping on the job” amid the SC ruling allowing commercial fishing vessels to operate within the 15-km municipal waters.

At a press briefing, DA Assistant Secretary and spokesman Arnel de Mesa maintained that the DA, through the BFAR, has filed the necessary petitions to oppose the complaint filed against the ban of commercial fishers in the municipal waters.

“That’s not true. That’s why the department, through the BFAR, filed a motion for reconsideration. We respect the decision regarding this case, but definitely, we still uphold the rights and the privileges of our small fishermen, that is why we filed an appeal,” De Mesa said.

“Definitely, no (we are not remiss of our duty). We uphold the rights of our small fishermen,” he added.