Fisherfolk urge Noynoy to suspend Fisheries Code's implementation

MANILA, Philippines - Some 50 fisherfolk leaders and environmental activists yesterday urged President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III to indefinitely suspend the implementation of the Fisheries Code of 1998. Republic Act No. 8550 for the law’s failure to protect the livelihood and marine environment all over the country.

“We strongly urge President Aquino to call on Congress to stop the implementation of RA 8550 and task both Congress and Senate to undertake impact assessment and performance evaluation of the 12-year-old fisheries law. The reports from the grassroots concerning the impact of the law on small fisherfolk is highly alarming and life threatening,” Fernando Hicap of Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) and Center for Environmental Concerns (CEC)-Philippines executive director Ces Quimpo said in a joint statement.

Pamalakaya and CEC are organizers of yesterday’s launching of the first National Fisherfolk Conference on the Fisheries Code of 1998 and marine Resources held in Quezon City. Participants included leaders of Pamalakaya from the provinces of La Union, Rizal, Batangas, Albay, Sorsogon and Masbate in Luzon, Samar and Leyte in Eastern Visayas, Cebu and Iloilo in the Visayas and Sarangani in Mindanao and environmental experts from CEC, Central Visayas Fisherfolk Development Center (Fidec) and Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment, said, President Aquino can suspend RA 8550 by issuing an executive order.

Failure

Based on the preliminary assessment conducted by Pamalakaya and CEC-Philippines, the 12-year-old law was a comprehensive failure, asserting further that RA 8550 failed to meet its objectives in uplifting the lives of small fishermen, promote food security for 94 million Filipinos and protect the environment from internal and external factors.

Pamalakaya, CEC-Philippines, Kalikasan-PNE and Fidec said the Fisheries Code failed to provide meaningful reforms in local fisheries and should be repealed if not indefinitely suspended while Congress is studying what to do either to amend the law or have it replaced with a progressive fisheries law.

The groups agreed RA 8550 failed to raise the standard of living among fisherfolk. “Before the law was enacted average fish harvest and average fish income prior to the enactment of RA 8550 was 10-15 kilos per day and about P200-P300 per day. Under the fish code regime, average catch and income dropped to three kilos-five kilos per day or P50-P75 per day,” Hicap said.

The said fisheries law also reportedly led to massive privatization of communal fishing grounds. “The national government and local government units transact business with private groups to establish hectares of beach resorts, fish pens and fish cages biased to finance and export capital at the expense of Filipino fisherfolk, the local environment and national patrimony.”

Further, they alleged the law is extremely biased to big business. Commercial fishing vessels are allowed to enter even in the 15-km municipal fishing waters which are reserved to small fishermen. They said large scale aquaculture activities are also set up in the 15-kilometer municipal fishing waters further delimiting access of small fisherfolk to the marine resources reserved to them within the municipal fishing water territories.

Hicap said RA 8550 is not a fisherfolk empowerment piece of legislation.”It is actually a money-making scheme. Since 1998, fisherfolk caught for minor offenses in violations of the fisheries law were fined with exorbitant fees ranging from P 1,500 to a high of P 60,000 per offense, while big players in the industry which committed high crimes in fisheries managed to escape by bribing officials and law enforcers all over the country.”