Rocking the boat: The threat to municipal fisheries and coastal communities

Having been involved in the planning of the municipal waters of some coastal municipalities and cities in the country, I feel bothered, if not alarmed, by the decision issued last year by the Supreme Court upholding the decision of the Malabon regional trial court allowing Mercidar Fishing Corp. to fish within the municipal waters of the city and nullifying some provisions of Republic Act No. 8550 (Fisheries Code) and RA 10654, declaring preferential access provisions as unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court declared that control over the use of municipal waters by local government units (LGUs) is unconstitutional since it violates the constitutional principle that natural resources like municipal waters are owned by the state and has sole jurisdiction over the use of such resources. It must be pointed out, however, that the Constitution qualifies this general declaration in Article II, Section 16 where the state is mandated to grant LGUs “significant autonomy in managing their municipal waters.” Article XII, Section 2 of the Constitution allows Congress to enact laws that “allow small-scale utilization of natural resources by Filipino citizens … with priority to subsistence fishermen and fish workers in rivers, lakes, bays, and lagoons.”

In 2021, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) cited fisherfolk as having the highest incidence of poverty (30.6 percent), together with farmers (30 percent), children (26.4 percent), and rural residents (25.7 percent). Comparing 2018 and 2021 data, fisherfolk registered the largest increase in poverty incidence at 4.4 percentage points. The PSA reported that fisheries production declined by 5 percent in 2024, with the decreases noted in marine municipal fisheries, inland municipal fisheries, and aquaculture.

Many sectors have reasons to be alarmed over the Supreme Court ruling as it would affect 55 percent of municipalities and 49 percent of cities.

I cannot understand how commercial fishermen could be so focused on the 15-kilometer-wide municipal waters when beyond these, they have for themselves the whole span of fish-rich Philippine and open-sea waters to fish. Pelagic fishes like sardines and herrings, which they desire in the municipal waters, can also be found in open seas, not to mention the schools of large fishes like tuna for their catching in the ocean.

LGUs have already made plans for the use of their municipal waters such as where to put the fishing grounds, aquaculture, mangrove sanctuary, fishermen’s wharf, boat docking area, coral reef colony, and navigational lanes, among other uses. The entry of large commercial fishing boats would throw a monkey wrench into these plans.