A Decade of Ocean Restoration: 10 Years of Oceana in the Philippines

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OF OCEAN RESTORATION

10 YEARS OF OCEANA IN THE PHILIPPINES

BRINGING THE OCEANS BACK

Oceana Philippines looks back on 10 years of milestones

HEALTHY WATERS, HEALTHY LIVES

Oceana scores marine habitat protection victories in some of the archipelago’s richest ecosystems

CHAMPIONING TRANSPARENT, SCIENTIFIC FISHERIES

Monitoring and knowledge are paving the way for more sustainable practices

A BIG ‘NO’ TO PLASTIC

Taking a stand against the scourge of marine pollution

PUBLISHER: OCEANA PHILIPPINES INTERNATIONAL

VICE PRESIDENT: Atty. Gloria Estenzo Ramos

EDITOR: Alya B. Honasan

MANAGING EDITOR: Joy Rojas

ART DIRECTOR: Noel Avendaño

WRITERS: Alya B. Honasan, Joy Rojas

Cover: Turbinaria coral surrounded by anthias, damselfish, and cardinal fish in the waters of Panaon Island DANNY OCAMPO

4 Messages

Oceana Chief Executive Officer

Jim Simon

Oceana Vice President

Atty. Gloria Estenzo Ramos

An Oceana in the Philippines

Bringing the oceans back

Looking back on Oceana’s dynamic decade

Healthy waters, healthy lives

Oceana’s victories—and continuing work—across the Philippine archipelago

A big ‘no’ to plastics

Why this insidious pollution problem must be stopped

Championing transparent, science-based fisheries

Monitoring and management will save the seas

Fish on every Filipino’s table

It’s about food and nutrition security for all, especially the poorest fisherfolk

Taking pride in victories

How the Philippines plays a pivotal role in Oceana’s vision

TEN years ago, Oceana launched a campaign team in the Philippines, where our data showed overfishing was rampant, species were dwindling, and small-scale fishers dependent on their catches were suffering economically and nutritionally.

We recognized that the Philippines, as the 12th largest fishing nation in the world, plays a pivotal role in our vision of creating a more sustainable source of seafood to feed the world by supporting the needs of local fishers.

We knew that with small-scale fishers by our side, we could fight back against illegal and destructive fishing that threatened to wreak havoc on the Philippines’ abundant and biodiverse waters and the more than 100 million people that rely on them for food and jobs.

I have been proud of our team, who have accomplished much. We helped local fishers, many of whom we know by name, demand a seat at the table and have their voices heard by their government. It has been gratifying to see them beginning to benefit from their own catches. We know that they can sustain their livelihoods when we help them protect areas where fish populations can rebound.

With the help of supporters like you, the Philippine government has cracked down on illegal fishing, increased transparency of commercial fishing activity, and began measures to rebuild overfished populations. Together, we have boosted enforcement of marine protected areas and helped to create new ones like Benham Bank. And we have protected sensitive marine habitats from destructive bottom trawling and helped safeguard ecosystems from harmful coastal development projects.

We can all take pride from the victories achieved in the Philippines. And there is much more to do.

That’s why Oceana recently launched a campaign to work with local fishers in the local government unit in Samar—a region in the Philippines that faces some of the highest levels of malnutrition and poverty in the nation—where fish loss is currently at over 40 percent. In many cases, this is because the fishers lack the supplies and facilities needed to keep fish fresh longer, including ice, landing centers, and facilities for fish to be dried and stored. If you know Oceana’s team in the Philippines, you know that they won’t stop until they’ve reduced this loss to 10 percent.

I always enjoy meeting with our team in the Philippines. They are a dedicated, smart, and effective group of professionals who support one another and keep their eye on getting results. Their leader, Golly Ramos, is both a visionary and a skilled practitioner who has shown the way on how to improve the oceans, not only for her team but also for her Oceana colleagues around the world.

Of course, none of these accomplishments would be possible without the partnership of our allies in the Philippines and our generous funders. We send all of you our sincere thanks.

With your help, I know we can ensure that local seafood continues to support local communities in the Philippines for years to come.

With deep appreciation,

Patience and vigilance

We are excited to embark on a new campaign integrating food and livelihood, and reducing post-harvest fish loss

I REMEMBER the two-day launch for Oceana in the Philippines on the theme “The road to sustainable fisheries governance” on November 3-4, 2014. Excitement filled the air as Oceana’s then Chief Scientist and Strategic Officer, now Senior Advisor, Dr. Mike Hirshfield, introduced Oceana to the 100 stakeholders from the government and fisheries sectors, academe, and nongovernment organizations (NGOs) and people’s organizations (POs) that attended the first day of the symposium. Our keynote speaker, the world-renowned fisheries scientist and Oceana Board member Dr. Daniel Pauly, presented the results of a global study that indicated world fisheries catch is much higher than previously thought, and declining much faster than data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) suggests. As then newly minted Oceana Vice President for the Philippines, I emphasized that overfishing and illegal fishing are threats that should be taken seriously, and I was honored to take on the role for Oceana to make a difference in the country and the lives of our people.

The year 2014 was also eventful, as the European Union issued a warning to the government through a yellow card fisheries rating, which then moved the Aquino administration to adopt strong measures to fight illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Congress swiftly passed the bill which lapsed into law as Republic Act 10654, amending the Fisheries Code in February 2015. In April 2015, EU lifted the yellow card.

Ten years after, has much changed?

RA 10654 paved the way for genuine reforms to take place, with political will from key decision-makers, backed by strong multi-stakeholder engagement. There is a science-based and participatory Fishery Management Area system in place. Vessel monitoring devices are installed in almost 90 percent of commercial fishing vessels in the country. There is a management plan for sardines, which is among the most important sources of nutrient-packed food for our people, especially those in remote areas, and livelihood for many of our artisanal fisherfolk. But, it has to be implemented by the ultimate decision-makers: our local governments and constituents.

We are excited to embark on a new campaign integrating food and livelihood, and reducing postharvest fish loss, piloting the same in Daram, Samar, for replication nationwide in due time. We are looking at the day government finally bans singleuse plastics from being manufactured and traded, and enacts new laws to protect Panaon Island in Southern Leyte and other ecologically significant areas, and to establish coastal greenbelts in the country.

There is still a lot of work to be done, however. Transparency and obtaining data and information from government remain a challenge. Accountability measures have to be instituted by government and more of our citizens, for our laws to be fully implemented.

I must say that 10 years in Oceana have been among the best years of my life. I got to know the most caring, determined, brilliant, supportive and compassionate people from all over— Oceana’s Board members, our CEO Jim and former CEO Andy, my Executive Committee colleagues and Oceana teams in the country and various offices worldwide, and of course our partners and friends, who are our real heroes who put primacy on safeguarding our marine wealth and our people amid the immense challenges. We also thank our families for supporting us unconditionally in our collective goal to restore our wild fish population, and for our people to thrive amid the climate and biodiversity crises we face.

Leading Oceana in the Philippines in its fight to stem humaninduced pressures on our marine environment has been a journey I will cherish. I got to understand the importance of patience and vigilance. Hearing our artisanal fisherfolk expressing a newfound faith in the law, and taking action to effect changes in their lives, give additional meaning to what we have been doing.

The journey has just begun, however, as it is a continuing fight beyond us and the current generation. Ipatuloy ang laban!

