Fisheries conservation over commercial exploitation

It is stated in the article titled “SC ruling weakens fight against illegal fishing, group warns” (Inquirer.net, 8/1/26), that “Ocean conservation group Oceana has warned that the Supreme Court’s decision striking down the government’s monitoring requirement for commercial fishing vessels weakens efforts to combat illegal fishing by removing what the group considers a key enforcement tool for protecting municipal waters and small-scale fishers.”

Fisheries Administrative Order (FAO) No. 266 s. 2020 pertains to rules and regulations on the implementation of the Vessel Monitoring Measures and Electronic Reporting System to track and monitor the position, course, and speed of vessels at any given time for traceability, and for the purpose of managing fishing efforts to attain sustainable yield.

During the said FAO implementation, the country’s total marine fish catch increased from 1.89 million metric tons (MT) in 2018 to 1.93 million MT in 2020.

This was followed by a continuing annual decline in catch reaching 1.6 million MT in 2025. The critical situation of unabated catch decline stems directly from failing to reduce the number of fishing vessels and from not implementing catch quotas, leaving the current fish stock as high as 30 percent and as low as 10 to 20 percent of the original, unfished population.

The 2025 catch at 1.6 million MT, failing below the established maximum sustainable yield at 1.9 million MT, is a sign of severe fish stock depletion. This is aligned with the joint data from the National Stock Assessment Program and Oceana Philippines, indicating that 88 percent of assessed fish stocks are officially overfished and depleted.

Several studies show that a fish stock biomass dropping to 20 percent of its original, unfished population serves as a widely accepted limit reference point in fishery science. When a population crosses the biological limit, it indicates the stock is overfished and at high risk of stock collapse. When a fishery collapses to the 10 percent limit, simply halting or reducing fishing pressure is rarely enough to trigger recovery.

As an example, Thailand’s total marine fish catch has experienced a severe long-term decline, dropping from its historical peak of 2.8 million MT in 1998 to an annual average catch of 1.35 million MT between 2020-2023. The current consensus on Thailand’s marine fisheries indicates that the fish stock biomass is 8 percent to 12 percent of the original, unfished level. This is the reason why despite Thailand’s extensive fisheries management reforms, the rebuilding of fish stock has been been very gradual, requiring substantial time.

The country’s marine fisheries, which operate completely within an ecosystem framework, provide critical food security, economic stability, and vital climate regulation. Therefore, in order to prevent the fisheries from collapsing, the Supreme Court decision should give weight to fisheries conservation over commercial exploitation.

Edmundo Enderez,
edmenderez@gmail.com