In a position paper submitted to the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food, Pamalakaya said it welcomed “the initiative to transform the Bureau of Fisheries into a department but it should simultaneously transform its laws, policies and programs aff ecting the fi sheries sector as well.”
The Senate committee has started hearings ln the proposal to create DFAR, in various versions filed by Senators Francis Pangilinan, Loren Legarda and Riza Hontiveros.
“For as long as the old fi sheries laws and programs that do not benefit the fisherfolk are in the picture, this proposed agency would remain inutile and incompetent in addressing the plight of the impoverished fisherfolk and backward fi shing industry in the country,” Pamalakaya said.
“The implementation of the 18-year-old Fisheries Code of 1998 and its amendments won’t liberate fisherfolk from the shackles of poverty, even if there is this department that will focus on the sector,” Pamalakaya chair Fernando Hicap said.
“The Senate bills focus only in the structures of the fisheries agency and adoption of current fisheries laws, policies and programs that are no good to the fisherfolk. There is no significant solution on how to address the ongoing poverty of the fisherfolk nor are there guarantees in protecting our coastal communities from the persistent attacks of rampant conversion, reclamation and privatization projects,” Hicap said.
In its position paper, Pamalakaya urged inclusion of 10 issues the group wants to be covered by the proposed DFAR.
The fishers’ proposals include citing as among the objectives of the DFAR the primary duty to protect the welfare of small fishers in the use of municipal waters for fishing grounds; the banning of big commercial fishing boats in municipal waters, and; the promotion of communal fishing and the scrapping of all ordinances and policies that oppress and cause disunity among fishers.
Pamalakaya also called for the dismantling of monopolies by landlords and the rich in the fishery industry as well as the transfer of management of large fishery areas to fishers’ cooperatives.
The group also urged the proposed DFAR be focused on promoting fish production to fill in local needs, instead of prioritizing exports.