For the oceans,

BRINGING THE OCEANS BACK

Oceana Philippines looks back on 10 years of milestones and collaborations

IT was a critical revelation for several prestigious foundations.

A study commissioned by the Pew Charitable Trusts, Oak Foundation, Marisla Foundation (formerly Homeland Foundation), Sandler Foundation, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund reported that less than 0.5 percent of spendings by environmental nonprofit groups in the United States was focused on ocean advocacy. No group was working

exclusively to protect and restore the world’s oceans.

That was the catalyst for the establishment of Oceana, an international organization focused only on oceans, working to effect measurable change through science-based policy campaigns. Since its founding, Oceana has won more than 300 victories and protected nearly 4 million square miles of ocean.

Oceana already had offices in some

countries when it sought a venue for its work in Asia. The Philippines is considered the center of marine biodiversity, scattered across its 7,641 islands, and as one of the top 12 fishing nations in the world, has fisheries that sustain and feed millions of people. For Filipinos, fish accounts for 56 percent of animal protein intake and 12 percent of all the food they eat.

It was Bloomberg Philanthropies that

Since its founding, Oceana has won more than 300 victories and protected nearly 4 million square miles of ocean

pushed for the opening of a Philippine office, as it was also supporting the environmental organization Rare, which worked on climate change, biodiversity, food systems, and conservation, and which already had programs in the Philippines, reveals Dr. Mike Hirshfield, Oceana Senior Advisor and former chief scientist and strategy officer. “We saw a country that caught a lot of fish, which was one of our important criteria for where we wanted

to open a new office. It was in Asia. It had a lot of people who were dependent on fish. And we were imagining that we could work with Rare to support the small-scale fisherfolk by trying to regulate better the commercial fishermen who everybody told us were fishing illegally in municipal waters, and stealing the fish from the small-scale fishermen.”

“We evaluate whether campaigns can be run,” says Dr. Daniel Pauly, member of

Oceana’s Board of Directors. “We attempt to translate them into legislation that can be applied nationally; we assess whether the government is sufficiently responsive. And we found in Golly (Ramos) a person who was aware of what could and could not be done.”

“The Philippines is a high priority for Oceana for multiple reasons,” says Oceana CEO Jim Simon. “Because the Philippines is the 12th largest fishing nation in the world,

(Clockwise from left) A diver in a sardine ball in Moalboal, Cebu FERDINAND EDRALIN; dolphins streak through the water in Tañon Strait TONEE DESPOJO; commercial fishing boats line the shore. DIUVS DE JESUS

we can help increase food abundance by helping the country to manage fisheries sustainably. Further, because the Philippines is a nation of islands, by increasing fish abundance, we can help support the livelihoods of many fishers, their families, and their communities. The country is also the home of some of the richest biodiversity in the world, which we can help protect.”

It was also an established fact that 75 percent of the fishing grounds in the Philippines were already overfished, and reef fish catch had declined between 70 and 90 percent over the years. Plus, illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing remained a big problem,

Atty. Gloria Estenzo Ramos was running the Philippine Earth Justice Center (PEJC) in Cebu and teaching at the University of Cebu School of Law when Oceana reached out to her, just as Bloomberg Philanthropies had launched its Vibrant Oceans Initiative (now called the Bloomberg Oceans Initiative). “It was such a big funding for the Philippines,” Ramos recalls thinking. “I said, wow, this will really make a big difference in effecting reforms.”

LOCAL CULTURE

know that what works in the United States doesn’t necessarily work in every country around the world,” says Hirshfield, who set up the Oceana office in the Philippines with Ramos and the initial team. “We’ve learned over the years how important it is to pay attention to local cultural differences.”

“The key point in Oceana’s success in various countries where we are is that we don’t parachute instant experts who don’t know what the hell is happening,” says Pauly. “Golly implemented the general guideline, that is, that we should tackle things that are solvable in principle. But she did that on her own, without somebody elsewhere telling her whom she should hire.”

It was an established fact that 75 percent of the shing grounds in the Philippines were already over shed, and reef sh catch had declined between 70 and 90 percent over the years

It was a bonus that Oceana was sensitive to and respectful of the local culture. Ramos recalls how Hirshfield would sometimes say, “Okay, I’ll be very American about this.” Her reply: “Don’t worry, Mike! I can take it!” It was all about equity, justice, and no discrimination. “We were smart enough to

Was there apprehension over yet another non-government organization (NGO) adding to the many already working in the Philippines, and one focused only on marine conservation, at that? “Not everybody loves NGOs, as we’re always pushing government to do their jobs and do better,” agrees Hirshfield. “It’s very, very important here to have an ocean-focused NGO like Oceana, because Palawan is an island,” says Gerthie Mayo-Anda, executive director of the Palawan-based Environmental Legal Assistance Center, talking about the advantage of having an organization like Oceana on their side. “We are actually a dynamite and cyanide hotspot in the Philippines. Because of their research, Oceana was able to present to the provincial government the results of their studies that proved that it really is a hotspot. Informing our local officials about

this very disturbing data is important.”

“There are other organizations that are also involved in fisheries and governance, but it’s okay, because there’s a lot of work that needs to be done,” affirms Dr. Wilfredo Campos, fisheries expert from the University of the Philippines Visayas. “And I think organizations like Oceana really have a role, because there are only certain things that the government can attend to effectively. So it’s a good complementation.”

Oceana Senior Director for Campaigns, Legal, and Policy Atty. Liza Osorio says it is “advantageous” to be focused on marine conservation, “because we’re surrounded by water. We’re an archipelago. We recognize the importance of oceans and the fisheries for food, for livelihoods, so we need the integrated coastal management principles that we have in the country.”

(Clockwise from above) Fishermen haul in their catch with fish pens in the background DIUVS DE JESUS; Panaon Island, site of Oceana’s 2020 expedition ANNE BIEMANN; Oceana Senior Advisor Dr. Mike Hirshfield; Oceana Senior Director for Campaigns, Legal, and Policy Atty. Liza Osorio
Atty. LIZA OSORIO
‘Not everybody loves NGOs, as we’re always pushing government to do their jobs and do better’

It was during the time of Dr. Mundita Lim, now executive director of the Asean Centre for Biodiversity, who first worked with Oceana as then director of the Biodiversity Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), that the Coastal and Marine Division was created to tackle marine biodiversity. This was at a time when the department “was focused on terrestrial. So, for me, it was a welcome partnership with Oceana. It was very effective, because there were certain policies that needed to be advocated in the legislative department. We were limited by bureaucratic processes, but with our partnership with Oceana, they could easily approach Congress, explain the priorities. It was easier for them to identify champions in the legislature and follow through. Oceana could facilitate things for us, and it helped expand our sphere of influence.”

“I’m always a believer in engaging with NGOs or the private sector in general, because the government has no monopoly,” says former Agriculture Secretary William Dar, who worked closely with Oceana on authorizing the use of vessel monitoring to combat IUU fishing. “It should really be the private sector and commercial and municipal fishers taking the lead in supporting the environment and the mechanisms provided by both government and NGOs. If Oceana continues to have

good programs, of course, there will always be challenges along the way. But I think working with government will always be a good platform to enhance the understanding of leaders in government.”

