Oceana-Philippines will find time and accommodate requests from local government units who want to hear and perhaps replicate their experience on fighting illegal commercial fishing in the Tañon Strait.
Danny Ocampo, Oceana-Philippines’ oceans campaign manager, disclosed Wednesday that some regional directors of the Department of Environment & Natural Resources have showed interest in the Tañon Strait campaign against illegal commercial fishing.
The DENR regional directors had converged in Dauin, Negros Oriental recently for a national gathering at which Oceana also launched its Simplified Primer on the Fisheries Code of the Philippines, said Ocampo.
During that meeting, Oceana also discussed with the DENR officials their Vessel Monitoring Measure, a system where commercial vessels are being monitored for their activities and whereabouts, among others, using a special gadget.
The system is mandated by law with the Bureau of Fisheries & Aquatic Resources taking the lead, however, it has not yet gone full swing, Ocampo pointed out.
Oceana has piloted the VMM in Ayungon and Guihulngan in Negros Oriental, San Remigio in Cebu and Sagay and San Carlos in Negros Occidental, Ocampo said.
Tañon Strait, the largest protected seascape in the country, is bounded by Cebu and Negros Islands with about 40 LGUs forming part of its coverage.
According to Ocampo, it is important that VMM “be adopted as a measure to deter illegal fishing in municipal waters in accordance with Republic Act 10654 or the amended Fisheries Code”.
“The Tañon Strait executive committee has set an example in adopting it as a policy and hopefully other regions and other protected seascapes plagued by illegal commercial fishing can adopt it, too”, Ocampo stressed.
“What we do in Tañon Strait is just to show that it can be done and hopefully it can be replicated all over the country”, he added.
Meanwhile, Ocampo said some DENR officials were inquiring about VMM equipment, as those available in the market are still quite expensive, costing some $300 or more.
But according to Ocampo, they have a new type of gadget that uses radio frequency which was invented by a Filipino.
BFAR is now drafting the rules on the VMM and had hinted about providing the units to smaller commercial vessels for free, Ocampo disclosed. (JFP)
