Pamalakaya said in a statement while such exportation is the cause of overfishing in the country, fish importation, which it claimed to have reached 900 million tons yearly, has already “derailed the long-term sustainability of our fish and aquatic production.”
“The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources ((BFAR) has imposed a three-month closed season of galunggong in Northern Palawan from Nov. 15 to Feb.15, but fishers will defy this,” Pamalakaya said.
Pamalakaya said “the incessant drive to increase exports of marine products to the top countries such as the US, Japan and the European Union that control our market has depleted the fish stocks in our seas.”
The Philippines exports no less than $808 million worth of marine products to these three foreign destinations. At the same time, Pamalakaya also deplored that the country’s “import dependence has rendered the national market and prices volatile, while killing the livelihoods of small fisherfolk throughout the country.”
“Fishing ban is not the solution to conserve the marine ecosystem. It just worsens the exploitation of the sea,” said Pamalakaya Vice Chair Salvador France.
France said that “due to fish bans, municipal fisherfolk are pushed to venture farther into the sea even in turbulent weather, thus endangering their lives. Also commercial fishing vessels usually go on panic fishing before the effectivity of the ban, thus overexploiting the seas.”
He said Pamalakaya has been urging the government to junk international commitments that have liberalized free trade practices that have greatly disadvantaged the country’s agricultural sector.
Pamalakaya has also been batting for the repeal of the Fisheries Code of 1998 which, it noted, encourages fishing monopoly at the expense of small fishers.