Oceana opened its office in the Philippines in 2014, just when the European Union, one of the biggest importers of Philippine fish and fish products, had issued the country a yellow card warning for failure to stop IUU fishing. The same year, the Amended Fisheries Code, RA 10654, became law, and by the following year, Oceana had already participated in consultations leading to the adoption of the code’s implementing rules and regulations, including the use of vessel monitoring measures (VMM) and electronic reporting systems (ERS).

Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DABFAR) Undersecretary for Fisheries Drusila Bayate welcomed the amendments,

‘Oceana became the way’

Sa pagtutulungan ng Pangisda at Oceana, maraming mga lider ang natuto, lalo na usapin ng mga batas na magagamit sa gawaing pag-oorganisa, at nakatulong ng malaki sa pagtataas ng kaalaman na naging dahilan upang lumitaw ang mga lider na aktibong nagpapalakas ng aming organisasyon. Ang Oceana ay naging daan upang mapagkaisa sa isang banda ang mangingisda, habang nagkaroon ng lakas ng loob ang mga mangingisda na ipahayag ang kalagayan at mga kahilingan.

Ang Pangisda-Pilipinas, sa pangunguna ng lider at kasapian, ay bumabati ng isang makabuluhang paggunita na inyong ika-10 taong anibersaryo ng paglilingkod sa ating pangisdaan at walang pagdadalawang isip na suportahan ang pakikipaglaban ng sektor para sa isang malusog at masaganang pangisdaan.

(With the cooperation of Pangisda and Oceana, many leaders learned, especially about the laws that can be used in organizing work, which helped a lot in raising knowledge that led to the emergence of leaders who actively strengthen our organization. Oceana became the way to unite the fishermen on one hand, while the fishermen had the courage to express their situation and demands.

Pangisda-Pilipinas, led by the leadership and membership, wishes you a meaningful commemoration of your 10-year anniversary of service to our fisheries, and your support, with no hesitation, of the sector’s fight for a healthy and prosperous fishery.)

Oceana Senior Advisor Dr. MIKE HIRSHFIELD
PABLO ‘Ka Pabs’ ROSALES

and Oceana’s role in nudging them along. “That is the beauty in the law. It needs to be reviewed every five years, which is ample time to implement and see the weaknesses or gray areas of the law that give us operational or implementation concerns. Because if you don’t implement it correctly, it becomes contentious among the stakeholders.”

More milestones followed in support of important marine habitats as well as fisheries all over the country. “The biggest shift I’ve observed at Oceana following the launch of this office is how deeply engaged we became with small-scale fisheries,” says Jim Simon. “It really changed our take on how to rebuild fisheries, and we have applied these learnings around the world. The Philippines is special because it is both a top fish-catching and fish-consuming nation, so this really became our bedrock in the Philippines.”

Oceana joined a team of experts on an expedition to the Benham Rise in 2016; the Philippines’ claim on the territory had been adopted by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) Commission in 2012. Monitoring was required for all commercial fishing vessels by the Protective Area Management Board (PAMB) of the country’s largest marine protected area, the Tañon Strait Protected Seascape Protected Area Management Board (PAMB), in 2017. “The Philippines should recognize that Tañon Strait is a very important area for marine biodiversity, and

ergo, also important for other services like fisheries and tourism,” says Dr. Mundita Lim. “But it is necessary to balance that because we still want the communities to benefit from Tañon Strait, so that they can also help us protect the biodiversity.”

In 2018, Benham, renamed the Philippine Rise, was declared a marine resource reserve. Trawling was banned in all municipal waters by the Fisheries Code, with implementing guidelines for the ban released in 2018 through a Joint Memorandum Circular of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the DA-BFAR.

‘IN

THEIR HEART’

“The municipal waters belong to them,” states BFAR Regional Director for Region VI Remia Aparri on involving fisherfolk in policymaking that ultimately benefits them. “We involve them directly in the process, so we not only create awareness, but they can see our sincerity. They feel the support or the commitment of the government. We have to show them that we are here because we want the sustainability of the resource, and we develop their sense of ownership. And what we always emphasize is, it’s not only for today, but it’s their obligation to the future generations. That’s in their heart.”

implementing as many strategies as you can to help you get to your goal,” says Osorio. “You’re utilizing tools like legal action, writing letters, petitioning; at Oceana, we can go as far as filing cases against our supposed partners.”

“Policy is supposed to institutionalize the changes you want,” Anda says. “There’s guidance. They will constantly go back to it; that’s the importance of having something written. Because it’s also for the future. It’s an important legacy, like the Amended Fisheries Code, which has a lot of good provisions. But there has to be political will to implement it.”

“The National Sardine Management Plan (NSMP) is part of policy,” Campos says of the plan approved in May 2020 by DA-BFAR. “The policy frameworks are for different fishing grounds to lay down specific rules and actually implement them. The management plan just has general guidelines, but the different Fisheries Management Areas (FMAs) have to have detailed measures and actions.”

‘Our laws are good, and we have a world-class legal framework, but we’re very weak in implementation’

“You start with a premise that’s built upon people’s hearts,” echoes Hirshfield. “We identify the things that we believe people value—that the small-scale fishermen have a viable livelihood catching fish, that the coral reefs stay bright and colorful and have lots of fish. Of all the countries that we work in, the Philippines is the most engaged, where people care the most about oceans.”

There is a solid rationale behind Oceana’s thrust of effecting change through policy-making. “Our laws are good, and we have a world-class legal framework,” says Ramos. “But we’re very weak in implementation. And the government can’t get away with it. That’s why the challenge is to make them implement a clear mandate.” Otherwise, the organization sends interrogatory letters or goes through the Office of the President or the Anti-Red Tape Act Authority—“all avenues to reveal data.”

“You’re effecting change when you’re committing to getting policy changed, and

“In that way, they are clever,” Bayate adds. “Why? If you don’t start with policy, you won’t know the acceptable limits when you work, because the policy will give you the limits.” The best approach, she says, is to engage all of the stakeholders. “Then you can have different perspectives. And sometimes, you can calibrate your point of view.”

The previous year, 2019, Fisheries Administrative Order (FAO) 263 had called for the establishment of the aforementioned 12 FMAs all over the Philippines, each one with its own management body and scientific advisory group. “That’s the beauty of the FMA,” says Aparri, who leads the first of the FMAs to be established, FMA 11. “We use the concept and principles of FMA, of converging, of partnership, and tapping other relevant concerned agencies, including Oceana, to work with us, because we cannot do this alone. There’s continuous capacity building. And for that milestone, of course, I would like to acknowledge Oceana as our initial partner. We were implementing the concept of an FMA even before the FMAs, in 2017.”

Also in 2019, Oceana and several partner civil organizations developed the FMA Scorecard to monitor the implementation of FAO 263, and together with the League of Municipalities of the Philippines, launched the first online

Oceana Vice President Atty. GLORIA ESTENZO RAMOS

platform for reporting illegal commercial fishing in municipal waters in the Philippines, Karagatan Patrol.

The DA would approve the implementation of the NSMP in all FMAs in 2020. “The average layman doesn’t think there’s a problem with sardine fisheries management,” notes Ramos of this species that makes up 15 percent of all the catch in the country. “And the industry’s resistance to the plan is intense. But you cannot be more powerful than the law.” Three years later, BFAR issued the implementing guidelines to integrate the concepts of reference points and harvest control rules, used in FMAs, under the NSMP. In the future, the plan would be implemented through local legislation in some municipalities and provinces; by 2024, it would be put in place by 29 local governments in Samar and Northern Samar.

