by Sentinel Times Research Staff September 5, 2021 FV Princess Audrey Par (Photo from Jay S. Lim) TAYABAS CITY - Bigtime commercial fishing ...
September 5, 2021
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| FV Princess Audrey Par (Photo from Jay S. Lim) |
TAYABAS CITY - Bigtime commercial fishing vessels are continuing their assault on Tayabas Bay like bullies flouting the existing fisheries law, flaunting their more sophisticated fishing gear, and taking away from local fisherfolk their right to haul in meager catch within the 15-kilometer range from shore for small fishing boats as set by the 1998 Fisheries Code.
Last August 29 at about three in the morning, combined elements of the Philippine Coast Guard, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, and Bantay Dagat of Agdangan, Quezon have apprehended three commercial fishing boats poaching in Tayabas Bay. Two of the vessels, one unmarked skippered by Antonio P. de Gala, 45, and FV Princess Audrey with Rafael Masilang, 45, as captain, are owned by a Rodante Par while the third, FV Par skippered by a Jimmy Taganilla, 44, is owned by a Cristina Par.
Danilo Larita of BFAR said administrative charges will be filed against the boat owners Rodante and Cristina Par.
Amendments made to the 1998 Fisheries Code (R.A. 10654 which lapsed into law on February 27, 2015) have raised fines against violators to as high as P45 million for commercial fishing violators, and $2.4 million for poachers-- but reality jolts Filipinos as poaching by high-tech fishing vessels from China have turned the West Philippine Sea into China's private fishing grounds, even local fishers are either harassed or shooed away.
To speed up the determination of violator liabilities and imposition of the stiff penalties, the amended law also mandated the creation of an Adjudication Committee under BFAR-- which means the Par-owned encroaching vessels have literally sailed into hot water.
The amended code provides that "upon conviction by a court of law, the boat captain and the three (3) highest officers of the commercial fishing vessel shall suffer the penalty of imprisonment of six (6) months and confiscation of catch and gear and twice the amount of the administrative fine.
“These substantial amendments to the Fisheries Code give our country a better chance of rebuilding fish stocks and allow for a more rational approach for fish catch production. We have had good laws on paper but sadly, we have been quite lacking in terms of enforcement.
“While we are optimistic with these reforms, it is crucial that the law is properly implemented so that the country can ensure its food security in the long term,” BFAR stressed.
32 incursions per week
With a new fishery code in place, a Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) system has been fitted in “all Philippine flagged fishing vessels regardless of fishing area and final destination of catch.” Thus, technology somehow made it easier to ensure compliance with fisheries regulations, and closer monitoring of violators.
Tayabas Bay abuts 16 municipalities and one city in three provinces-- Quezon, Marinduque, and Batangas. In Quezon Province, Lucena is the lone city along the bay while San Juan is the lone Batangas town facing the bay. As of 2010, Tayabas Bay had "a total coastal population of 409,000 comprising 82,000 households; 25% of the households or around 20,500 were fishing households, that is, households with at least one family member engaged in a fishing activity."
Tayabas Bay hugs a coastline stretching about 525.9 km.-- 310.4 km lie within Quezon, 179.5 km in Marinduque, and 36 km of Batangas. Sta. Cruz, Marinduque has the longest coastline of 106.5 km and has the most number of coastal barangays, including several small islands.
In Quezon, Pagbilao has the longest coastline, about 56.4 km. Silag Reef in Unisan, Quezon, has a “fair to good” coral cover. Seagrass communities in Pagbilao and Padre Burgos, Quezon, have been identified as nursery and spawning grounds for major commercial fishes; which can be declared as sanctuaries. Fishery experts cite that the coastline of Padre Burgos and Pagbilaocan be tapped as sites for sea farming and mariculture projects.
The Sariaya shoreline is haven for endangered marine turtles (Chelonia mydas) while capiz shells-- which go into handicrafts and the capiz windows of heritage houses-- thrive in the mudflats of Malatandang in Unisan, Quezon that are scoured off by baby trawlers, taking even the very young shellfishes. Too, milkfish, prawn, and grouper (lapu-lapu) fry are found in the same areas but may likely go extinct due to unchecked use of dynamite and cyanide.
For decades, illegal and commercial fishing, and pollution had wrought destruction on Tayabas Bay, spanning an area of 287,332 hectares. Too, coral reefs within the 15-kilometer municipal waters are nearly decimated from dynamite and cyanide fishing, while mangrove forests along the coastline had been degraded or destroyed.
Tayabas Bay fish harvest constitutes 3% of the overall fishery production in the country; fish catch from the Visayan Sea chips in 18% with Moro Gulf, 12%, West Sulu Sea, 10% and South Sulu Sea, 9% as next the most productive areas.
Likely one of the country's richest fishing grounds of the Visayan Sea can be found off Milagros town in Masbate; Karagatan Patrol, an online platform for reporting illegal fishing has recorded 37 weekly intrusions of commercial fishing vessels in Milagros municipal waters in 2019 while from March 22-28, 2020, 72 commercial fishing vessels were sighted in the area.
For the same period, 21 weekly intrusions were recorded in the municipal waters off Calauag, Quezon, with 40 vessels detected in the March 22-28 period; in Unisan, Karapatan Patrol recorded 11 weekly encroachments with 30 deep sea fishing boats spotted from March 22-28.
Karagatan Patrol monitors commercial fishing vessels’ behavior using a weather satellite-based surveillance technology called Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite-- which detects lights emitted by fishing boats at night. The technology does not capture fishing boats that fish during the day.
Landmark case
In a three-page ruling issued in January 2020, BFAR revoked permanently the license of commercial fishing vessel F/V Raizza after it was caught thrice encroaching in the municipal waters of New Washington, Aklan.
F/V Raizza was apprehended by BFAR Region 6 Fisheries Protection and Law Enforcement (BFAR-FPLEG) in September 10, 2019. The BFAR ruling indicated that it was the third time that the commercial fishing vessel intruded into a municipal water, the first on July 20, 2018, and the second on November 14, 2018.
It was a landmark case: for the first time, the government permanently revoked the license of a fishing vessel for repeatedly encroaching municipal waters.
International NGO for marine resource conservation Oceana has welcomed the decision, saying the permanent revocation of license serves as an effective deterrence to illegal commercial fishing in municipal waters.
“We urge BFAR to hasten the implementation of the vessel monitoring measures to deter the intrusion of commercial fishing vessel operators into the municipal waters. We have to stop illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing to restore deteriorating fisheries and marine resources, especially in the municipal waters,” Oceana Philippines vice president Gloria Ramos said.
However, F/V Raizza owner and the vessel's top crew got off lightly-- no incarceration for up to six years, neither a P45-million fine for repeated violation of the fisheries code.
This early, the apprehension of three commercial fishing vessels owned by Rodante and Cristina Par has become talk of the town in Quezon's coastal villages. After all, BFAR has set a precedent in the F/V Raizza case-- and there has to be more considering the unprecedented intrusions of big-time fishing vessels in the country's municipal waters.
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