Gov’t ban on destructive fishing methods starts

DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines—Since April 15, commercial fishing boat captain Arnel Perante and his 25-member crew have been idle in their boat docked on Pantal River here.

Some of them tinkered with their fishing nets, sewing the portions that were ripped apart, in preparation for their next fishing trip to the Lingayen Gulf.

But Perante and his men, and the skippers and crew members of 32 commercial fishing boats here and in Sual town, Pangasinan province, may no longer fish again in the gulf using the same net.

The six-month grace period that the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) had given them to restructure or convert their nets to legitimate fishing gear has expired.

On Oct. 15 last year, the BFAR enforced a ban on the use of Danish seine, saying the fishing method was destructive. The ban was based on Fisheries Administrative Order No. 246, which Agriculture Secretary Proceso

Alcala signed on Sept. 12, 2013.

Danish seine, locally called “buli-buli,” is a fishing gear with various local names. It consists of a conical net with a pair of “wings” connected to a rope embedded with “buri,” plastic strips and sinkers. It is hauled through a mechanical winch or by manpower.

“We were surprised. It was too sudden,” said Perante, 52. “They did not even give us a chance to look for alternative livelihood. It’s enrollment time again and where will we get money? Our children will have to stop going to school.”

But BFAR Director Asis Perez said there had been a series of consultations with commercial fishing operators before the order was enforced.

“We cannot do anything. They have to change their fishing gear,” said Perez in a telephone interview.

He said buli-buli destroyed corals, sea grasses and traps, and eventually killed small fish.

Lilia Perez-Yasar, a former village chief here who owns 10 commercial fishing boats, said their fishing method was not destructive because their nets did not reach the sea bottom.

“We do not destroy corals. If only BFAR officials could join us on our fishing trips, they would see that our sinkers just hang from the nets and that they do not touch the bottom of the sea,” Yasar said.

“Besides, our nets are worth half a million pesos each and if they touch the corals, the nets will be badly damaged,” she said.

Yasar said her fishing boats had been using buli-buli in the last 18 years. She said she employed about 450 fishermen, with 70 of them coming from typhoon-ravaged Samar and Leyte provinces.

“I pity them. Where will they get money now to buy food for their families? The BFAR should not have done this,” she said.

“These are people who did not even finish grade school. What will they do?” she said.

She said it would not be easy for operators like her to shift to the BFAR-recommended fishing method because it would mean huge expenses.

“They want us to go into trawl fishing. It will only accommodate eight people. Then our boats’ design has to be changed and it may cost us at least P800,000 for each boat. Then our fuel expenses will be doubled,” she said.

“We won’t have anything to earn. They are killing us,” she said.

Yasar said fish supply in the Lingayen Gulf was still abundant. Otherwise, she said, her boats would not be catching at least 2 metric tons of assorted fish each.

“We should have stopped fishing if there were no fish there anymore,” she added.

Fish density in the Lingayen Gulf is about 1.3 metric tons for every square kilometer, which, Perez said, is the country’s lowest.