Also in 2020, Oceana would lead an expedition to Panaon Island in Southern Leyte, home of some of the most resilient coral reefs in the world, as identified by the 50 Reefs Initiative, with Bloomberg Philanthropies among the initial funders. Bills would be filed in Congress to declare Panaon Island a protected area under RA 11038, the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System Act. The House of Representatives passed the bill in December 2023.

Then Agriculture Secretary William Dar would issue FAO 266 in 2020, calling for the immediate implementation of vessel monitoring to deter any illegal intrusion of commercial fishing boats in municipal waters. It would, however, take another three years, constant campaigning by Oceana and fisherfolk groups, and even an attempt to suspend FAO 266, before President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. directed the full implementation of vessel monitoring to track the location, speed, and catch of all commercial fishing vessels bigger than 3 gross tons in the country.

“The crafting of implementing regulations on vessel monitoring really became one of our clear policy wins,” says Ramos. “It’s been a long fight. And now almost 90 percent of the vessels have transponders.” “To me, that’s the biggest system change,” seconds Hirshfield. “The fisheries management system in the Philippines is different now. There’s a level of professionalism, a level of science that’s permeating some of the decisions, that would not have been there without Oceana.”

FRIENDS

In 2022, Oceana would be involved

in campaigns to protect mangroves, supported by legislation pushing for coastal greenbelts. In 2024, on its 10th year, Oceana would be working with PAMBs nationwide to ban single-use plastics in protected areas such as the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, Apo Reef Natural Park, Palaui Island Protected Landscape and Seascape, Siargao Island Protected Landscape and Seascape, Magapit Protected Landscape, and the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park, the country’s largest protected area. This year, 2024, the National Coastal Greenbelt Bill is also under deliberation in the Senate, after having been passed in the House of Representatives. To date, 91 local governments have passed resolutions or executive orders establishing coastal greenbelts.

Oceana has collaborated with many allies over the decade—”like friends you make along the way,” Ramos says. “You’ll realize who’s genuine and who would stand by you, or whose visions align with yours.” The organization has found one such champion in Senator Cynthia Villar, Chair of the Senate Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Climate Change, as a staunch defender against reclamation and illegal commercial fishing, and as an author of the Amended Fisheries Code, Republic Act 10654. It is such alliances that Oceana is banking on to propel it into the next 10 years, as the organization focuses further on ensuring that fish continues to sustainably feed Filipinos, especially fisherfolk.

“Oceana is getting stronger as a team, and I’m amazed at the passion,” says Ramos. “It’s important, because not only do you have campaign goals, but the staff themselves have that sense of determination that we can fix this. We are in a privileged position because we have the resources to help effect that change.”

“These people are fighters,” says Hirshfield, who still visits Manila to guide the team as its self-confessed “godfather.” “They’re smart, they’re committed, they’re passionate, and they’re getting things done.”

“I think the 10 years that Oceana has worked in the Philippines should continue, because the next decade will probably be more challenging,” says Anda. “The combination of law, science, advocacy, and enforcement is to me a perfect recipe for sustaining the advocacy of Oceana. There is a confluence of expertise there—law, science, communications. Environmental lawyers are important, but they cannot swim alone.”

‘We can be heard’

Martha Cadano Woman fisher and member of the Victoria Municipal Entrepreneurs Multipurpose Cooperative, Northern Samar

I sang mainit na pagbati at pagbibigay ng pasasalamat sa Oceana sa inyong ika-10 anibersaryo.

Ako po ay personal at taos-pusong bumabati at nagpapasalamat sa pagbibigay ng pagpapahalaga sa aming sector. Malaki po ang naitulong ninyo para kami ay marinig at mapakinggan na dati ay hindi namin naramdaman.

Malaki po ang nagawang impluwensya sa pagpapalakas ng aming partisipasyon sa ating lipunan sa ngayon. Ikinagagalak kong sabihin na ramdam po namin ang inyong tulong, lalo na sa pagpapatupad ng mga batas.

Maraming salamat po. Sana po ay magpatuloy pa ang inyong mga gawain upang sa huli ay makamtan din po namin ang aming inaasam na tagumpay. Napakaraming issue na kami po ay nakakilos dahil nandyan po kayo. Kung wala pong nag-guide sa amin, marahil po ay hindi namin nagawa yun.

(A warm greeting and thanksgiving to Oceana on your 10th anniversary.

I personally and sincerely congratulate and thank you for giving appreciation to our sector. You have helped us a lot so that we can be heard and listened to in a way that we did not feel before.

It has had a great influence on strengthening our participation in our society today. I am happy to say that we appreciate your help, especially in the enforcement of laws.

Thank you very much. I hope that your work will continue so that we can finally achieve our desired success. There are so many issues that we have acted on because you are there. If no one guided us, maybe we wouldn’t have done it.)

MARTHA CADANO

HEALTHY WATERS, HEALTHY LIVES

Oceana scores marine habitat protection victories, but continues the ght to safeguard even more

Brave new Benham

A valuable ecosystem officially becomes Philippine territory—and is legally protected

Imagine a vast, unexplored area with 100 percent hard and soft coral cover— trees and terraces of coral descending like underwater staircases into unknown depths, one scientist commented, as far as the eye could see. There were algae, sponges, and some 200 or more fish species at any given time, from dainty damselfish, to bluefin tuna, and among

the elasmobranchs and apex predators patroling the untouched landscape, large tiger sharks—all in a pristine mesophotic or deep-sea reef ecosystem.

Such was the sight that greeted the team of explorers, composed of experts from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), the University of the Philippines (UP) Marine Science Institute, the UP Los Baños School of Environmental Science and Management, the Philippine Navy and Philippine Coast Guard, and the marine conservation organization Oceana, who had headed out to explore the Benham Rise on an expedition funded by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic, and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD) of the Department of Science and Technology. The team sailed to the site on board the

government research vessel M/V DA-BFAR from May 23 to 31, 2016—and findings from the journey would provide the impetus for Oceana to campaign fervently for the protection of this important marine ecosystem and fish source.

Located some 250 kilometers east of the coastline of Isabela, the Benham Rise is a massive seamount—an extinct underwater volcano—with an original area of some 13 million hectares, reaching estimated depths of 5,000 meters. The most shallow portion, which the expedition focused on, the Benham Bank, has an area of about 17,000 hectares, with depths of up to 70 meters. Believed to have been named after an American admiral and surveyor from the 18th century, Benham Rise first came to public consciousness when the Philippines claimed the area as part of its territorial

Benham

waters in 2008, a claim hastened by threats of incursion from other countries, and ultimately recognized in 2012 by the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. The recognition expanded the territory in question by another 11.4 million hectares, bringing the new total to 24.4 million—almost as big as the size of the entire Philippine archipelago itself.

Little had previously been known about the area when an initial expedition headed out on May 3, 2014, to check out the Philippines’ newest territory, also on board the M/V DA-BFAR. Oceanographers, fish larvae experts, and marine biologists from UP Diliman, Los Baños, and Baguio, along with representatives from Xavier

Rise rst came to public consciousness when the Philippines claimed the area as part of its territorial waters in 2008

University and Ateneo de Manila, dove to 50 meters for about 25 minutes, already discovering and recording a wealth of underwater life. “The landscape at the bottom was a coral reef that was in very good condition, something rarely encountered now anywhere in the country,” wrote Romeo Dizon, assistant professor of biology and a coral ecology expert from UP Baguio, in an article in the Philippine

Star published in September 2014. “This was a world that had remained practically untouched by man, at least until we came.”

