A party-list lawmaker representing the agriculture sector on Wednesday cited the need for the government to tighten the implementation of laws against overfishing to increase the country’s fish stock.
“While President Marcos said last year that he was not imposing a fishing ban, the government should fully implement existing fishery laws and regulations that would deter illegal fishing activities and the encroachment of commercial fishing vessels into municipal waters,” said Rep. Wilbert Lee of AGRI party-list.
The Bicolano lawmaker issued the statement after the Philippine Statistics Authority announced a 5.2 percent decrease in the fisheries production in the country for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to the year before.
“On the one hand, we are happy that our year-on-year agriculture output somehow increased in Q4, but on the other hand, it is also worrying that our fishing production has decreased,” he said.
“We need to intensify our vigilance on overfishing and illegal fishing because this is the main reason for the decrease in our fish stocks. The revitalization of our fish supply will greatly contribute to the food security we promote,” Lee stressed.
Lee, member of the House committee on agriculture and food, said the decline in fisheries production “is certainly very concerning considering that we are an archipelagic country with one of the longest coastlines in the world.”
“We are declared as the world’s center of marine biodiversity and yet our fisheries output has been consistently declining. As the younger generation says, make it make sense,” he said.
“We believe that this administration has enough political will to implement our laws that protect the livelihood of our small fishermen and reduce their fear of not being able to provide for the needs of the family,” Lee stressed.
“This includes the implementation of the Fisheries Code, specifically the installation of vessel monitoring system (VMS) and electronic reporting system (ERS) in commercial fishing vessels that sail with our flag,” he added.
The latest report from the PSA showed that the 0.7 percent year-on-year increase in agriculture output in the fourth quarter of 2023 was driven mainly by improved crops, poultry, and livestock production.
Poultry production grew by 7.8 percent accounting for 13.7 percent of the total agriculture output, while livestock posted a 2.7 percent growth. Crop production, which accounted for the majority of the total farm output at 58.7 percent, grew 0.1 percent year-on-year.