Bohol fish catch drip caused by illegal fishing
By Ric Obedencio
Illegal fishing methods employed in catching fish in the province remains unabated and rampant, neophyte Provincial Board Member Frans Gelaine Garcia bared.
“I wish to call the attention of this council and the public to the prevailing illegal fishing, an issue that is both local and provincial concern for the Bohol and the Philippines,” she said in her privilege speech last week’s session of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.
This sad state of fishing industry she learned from some island barangays in mostly second district.
She cited a case in island barangay Maomawan, wherein its barangay chieftain Bernadita M. Pagal bared that illegal fishing is still prevalent.
“Accordingly, the illegal fishing in Bien-Unido specifically in the island barangay of Malingin has been unsolved problem for over thirty (30) ears,” she said.
And “illegal fishing is the culprit behind the massive drop of fish production in the region,” Garcia quoted Mario Ruinata, chef of Bureau of Fsiheries and Aquatic Resources region 7 for special concerns as saying.
But she did not mention whether the illegal fishing or decline of fish catch contributes to sky-high prices of fish sold in the market in Bohol.
Such rates of prices of fish and other basic goods sold here is considered by Panglao town tourism official as “tourist prices.”
Based on data she gathered, the fish catch in Bohol plunged to 44% despite the fact that Bohol is the highest fish producer in region 7.
It suffered a fish produce reduction of 73,471 metric tons in 2017 from 132,003 MT in 2013, she said.
“Following Bohol is Cebu with 76,563 MT fish production in 2013, which decreased to 62,655 MT in 2017, while Negros Oriental yielded 14,339 MT that dove to 11,794 MT in the same priod,” Garcia said.
BFAR said that the sufficiency level of fish production in the region is only 38.31% to feed the growing population which is now placed at 5.8 million.
Seaweeds contributes 44% to the total 151,497 MT of current marine produce with only 86,948 MT fish yield, BFAR data showed she said.
“With estimated supplies being provided by other regions at 3,528 MT this leaves an estimate net balance shortage of 136,460 MT annually.”
She said that BFAR is targeting to increase the production of at least 3.5% or about 5,582 MT apparently “to bridge the fish insufficiency gap in the region.”
“Time and again, overfishing and degradation of our seas like what happened to Boracay should force us to implement long terms solution.”
She urged her fellow legislators and the people, “We need to save our seas in order to save our nation.”
While she also recommended some important steps that hopefully protect and conserve the seas, “most of marine organisms have been severely overfished due to illegal fishing” but human activities such as coastal development also contributed to the degradation.
One of her serious concerns that she wants her fellow lawmakers to help is the strict implementation of Republic Act 8550, known as The Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998 and the RA 10654, known as AN Act to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing, amending the aforesaid law. (rvo)
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Topic: Illegal Fishing in Bohol (Read 802 times)