SOPHISTICATED TECHNOLOGY

Oceana brought out more “big guns” for documentation for the 2016 expedition, along with technical divers and videographers. A remotely operated vehicle (ROV) took video and photographs for two hours at a time, giving researchers more time to study and examine the marine life. Baited remote underwater systems (BRUVS) made use of two cameras to “capture” fish with bait within a frame, recording for as long as five hours at a time, and allowing scientists to study individual fish as well as biomass. “We made sure that the pictures taken with the sophisticated technology that Oceana was able to bring

(Clockwise from above) Old, massive corals grow undisturbed in the bank, some reaching 900 years in age; a technical diver collects sediment samples for fauna and flora analysis; juvenile emperor angelfish (Pomacanthus imperator) and epaulette soldierfish (Myripristis kuntee) take shelter among green algae and boulders. OCEANA/UPLB

(Clockwise from above) A team of technical divers ascending from the bank and making a safety stop, very important in dives deeper than 30 meters (100 feet) to prevent decompression sickness; branching corals contribute to the complexity of the reef, sheltering reef fishes; a hawkfish (Cirrhitichthys falco), a solitary species usually spotted at dropoffs; oriental wrasse (Oxycheilinus rhodochrous) are known to inhabit coral reefs with abundant invertebrates, which they feed on. OCEANA/UPLB

in really showed it,” said Oceana Vice President Atty. Gloria Estenzo Ramos. “That helped it become a national issue.” Technical divers also collected samples from the sea bed for further study.

Oceana scientists on the expedition documented their day-to-day activities in their online “Benham Diaries”: “While the BRUVS were luring species into the camera sight in the depths, the ROV team expertly navigated the camera/robot setup over Benham Bank’s live terrain,” they recounted on May 25. “The ROV shows real-time footage on board, so our team watched excitedly as the ROV glided over a slope covered with all manner of marine life, including corals, soft sponges, algae, and fish.  It was quite a sight to see this array of marine life at Benham Rise in real time, and know that it was all living and breathing right below us.” Meanwhile, the technical divers went down “to a miraculous 60 meters (197 feet) below the surface and captured some incredible images of the life on Benham Rise…It really is stunning to see the type of life the ocean can support at such depths.”

Nearing the end of the expedition, on May 29, the scientists concluded, “Collectively, among the decades of

experience studying the ocean that we have aboard the ship, no one has ever seen reefs like this. Benham is indeed a special place, and we feel truly privileged to be here.”

Deep sea reefs such as those found in Benham Rise provide shelter to fish that end up heading deeper because of the increasingly warm surface temperatures resulting from climate change, providing a habitat for important species that both enrich the ecosystem and provide food for the Philippines’ estimated one million fishers.

Why then is Benham Rise a veritable economic treasure and a valuable addition to Philippine territory? Oceana estimates that a mere one square kilometer of wellmanaged, relatively healthy coral reefs can have an annual yield of 15 tons of seafood, which is life-changing for fishers and coastal communities for whom fish is the main protein source. Healthy waters mean healthy fisheries, and consequently, healthy lives because of better nutrition and food security.

conducted from 2014 to 2017 and led by Dr. Wilfredo Licuanan, director of the De La Salle University-Br. Alfred Shields Ocean Research (SHORE) Center Marine Station, it’s not a pretty picture. Of 166 reefs sampled, and based on the parameter of live coral cover (LCC, combining hard and soft corals), more than 90 percent of the areas were in the poor and fair categories, with none being classified as “excellent,” defined as having 75 percent cover and higher. Only an average of 22 percent had structurally essential hard coral cover (HCC).

Over 26,000 Filipinos signed an online petition initiated by Oceana and other conservation groups to protect the site

Throw in constant threats such as unsustainable fishing practices, ocean pollution, climate change, coastal development, and other manmade pressures, and it becomes evident that better management and more marine protected areas (MPAs) are needed, along with the laws required to protect them.

The statistics on coral conditions have been grim, however. Based on the landmark study of the National Assessment of Coral Reef Environment (NACRE) Program

“Benham Bank holds tremendous potential for discovering more unique species and outstanding samples of marine resources,” Ramos stated after the exploration. “Based on the huge success of this expedition, and the inspiring

collaboration among the partners, we foresee government and stakeholders working together to protect and sustainably manage this extraordinary natural heritage, which is now part of our territory.”

URGENT ACTION

After the expedition, Oceana immediately began work on the campaign to legally protect Benham Rise, recognizing its importance to biodiversity conservation, managing the effects of climate change, and ensuring food security for Filipinos. Over 26,000 Filipinos signed an online petition initiated by Oceana and other conservation groups to protect the site. In March 2017, when the Department of National Defense detected a Chinese vessel surveying the area, Oceana pushed for urgent action, with Ramos urging the administration to “expedite the formulation of the management framework for Benham Rise to protect and sustainably manage it…We need to prioritize its protection, including the pristine Benham Bank as a no-take zone.”

Such a plan would include details on law and monitoring, biodiversity conservation, fisheries, and commercial and economic activities in the area, as well as ensuring that poaching and illegal commercial fishing will be subject to punishment. Sectoral consultations had already been held by the Department of Environment

Protecting what’s ours

The Philippine Rise is backed by the United Nations, an executive order, and a proclamation to boot

When President Rodrigo Duterte issued Executive Order No. 25, renaming Benham Rise to the Philippines Rise, on May 6, 2017, it was the culmination of years of research to lay claim to the underwater plateau east of Luzon measuring a mindboggling 13 million hectares and boasting a rich biodiversity of coral, natural gases, fish, and other marine species.

Pushed as a possible extended continental shelf area by representatives of the University of the Philippines Institute of International Legal Studies to facilitate the Department of Foreign Affairs and the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority in implementing the Law of the Sea in 2001, Benham Rise was the subject of a formal claim filed by the Philippines before the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) in 2009. The claim was approved in April 2012.

According to EO 25, the term “Philippine Rise” shall be used in official maps, charts, and documents. “The Philippines is the sole claimant of the Philippine Rise,” stated an explanatory note authored by Senator Francis Tolentino. “Under international law, no other state may exploit or undertake exploration activities in the Philippine Rise without express consent of the Philippines.”

About a year later, on May 15, 2018, after continuing campaigns from conservation

organizations and other stakeholders, President Duterte signed Proclamation No. 489, “declaring a portion of the Philippine Rise situated within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippine Sea, north eastern coast of Luzon Island, as protected area under the category of Resource Reserve as defined under RA No. 7586, to be known as the Philippine Rise Marine Resource Reserve (PRMRR).”

A mammoth 352,390 hectares, PRMRR has a Strict Protection Zone of 49,684 hectares, and a Special Fisheries Management Area under the Amended Fisheries Management Code of 1998, “for the sustainable development and regulated utilization of the resources thereat pursuant to relevant laws, rules and regulations, and to address the social, equitable and economic needs of the Filipino people without causing adverse impact on the environment.”

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has administrative jurisdiction and control over these areas. As such, it can conduct “assessment of the area and develop the management plan, including its research framework, in consultation and coordination with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources of the Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, and other concerned agencies.”

