Mandaue councilor eyes lower fees for fish vessels

CEBU, Philippines - A Mandaue City councilor is pushing to amend some provisions of the Local Fishery Code to accommodate fishermen's request to decrease annual registration fees for their motorized fishing boats.

The measure, sponsored by Councilor Jimmy Lumapas, was approved on first reading during last Wednesday's council session.

Specifically, Lumapas wants to amend Sections 43 and 44 of City Ordinance No. 12-2013-798, otherwise known as the Local Fishery Code of Mandaue City.

Under Section 43, all fishing boats and commercial fishing vessels must be registered under the City Agriculturist Office.

The fish worker or boat captain of a commercial fishing vessel is required to carry proof of their boat registration whenever they go fishing, while in the case of a commercial fishing vessel, such registration should be displayed in a conspicuous part of the vessel.

The stipulations in the code provide the annual registration fees, as follows: P100 for the hook and line fishing boat; P1,000 for motorized fishing boat and P5,000 for commercial fishing vessel.

If Lumapas' measure will be passed, operators of motorized fishing boats will be made to pay only P500 in registration fee.

Still under Section 43, owners of fishing vessels are required to register their vessels within the first 20 days of January of each year.

But since it was also found out that most operators would not register their vessels on time, Lumapas is seeking to amend the code to include a penalty of 50 percent over and above the registration fee required.

According to Lumapas, the annual registration fee shall be paid and collected by the City Treasurer's Office and to be deposited in the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development and Protection Fund.

Meanwhile, the code's Section 44 states that all fish workers and crew members of a commercial fishing vessel are also required to have themselves registered in the Registry of Fisherfolk at the City Agriculturist Office within the first 20 days of January of each year.

Once the measure is approved on final reading, it will be implemented by January 2015.  — Flor Z. Perolina (FREEMAN)