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Municipal fishermen, owners of fishponds, manufacturers of fish products, and other interested parties applauded President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Tuesday for stating that more needs to be produced in the fisheries and aquatic sector in order to provide food security for all Filipinos.

Members of the food and livelihood advocacy organization stated during a media briefing that this is the first time a President of the Republic has made statements regarding the development of infrastructure and facilities to increase fishing production.

The President issued an order to build fish ports in 11 coastal provinces last week.

“We appreciate the President’s emphasis on agriculture, which also includes the fisheries and aquatic industries. This is a positive development, said Atty. Asis Perez, formerly the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources’ national director (BFAR).

The establishment of a technical working group with representatives from the public and commercial sectors to develop and draft policies to assure the sector’s development is the potential next step, he continued.

“For the longest time, saling pusa lang kami sa BFAR, ang BFAR saling pusa sa DA (our concerns are barely heard by BFAR, and BFAR’s voice is barely heard by the DA),” continued Norbert Chingcuangco, co-convenor of the advocacy organization Tugon Kabuhayan. The President is now emphasizing the sector of fisheries and aquaculture.

The Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources can be created to institutionalize this attention. By doing this, we can avoid what happened the last time, when the importation of necessary components for fish diets was abruptly halted. Structural reform in the sector will address so many difficulties,” he noted.

Dennis Calvan, a member of Tugon Kabuhayan and the municipal fisherman’s group, stated in the same briefing that regulatory changes and resolute government backing are required to combat both the oil leak and illicit fishing, which has a negative impact on the revenue of around 2 million registered municipal fishermen.

The government should support our municipal fishermen because they are the foundation of our industry, said Calvan of the Pangingisda Natin Gawing Tama (Panagat) Network. “We should look at municipal fishing, commercial fishing, and aquaculture as a whole and not as different sectors,” he added.

He continued, “We request President Marcos to address the issue of illegal fishing, which results in annual losses of around 257,000–402,000 tons valued at PHP24–37 billion for our fishermen.

“We have some freezers available in our fish landing sites, but having cold storage facilities and ice plants would greatly help our fishermen sell all their catch at the wet markets,” said Calvan in addition to suggesting that the fish landing centers be strengthened.

The panel also suggested improvements along the entire value chain, from hatchery to nursery to growth to storage, as well as long-term licenses for sea cages for bangus (milkfish) and tilapia, which are now renewed annually.

According to Oversea Feeds Corporation Vice-President Christopher Co, ongoing fishpond lease agreements (FLAs) would ensure continual output.

“We need to review the rules,” he said. “The processors have so many permits required from them that it is so cumbersome and deters people from undertaking such an endeavor. It is more logical, especially for hatcheries, because we need a constant supply of fingerlings. Without hatcheries, our target of production cannot be met and President BBM’s goal for a food-secure Philippines would be hard to meet.

We can put food on the table for every Filipino, but we must do this through local production. If we have enough local supply, then prices would go down. Local production is the answer to keeping prices stable. Importing our fish will only make the prices go up, the businessman continued.

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