Disturb, or worse, destroy Philippine Rise’s vast marine ecosystem and you face hefty fines and imprisonment as prescribed in RA No. 7586, RA No. 9147 or the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act, RA No. 8550, as amended, and other applicable laws, rules and regulations.

(RA 10654, 2014), and their implementing rules and regulations. Among other specifics, the code bans the use of active fishing gears in FMAs, to discourage Illegal fishing as well as overfishing.

REMARKABLE EVENT

and Natural Resources–Biodiversity and Management Bureau (DENR-BMB) for this management framework, while the Senate held a public hearing on a planned Benham Rise Development Authority.

President Rodrigo Duterte took the first step on May 16, 2017, with Executive Order (EO) No. 25, “Changing the Name of ‘Benham Rise’ To ‘Philippine Rise’ and for Other Purposes.” “In the exercise of its sovereign rights and jurisdiction,” the EO declares, “the Philippines has the power to designate its submarine areas with appropriate nomenclature for purposes of the national mapping system.”

Naming it did not immediately equate to protecting it, however, and many groups continued their campaign. An umbrella organization called Pangisda Natin Gawing Tama (PANAGAT), composed of conservation groups Oceana, Greenpeace, the World Wide Fund for Nature, Tambuyog, NGOs for Fisheries Reform, the Institute for Social Order, Pangisda, and others marked the 3rd International Year of the Reef (IYOR) with Benham Bank as its flagship effort, even sending then Secretary of the Environment Roy Cimatu a Valentine’s card in February 2018 to persuade him that legal protection was critical.

The persuasion apparently worked on the national leadership, because three months later, in a widely acclaimed move, President Duterte declared the Philippine Rise a marine resource reserve. He signed Presidential Proclamation 489, “Declaring a Portion of the Philippine Rise Situated Within the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Philippine Sea, North Eastern Coast of Luzon Island, as Marine Resource Reserve Pursuant to Republic Act (RA) No. 7586, or the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 1992, to be Known as the Philippine Rise Marine Resource Reserve,” on May 15, 2018 on board the ship BRP Davao del Sur while docked off Casiguran, Aurora.

The 17,000 hectares of Benham Bank were declared a no-take zone, with no human activities other than scientific research allowed. Under the aforementioned NIPAS Act, what would be known as the Philippine Rise Marine Resource Reserve (PRMRR) would cover 352,390 hectares, with a Strict Protection Zone, also as defined by the NIPAS Act, covering 49,684 hectares. The remaining sections were declared a Special Fisheries Management Area (FMA), as defined under the Philippine Fisheries Code (RA 8550, 1998) and the Amended Fisheries Code

The proclamation further mandated that the DENR should assess the area and formulate the management plan, in collaboration with BFAR and other government agencies. It also ordered the punishment of any “destruction or disturbance” of the Philippine Rise, as mandated by law. In a press release by Oceana, President Duterte also made provisions for “the continuous assessment of coral reef and fish species…vital for the management of the Philippine Rise and its resources.” He further highlighted the work awaiting Filipino scientists to study and document the Philippine Rise.

In what Senator Loren Legarda described in the same Oceana press statement as “a remarkable event, especially for the protection of our oceans and ensuring seafood security for future generations,” the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System (ENIPAS) Act or RA 11038, “An Act Declaring Protected Areas and Providing for Their Management, Amending for This Purpose Republic Act No. 7586, Otherwise Known as the ‘National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) Act of 1992’ and for Other Purposes,” which sought to increase the number of Congress-declared protected areas in the archipelago, was also expected to be passed. It was approved on June 22, 2018— just over a month after the Philippine Rise was officially declared protected.

“We can say we’re proud of this campaign, because we were the ones that helped make people aware about this special place we have that needs to be protected,” said Atty. Liza Osorio, then a consultant of Oceana, now the organization’s Senior Director for Campaigns, Legal, and Policy.

Mike Hirshfield, Senior Advisor and member of Oceana’s Executive Committee who provided guidance to Oceana from the organization’s establishment, calls the Benham victory “a wonderful, wonderful thing. It helped raise Oceana’s visibility. Having an excuse to put pretty pictures on the front of the newspaper is great for both the issue and for the organization. And getting Benham to happen took a lot people, and a lot of time.”

(Clockwise from above left) Filamentous red algae is a primary food of fish and invertebrates such as crabs, shells, and shrimps; sponges provide a vital habitat for marine organisms like small fishes; bryozoans or moss animals are colonial animals that encrust corals and rocky surfaces, and which produce a compound that may have anti-cancer properties; Hallimeda is a type of green algae abundant in most parts of Benham Bank. OCEANA/UPLB

Pushing for Panaon

The work continues to declare this island of excellent reefs a protected seascape

It was in 2014 that Bloomberg Philanthropies, a charitable foundation based in New York City, with global projects in the arts, education, the environment, government innovation, and public health, launched the Vibrant Oceans Initiative, now known as the Bloomberg Ocean Initiative (BOI). “Coral reef ecosystems around the globe are likely to disappear by 2050 if the goals of the Paris Agreement are not met,” stated Bloomberg Philanthropies on its website. “Even with drastic emission reductions to ensure we keep warming within 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, 70-90 percent of the world’s corals could still vanish by mid-century, leaving only remnants of the reefs we see today.”

With the overarching goal of ocean sustainability, the initiative zoomed in on efforts to identify the world’s most

climate change-resistant coral reefs, the planet’s best bets and “insurance plans” for replenishing the rest of the world’s reefs in the future. The goal is to protect 50 of these ultra-resilient reefs, which would represent 75 percent of global coral species—and which could most likely create more reefs in the future. This meant working in areas with important coral reef ecosystems, in predominantly fishing nations, where fish is a main and important food.

“Climate resilient corals have been found around the world,” said the Bloomberg Philanthropies website.

“Reducing emissions in line with the Paris Agreement, and managing local pressures on resilient reefs, allow these reefs to thrive and replenish neighboring reefs— ensuring the long-term survival of our world’s coral reefs.”

Based on five major scientific indicators—a history of warming, predicted future warming, exposure to typhoons, how waters in the area transport larvae, and environmental stress, such as coral bleaching or constant pollution—regions were identified where such coral reefs still existed, or even remained abundant. Known as bioclimatic units (BCUs), such regions spanned the globe, with three of them located in the Philippines.

The strip on the map known as BCU

34 has an area of 1.5 million hectares— including 71,000 hectares of coral reefs—and is home to coastal populations exceeding 3.5 million people. Stretching from the island of Mindanao to Cebu, BCU 34 includes a 30-kilometer chunk of land in Southern Leyte surrounded by beaches and reefs, known as Panaon Island.

Flush from the 2018 victory of the legal protection of the Philippine Rise, Oceana lost no time in finding a new project site. Oceana’s initial feasibility studies in Panaon in 2019, and the groundwork done by the organization Coral Cay Conservation, which determined the area to have high coral cover, made Panaon a natural choice.

