Fishers’ group cites low municipal fisheries output in denouncing SC ruling
A fishers’ group reiterated its opposition to the Supreme Court ruling that allowed commercial fishing within the 15-kilometer municipal waters, as it raised alarm over the decline in municipal fisheries production.
In a statement, the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) criticized the Marcos administration for its “sheer neglect” of the welfare of fisherfolk.
The group cited a report from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), which showed that municipal fisheries production declined by 8.8 percent, from 879.96 thousand metric tons in 2023 to 802.77 thousand metric tons in 2024.
According to the PSA report released in January, the marine municipal fisheries subsector contributed 19.8 percent of the total fishery production in 2024.
Read: Fish harvest drops to lowest amid legal fight over municipal waters
“This dramatic decrease in the municipal fisheries production reflects that the ailing sector remains abandoned and neglected as it is. The Marcos administration is accountable for not having substantial programs to uplift the lives of the impoverished fisherfolk,” said Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap.
The group said that the low output of municipal fishers is caused by inadequate government response during calamities, “destructive and profit-driven” projects, and the intrusion of commercial fishers into municipal waters.
“The production of municipal fishers is already low due to different factors, and it is worrying that production may further decline due to the legalization of the entry of commercial fishers into our traditional fishing grounds,” Hicap said.
The group has previously expressed their dissatisfaction with the Supreme Court decision that upheld the Malabon Regional Trial Court’s decision to declare the preferential access of small-scale fishers to municipal waters as unconstitutional.
Pamalakaya warned that around 90 percent of municipal water would be “open for exploitation” by big fishing firms should they be allowed within the 15-kilometer municipal water zone, seriously affecting the livelihood and production of small-scale fishers.
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, an agency under the Department of Agriculture, has since filed a motion for reconsideration seeking to reverse the ruling of the high court’s First Division.
“Big fishing ships will surely consume the remaining fish and marine resources in municipal waters if they are allowed to enter,” Hicap said.
“Instead of strengthening the capacity of small fisherfolk so (that) they can contribute more to food production, their output further declines because of the unfair laws in fishing,” he added.
