A Senate resolution filed by Senator Risa Hontiveros was calling for an investigation into the implementation of Vessel Monitoring Measures (VMM) by the BFAR and other agencies.
The investigation aimed to determine how effectively these agencies are monitoring commercial fishing activity inside municipal waters, where only small-scale fishers are legally allowed to operate.
“For a long time, the agency has turned a blind eye to the main cause of the collapse of our fisheries. This is because the government prioritises commercial interests over the welfare of municipal fisherfolk,” said Pablo Rosales, President of PANGISDA Pilipinas, a fisherfolk federation.
Vice president of International marine protection organisation Oceana, Von Hernandez has called for an investigation into how the “billions of pesos” spent on the installation of vessel monitoring devices since 2021 are being used.
Hernandez underlined how artisanal fishers who stood to lose the most from BFAR’s refusal to share critical data with enforcement agencies and local government units.
“The continuous intrusion of commercial fishing vessels inside municipal waters is one of the major causes of overfishing and the reason why we are losing an average of 45 million kilos of fish catch every year. We support this investigation and we hope it leads to the enhanced protection of municipal waters across the country especially against illegal commercial fishing incursions.”
“Fisherfolk remain among the poorest sectors in the country. We need to make sure that our policies uplift their lives, not push them deeper into hardship,” Senator Hontiveros said.
BFAR pressured to disclose commercial vessel movements
During a Technical Working Group meeting of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform, Senators called on BFAR to release commercial fishing data.
Oceana’s position is that VMMs are tools for effective enforcement and monitoring to ensure transparency and traceability of fishing vessels and prevent illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
Hernandez called out the lack of transparency and how it continues to hurt fisherfolk and their coastal communities.
“Despite 90% of commercial fishing vessels have installed transponders, the Fisheries Bureau does not share its data with Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine National Police–Maritime Group, and the local government units, especially in nationally-designated marine protected areas. How can we protect what we cannot see?”
At a February 18 hearing, Senator Francis Pangilinan instructed BFAR to formalize the sharing of VMM data with local government units (LGUs) through a memorandum of agreement between the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP).
Senator Loren Legarda added that civil society and fisherfolk groups should likewise be accredited as recipients of VMM data.
The hearing was conducted after Oceana released the Fisheries Audit report highlighting the state of decline in Philippine fisheries, with the country losing more than 45 million kilos of fish per year.