PRISTINE PLACE

“We were overjoyed by our victory in the Philippine Rise, and started looking for other areas we could protect,” said Oceana Vice President Atty. Gloria Estenzo Ramos in an interview for the 2022 Oceana publication The Champions of Panaon. “Panaon used to be a place where dynamite fishing was rampant, but it recovered. It had a very inspiring story from the very beginning, where you see the relationships, the legal framework, the

A marine turtle joins divers during the Panaon expedition. ALVIN SIMON

ordinances crafted by local government. It was the perfect place for us to undertake another coral reef campaign.” When the region was recognized by the BOI, “It gave us a stronger sense of responsibility that this pristine place should be protected… The coral reefs in this region remain some of the least disturbed habitats in the Philippines.”

An initial survey conducted among residents of Panaon’s four municipalities— Liloan, Pintuyan, San Francisco, and San Ricardo—revealed that 35 percent of the fishers are subsistence fishermen, keeping between 81 and 100 percent of what they catch for consumption. Fortyseven percent of total respondents and 59 percent of fishers identified illegal fishing as the main threat to their natural resources, along with marine pollution and

59 percent of Panaon shers identi ed illegal shing as the main threat to their natural resources

climate change. Fifty-nine percent also revealed that the fish catch had definitely decreased over the years. Panaon was also the site of 19 marine protected areas, which, surprisingly, accounted for only 21 percent of the reefs being protected by local government ordinances.

In 2022, the Philippine Statistics Authority revealed that about 3.14 million hectares of the country’s waters are designated as marine protected areas (MPAs), defined by the International

Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as “a clearly defined geographical space, recognized, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values.” The aforementioned national figure, however, adds up to only 1.42 percent of the Philippines’ total marine areas—a disheartening number, considering that the country is an archipelago surrounded by kilometers of coastline. Since Panaon scored high in terms of coastal development and a growing population, focusing on its protection has become even more urgent. Oceana’s landmark Panaon Expedition took place on October 15 to November 5, 2020, smack in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines,

(Clockwise from above) A rich seascape of sponges, hard corals, and sea life in Panaon; a clownfish amid the anemone; a graphic illustration of coral stressors; a lionfish swims above hard coral. BADI SAMANIEGO

which made the already complex endeavor an even bigger challenge. Southern Leyte Provincial Governor Damian Mercado had to endorse the voyage to the InterAgency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases Resolutions (IATF), the governing body in the country for all movement during the pandemic, which required that team members never set foot on land during their trip .

Two days of COVID testing and isolation were also factored in before the trip on board the M/Y Discovery Palawan, a commercial dive boat which comfortably accommodated the 32-member team led by Oceana scientists and campaign managers, including consultants Dr. Badi Samaniego, assistant professor at the University of the Philippines Los Ba ños (UPLB) and a reef fish specialist, and Dr. Victor Ticzon, UPLB associate professor and head of the university’s Aquatic Zoology Research Lab and a coral reef specialist, as well their respective teams, photographers and videographers, and dive guides.

The immediate goal was to check out the island’s MPAs and neighboring reefs. The bigger agenda was to gather evidence to back up the campaign for Panaon Island to be covered by the Expanded National Integrated Protected Area Systems (ENIPAS) Act of 2018, “which would give it more stability in terms of accessing financial resources, which is important for the sustainable management of the protected area,” said Ramos.

“The ENIPAS Act will highlight Panaon on a national scale, giving it national coverage, attention, funding, and effort, whereas now it’s just on the local government unit and barangay level,” added Dr. Samaniego in an interview for The Champions of Panaon. “If we could rally all those resources and that intensity so that potential ‘destroyers’ will know it’s backed up, that would help.”

The team logged 34 dives over 12 days, including a day spent docked close to land to avoid one of the four typhoons they encountered during the expedition. Dr. Ticzon talked in an interview about how he experienced a “reset” after Panaon, after years of “writing obituaries” for dead or dying coral reefs. “It’s very rare to encounter an area in the Philippines with that much hard coral cover.”

Such coral cover does much more than shelter fish populations, Ticzon noted; along with mangroves, they are more effective at protecting coastlines against frequent storms. “If you have healthy reefs, they will do a better job, at a lower cost.”

The

expedition’s bigger agenda was to back up the campaign for Panaon Island to be covered by the ENIPAS Act of 2018

PROTECTED SEASCAPE

Government officials who backed the move to protect Panaon dovetailed their efforts after the expedition. In August 2022, Southern Leyte 1st District Rep. Luz Mercado and Southern Leyte 2nd District Rep. Christopherson “Coco” Yap filed House Bills 3743 and 4095 respectively, both declaring Panaon and its surrounding waters a protected seascape, pursuant to the ENIPAS Act. Four months later, on December 14, Rep. Yap would follow up with House Bill 6677, “An Act Declaring the Waters Surrounding Panaon Island, in the Province of Southern Leyte, a Protected Area with the Category of Protected Seascape under the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS), to be Referred to as the Panaon Island Protected Seascape, Providing for its Management, and Appropriating Funds Thereof.”

On January 18, 2023, Senator

Cynthia Villar, chair of the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, filed a counterpart bill at the same Congress, Senate Bill 1690. “This bill seeks to declare the Panaon Island as a Protected Seascape to regulate utilization of marine resources and ensure the conservation and continuity of critical, endangered, threatened coral reefs, seagrasses, and mangrove forests, as well as the endemic and threatened species therein,” the bill stated. “It seeks the conservation, protection, and preservation of a protected seascape in accordance with the provisions of Republic Act No. 7586, otherwise known as the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 1992, as amended by Republic Act No. 11038, or the Expanded National Integrated Protected Area System (ENIPAS) Act of 2018.”

Provincial Governor Damian Mercado took his own step with a local government unit (LGU) Executive Order signed May 16, 2023, declaring the whole of Panaon Island a protected seascape, and ordering the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) to come up with implementing rules and regulations.

Also in May 2023, to push their cause, Rep. Yap and Oceana collaborated on a

(Above) The M/Y Discovery Palawan was home for researchers during the 2020 Panaon Expedition, during the COVID-19 lockdown; (below) researchers return from dive sites aboard a dinghy. ANNE BIEMANN

photo exhibit on Panaon at the House of Representatives, featuring images of coral reefs, mangroves, and other habitats, as well as the rich wildlife. “For a coastal area like my district, food, economic, and job security are deeply tied to nature,” Rep. Yap said in a message during the exhibit opening. “This is why it is crucial for us to do what is necessary to protect our seas, which allows us to continue to thrive.”

The images hit home, as on November 29, 2023, 247 members of Congress approved the consolidated bill, principally authored by Reps. Mercado and Yap, and declaring over 60,000 hectares of waters surrounding Panaon Island a Protected Seascape under the ENIPAS Act. The proposed Protected Seascape will cover the municipalities of Liloan, San Francisco, Pintuyan, and San Ricardo, helping to preserve the island’s estimated 60 percent coral cover, and safeguarding endangered species identified by the IUCN, including whale sharks and sea turtles.

In a statement after the approval of the bill, Oceana hailed this first step towards creating a law to ensure

‘It is especially important that the coral reefs in the waters of Panaon Island are granted national protection before they are exposed to pervasive threats’

comprehensive protection for Panaon’s precious ecosystems. “The declaration of Panaon Island Protected Seascape sets the framework that will ensure sustainable ecotourism and livelihood activities that balance socio-economic development with conservation efforts,” the statement read.

