The Philippines has committed to implement a regional plan of action (RPOA) to combat illegal fishing in Asia-Pacific.

The regional plan of action was drawn up during a recent ministerial meeting attended by 10 senior officials in Bali, Indonesia.

“The ministers agreed on a common and collaborative approach to promote responsible fishing practices and to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the region, in particular, in the South China Sea, the Sulu-Sulawesi Seas, and the Arafura-Timor Seas,” said the joint ministerial statement.

Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) director Malcolm I.  Sarmiento said the RPOA is voluntary and takes its principles from established international fisheries instruments for promoting responsible fishing practices.

Among these international covenants are the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement (UNFSA), and the Food and Agriculture’s Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.

Ministers from 10 Asia-Pacific countries were encouraged to work toward the ratification, accession and acceptance and full implementation of UNCLOS and UNFSA.

The RPOA also calls for ministers to collaborate in determining the fish stocks in the region to ensure that fish harvests do not impede the ability of fish stocks to reproduce sustainably.

Other specific measures in the RPOA  include the call to states to develop measures that would regulate fishing vessels accessing their ports for transshipping and landing catch and collect and exchange relevant data.

The RPOA also encourages member-states to put up monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) systems at both a national and regional level.

Ministers have agreed to develop suitable and relevant interagency arrangements to develop their networks to quickly share information such as locations, name of vessels, ports used and species targeted.

The ministerial meet was initiated by Australia and Indonesia. Aside from the Philippines, Australia and Indonesia, ministers of Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Thailand attended the meeting.

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The Philippines has committed to implement a regional plan of action (RPOA) to combat illegal fishing in Asia-Pacific.

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