Mackerel fishing ban in Visayas seas to be enforced

MANILA — The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) dispatched on Wednesday several vessels to the Visayas seas to enforce the fishing ban on mackerel and sardines in the area.

The implementation of the ban, which would start Thursday (November 15) and end in March 2013, would increase the production of mackerel and sardines in the Visayas by 20 percent, said BFAR national director Asis Perez.

The fishing ban covers the Visayan seas, which straddle the Bicol as well as the Western, Central and Eastern Visayas regions.

Specifically the coverage of the prohibition on sardine and mackerel fishing will start from the mouth of the Danao River on the northeastern tip of the Bantayan Island to Madridejos, through the light house on the Gigantes Island to Clutaya Island, to Culasi Point in Capiz Province, coastward along the northern coast of Capiz to Bulacaue Point in Carles, Iloilo, southward along the eastern coast of Iloilo to the mouth of Talisay River, westward across Guimaras Strait to Tomonton Point in Occidental Negros, eastward along the northern coast of the Island of Negros and back to the mouth of Danao River in Escalante, Negros Occidental.

On Wednesday, Perez personally supervised the dispatch from Bantayan Island of three monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) vessels and a speedboat that would ensure the enforcement of the ban.

Perez told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a phone interview that he was anticipating few violators of the prohibition with most commercial fishing operators expressing full support for the implementation of the closed season for mackerel and sardines in the Visayan seas. /inquirer