TIMOR Leste has agreed to grant fishing licenses to Filipino fishing operators under a memorandum of agreement (MOA) it signed with the Philippine government.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) said the MOA was one of the three bilateral agreements sealed at the Palace on Tuesday.

“Subject to their respective laws and regulations, the parties agree to grant fishing licenses to each other’s fishing vessels,” the MOA read.

Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources director Malcolm Sarmiento explained that before Filipino fishing operators could access Timor Leste’s waters, they would need to apply for a fishing license first.

“Effectively, the MOA allows local fishing operators to operate in Timor Leste’s waters once they are granted a license,” said Sarmiento.

Apart from the grant of fishing access, the MOA also seeks to promote cooperation between the Philippines and Timor Leste on the sustainable development of their respective marine and fisheries sectors.

The two countries agreed in the MOA to pursue cooperative endeavors in the following areas: postharvest, fish processing development and marketing; coastal management and development; marine fisheries conservation; combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing practices; and environmental protection.

The MOA was signed by Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap of the DA on behalf of the Philippines and Foreign Affairs Minister Zacarias Albano da Costa of Timor Leste (formerly known as East Timor).

Aside from Timor Leste, the Philippines is exploring the possibility of negotiating with other states like Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Palau, Micronesia and Kiribati for fishing-access agreements to make up for the potential losses that the domestic fisheries sector is expected to incur with the increasingly difficult condition being imposed by Indonesia to fish in their waters.

Sarmiento said the Philippines is still negotiating with Indonesia for fishing access to its waters.

For 2008, the Philippines is targeting to produce 5.2 million metric tons of fish products, or 10 percent higher than what it produced last year.

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