Negros, WV small fishers buck anew illegal fishing, issue campaign plan

The Regional Council of Leaders (RCOL) of the PANAY-NEGROS-GUIMARAS Crab Fishers Alliance (PANEG-CA) has recently issued a new resolution opposing various forms of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing in the waters of Negros, Panay and Guimaras islands and urged the national and local governments to curb such malpractices.

The RCOL in its quarterly strategic meeting held in Bacolod City last week also approved a semestral campaign plan and called on coastal local government units thru their Fisheries and Aquatic Resource Management Councils (FARMCs) in the region to come up with IUU Fishing reduction plans.

The RCOL is the leadership body of PANEG-CA, partner of PRRM-Negros, and possibly the largest small fishers network in the Visayas.

The resolution will be furnished to government and civil society bodies including the DA-BFAR-6 and the Negros Island Region (NIR), DILG Regional Offices, and the provincial governments of Negros Occidental, Iloilo and Guimaras, the NGOs for Fisheries Reforms (NFR) and the PRRM national office.

NFR OCEAN project manager Jason Romero also gave during the meeting an orientation on the IUU Fishing Threat Reduction Assessment Tool or IFIT.

Some 15 leaders of PANEG-CA from 10 coastal LGUs in Negros and Guimaras participated in the strategic meeting and planning.

Gerry Bedoya, PANEG-CA chair, said the RCOL meeting identified the top illegal fishing practices in the region including trawl, Danish Seine (Hulbot – Hulbot), use of fine mesh nets, active gears in municipal waters, fishing without permits, compressors, and the taking, possessing and selling of berried and juvenile blue swimming crabs. Bedoya averred such illegal and unsustainable practices will lead to more resource depletion and biodiversity loss, then low catch and low incomes of small fishers and could lead to more poverty in coastal communities.

PANEG-CA leader Eduardo Espinosa of NOFSFA said aside from their destructive effects on the coastal and marine ecosystems, the continuing IUU Fishing in many coastal localities only shows the ineffective or inadequate law enforcement and the apparent breakdown of fisheries governance in such areas.* (EB)