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THE
Philippines is facing a fish shortage because of
overfishing and unsustainable aquaculture practices
being promoted by the government in lieu of municipal
fishermen’s traditional fishing practices.
Kilusang Mangingisda (KM), a coalition
of 14 fishermen’s federations, said overfishing and
unsustainable aquaculture practices have pushed the
local fisheries sector on the “verge of resource
collapse.”
The group said the Philippines has been
experiencing fish deficits since 2005 and fisheries
production could not cope with further increases in
demand for fish owing to a high population growth rate.
Ruperto Aleroza of KM cited data from
the Comprehensive National Fishery Industry Development
Plan (CNFIDP) that showed an expected increase in the
demand for food fish from 2.6 million metric tons (MT)
in 2005 to 4.2 million MT by 2025.
“This increase is based on the
individual Filipino’s average yearly fish consumption of
31.4 kilos multiplied by 135 million Filipinos, the
expected population by 2025, at a yearly growth rate of
2.36 percent,” he explained. The
CNFIDP is a strategic fisheries development plan
prepared jointly by the government and stakeholders in
the domestic fisheries sector.
Aleroza noted that an average yearly
deficit of 403,000 MT of food fish is projected by the
CNFIDP from 2005 to 2025, regardless of the expected
yearly growths in aquaculture.
“This deficit is primarily due to
overfishing which has gone unchecked since the 1970s.
Overfishing has pushed capture fisheries production
beyond the maximum sustainable yield since the 1980s.
Now local fisheries are on the verge of collapse as fish
stocks are only about 10 percent to 30 percent of their
levels in the 1940s and 1950s. The average fish catch
has declined to only a sixth of the rate in the 1950s,”
he pointed out.
Aleroza disputed the government’s claim
that aquaculture is a better alternative to capture
fisheries.
“In its present form, aquaculture in the
country remains unregulated and saddled with
unsustainable practices. It should be noted that
mangrove conversions to fishponds, which had already
wiped out two-thirds of the country’s mangroves,
persists to this day. Worse, excess feeds and organic
wastes in fish cages pollute nearshore marine waters and
continue to cause fish kills.”
Despite yearly increases in aquaculture,
the food fish deficit would worsen because 70 percent of
aquaculture yearly production is composed of seaweeds
which are primarily used for industrial purposes and not
consumed as food. CNFIDP put the deficit at 205,159
metric tons in 2005, which would increase to 585,538
metric tons by 2025.
The Kilusang Mangingisda blamed
government’s market-driven policies in fisheries
production for the neglect of fisheries and aquaculture
management and the lack of support for municipal
fishers, despite the fact that they make up 95 percent
of the fisheries labor force and contribute at least a
third of total fisheries production. |
