Two lawmakers on Friday voiced their concern over what they call as “rampant illegal fishing in the country.”
In House Resolution 1926, Reps. Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City and Maximo Rodriguez, Jr. of Abante Mindanao party-list asked the House committee on aquaculture and fisheries to conduct a probe into the matter to validate reports reaching them that “illegal fishing allegedly resulted from the failure of concerned government agencies to implement the laws.”
“There is a need to look into the illegal fishing to determine why the law and regulations are not being implemented to the detriment of the Filipino fishermen,” Rodriguez, a former immigration commissioner, said.
Rodriguez said the objective of the measure is to increase the penalties under the present law to discourage the illegal fishing activities in many parts of the country.
Rodriguez said Congress recently ratified a bill amending the Fisheries Code of the Philippines by increasing the penalties for the illegal act.
“Despite the passage of the bill, tuna fishermen from General Santos City are still denouncing the government’s failure to curb the illegal fishing which continues to threaten the sustainability of the local tuna fishing industry,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said the Department of Agriculture’s Executive Order 154 (Adopting a National Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing) failed to carry out the order’s key mandate to adopt a national plan of action and create a multi-agency against the environmentally destructive practice.
Rodriguez said EO 154 remains to be an order and there are many fishermen who are still unlicensed with BFAR and there is lack of rules and regulations to address the problem.
For his part, Rep. Maximo, co-author of the resolution, said the Fisheries Administrative Order 226, which disallows trading of juvenile tuna weighing below 500 grams remains largely ignored due to its poor enforcement at the local level.
Rodriguez said the Handline Fishing Law of 2007 remains toothless due to the absence of implementing rules and regulations.