DAVAO CITY—The loss of biodiversity cover traced to overfishing and destructive fishing practices has been blamed for the declining fish catch in the country’s prime fishing ground.
This was pointed out by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN), as it gathered fisheries experts from governments and the private sectors across Southeast Asia to a program seeking for more sustainable fisheries activities in their respective countries.
In the Philippines the FAO is taking note of the sharp decline in fish catch in the Samar Sea, whose location along the Pacific Rim once made it a prime fishing area in the country. “By 2050, catches of main fish species could decline by up to 40 percent in the tropics, where livelihoods, food and nutrition security strongly depend on the fisheries sector. But in the Samar Sea, the situation is much more urgent,” the FAO warned.
In the last 30 years, the UN agency said the fish catch has dropped from 8 kilograms (kg) per day to less than 3.5 kg, citing the Samar Sea Fisheries Management Plan of 2016. The FAO also said “various studies conducted by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources [BFAR], FAO and the Samar State University further underscore the considerable loss of biodiversity in this once-prime fishing site.”
It said an earlier survey found that, of the 50 commercially important fish species that existed in the Samar Sea in the 1980s, only 10 remained a decade later. “The continued degradation of resources poses severe implications to the livelihoods and food security of the areas’ more than 23,000 fishers,” said José Luis Fernández, FAO representative in the Philippines.
“We are presented with the challenge of balancing human development needs with resource-conservation efforts in order to ensure long-term and sustainable benefits.” It said the degradation of the Samar Sea “is linked to the increase in commercial fishing, overfishing and destructive fishing methods, but its impact is disproportionately felt by families who depend on the ocean for their food and livelihoods.”
“Driven by the basic need to eat and earn a living, many fishers in the area practice trawling, or literally scraping the bottom of the sea to catch bottom-dwelling fish and shellfish. This damages the coral reef and seabed, and contributes to the massive increase of by-catch,” Fernández added.
By-catch refers to the marine life, “such as turtles, finfish and juveniles, which are incidentally hauled with the catch in trawling.”
“While some of this by-catch, specifically the low-value and trash fish, helps supplement the incomes of subsistence fishers and addresses household food insecurity, its prolonged negative impact on marine biodiversity could lead to the eventual closure of the area’s remaining productive fishing grounds,” the FAO warned. The FAO said it was putting up the regional program for sustainable fisheries, “a multi-country initiative implemented by the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Centre in the Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Thailand and Vietnam.” The program “involves a decision-making process that equally considers the economic needs of coastal communities and the necessity of conserving marine resources.” The BFAR represents the country in the program.
The FAO committed technical and operational support to the BFAR as it works with the Samar Sea Alliance of Local Government Units, local fisheries managers, planners and development officers “to formulate equitable policies and locally responsive guidelines for the sustainable management of fisheries in the Samar Sea, including reducing by-catch from trawl fishing.”
The FAO and the BFAR would also catalogue fishing gear and conduct critical habitat mapping and zoning of fishing grounds. “In addition to exploring the potential benefits of establishing a closed season, the two agencies are also assessing livelihood requirements and building the capacity of stakeholders to sustain rehabilitation activities,” it said.