CONCERTED EFFORTS

“Oceana is very proud of the concerted efforts to move for the national protection of Panaon Island’s magnificent coral reefs,” said Atty. Liza Osorio, Oceana’s Senior Director for Campaigns, Legal, and Policy. Meanwhile, Ramos lauded how many different sectors, from government agencies and NGOs to community leaders and even artisanal fisherfolk, had rallied behind the proposed protection.

“The passage of the bill at the House of Representatives is a testament that through collaborative efforts, we can achieve more in protecting our vital marine

ecosystems for the present and future generations. We are looking forward to the passage of the counterpart bill on Panaon Island in the Senate.”

In an interview in The Champions of Panaon, former Oceana Chief Executive

Officer Andrew Sharpless stated, “While we often hear that coral reefs in the Philippines and around the world are in dire condition from the impact of climate change, Panaon Island offers some hope… And it is especially important that the coral reefs in the waters of Panaon Island are granted national protection before they are exposed to pervasive threats.”

So what will happen when Panaon does become legally protected? The next steps would be formulating a management plan, in light of what would be a clear official mandate to combat overfishing, illegal fishing, habitat destruction, and other threats to the marine environment. Such a law would

preserve biodiversity, maintain ecosystem balance, conserve natural resources, and defend important habitats in this natural wonder. Ultimately, legal protection would also allow Panaon to build greater resilience to climate change, and enable sustainable livelihood for its residents.

“Oceana’s expedition in 2020 unveiled the marine treasures of Panaon, from untouched coral reefs to diverse marine life,” Sen. Villar said in a message during the Panaon Exhibit opening in Congress, speaking for everyone with a stake in seeing this place thrive. “We are hopeful for the passage of the proposed Panaon Island Seascape Act.”

Southern Leyte (1st District) Rep. Luz Mercado and former Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Roger Mercado join the Oceana team led by its Vice President Atty. Gloria Estenzo Ramos.
Nueva Ecija (4th District) Rep. Emerson “Emeng” Pascual; Cebu (2nd District) Eduardo Roa Rama Jr. ; Southern Leyte (2nd District) Rep. Christopherson Yap; Bukidnon 4th District Laarni Lavin Roque; Oceana Senior Director for Campaigns, Legal, and Policy Atty. Liza Osorio; and Biodiversity Management Bureau Asst. Director Armida Andres formally open the photo exhibit about Panaon Island in Southern Leyte at the House of Representatives.

Making the case for mangroves

It’s time these defenders of the coastline got their due

Could this mark the beginning of the proper, long-delayed acknowledgement of the value of Philippine mangroves?

In May 2023, the Philippine House of Representatives unanimously passed House Bill (HB) No. 7677, “An Act Adopting Integrated Coastal Management as a National Strategy for the Holistic and Sustainable Management of Coastal and Related Ecosystems and the Resources Therein From Ridge to Reef, Establishing the National Coastal Greenbelt Action Plan, Other Supporting Mechanisms for Implementation, and Providing Funds Therefor,” otherwise known as the Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) Act. The bill mandated for ICM to be carried out by all local government units (LGUs), utilizing all necessary national and local infrastructure and systems, “in consultation

and partnership with all stakeholders through participatory governance.”

Senate Bills No. 591 and 113 had already been filed in July 2022 by Senators Risa Hontiveros and Nancy Binay, with Senators Cynthia Villar and Loren Legarda also filing Senate Bills No. 1237 and 1117 the following month, all collectively known as the National Coastal Greenbelt Act of 2002—and all identifying responsible government agencies and specifying funding and general guidelines for management that is both scientific and cost-effective.

In a statement released after the HB approval, Oceana’s Senior Director for Campaigns, Legal, and Policy Atty. Liza Osorio, expressed hope that if the Senate counterpart bills were likewise passed soon, “Our coastal communities will not only gain immense benefits from mangrove forest areas as shield and protection from the impact of storm surges and strong waves during extreme weather events, such as super typhoons. Their food and livelihood will also be secured because mangroves are the spawning ground of fish and the habitat of crabs, shrimps and other shellfish.” A centralized bill would also bring together different mangrove conservation policies through the years, leading to more streamlined management and protection. It seems incongruous that in an

archipelago like the Philippines, with an estimated 18,000 kilometers of coastline, mangrove forests remain hugely undervalued. Oceana defines mangroves as “trees that live along tropical coastlines, rooted in salty sediments, often underwater.” The trees grow complex root networks in the water that become critical habitats and nurseries for the juveniles of various species, including fish that will eventually move to coral reefs and become part of life-supporting fisheries. “When you support fish communities, it’s essential to protect these habitats as part of their life cycle,” said Panaon Expedition consultant and fish expert Dr. Badi Samaniego in an interview for the magazine The Champions of Panaon. “Otherwise, if seagrass beds are buried and eroded, and mangroves cut and reclaimed, developmental habitats are lost. Marine conservation must be approached holistically.”

ECOSYSTEM ENGINEERS

“Like reef-building corals, mangroves are ecosystem engineers,” stated the Oceana website. Mangrove forests also protect coastlines from erosion due to wave action, playing the role of buffers for coastal communities, while also being sources of livelihood and subsistence. For the bigger picture, mangroves are also remarkable carbon sinks, with even greater

Boys frolic in the mangroves of Olango, Cebu ABNER BARNUEVO

absorption capacities than tropical forests, providing yet another barrier, this time to the deadly effects of climate change. Accounts published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer have told of how communities in Del Carmen, Siargao Island and Giporlos, Eastern Samar were saved from the ravages of typhoons Odette and Yolanda, respectively, because of their proximity to mangrove stands.

Still, such mangrove benefits remain largely unknown to many Filipinos. Over the last 50 years or so, almost half of the country’s mangrove growth has been lost to deforestation and firewood extraction, reclamation and human development, pollution, fishpond conversion, and more natural occurrences like stronger typhoons, sea level rise, and inadequate conservation efforts.

The draft for the Senate Bill establishing coastal greenbelt zones cites how, according to Global Mangrove Watch, mangrove habitats in the Philippines covered a total of 2,675.27 square kilometers in 2016, but had decreased by 144.01 square kilometers between 1996 and 2016. Aquaculture was

also cited as a major reason for mangrove loss, to make way for fishponds. When such fishponds are abandoned, undeveloped, and underutilized (AUU), however, they could be converted back into mangroves—but no government agency has taken on the responsibility for this task.

“We live in an archipelago with one of the longest coastlines that is also the pathway of typhoons and storm surges,” noted Oceana Vice President Atty. Gloria Estenzo Ramos, “yet the government favored the so-called development projects in exchange for coastal defense provided by mangroves and beach forest areas, which have been decimated as a result of reclamation and dump-and-fill projects,”

Oceana officially launched its campaign for the restoration of mangrove forest areas in 2022, with the goal of making such efforts and regulations a national law. Since March of that year, the organization has been working with government agencies and stakeholders. Significantly, Oceana has also been helping local government units create their own coastal greenbelt zones, to protect existing mangroves and to

include even small communities in overall conservation efforts.

In October, for example, Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson issued Provincial Executive Order (EO) 22-50, declaring a network of coastal greenbelt zones and allocating resources for the initiative. Other municipalities that have declared local coastal greenbelt areas protected by ordinances are Sta. Fe in Cebu Province, Bais City in Negros Oriental, Calbiga and Sta. Rita in the Province of Samar, and the entire Province of Southern Leyte. Oceana now counts some 92 municipalities nationwide with mandated coastal greenbelt areas.

In the draft for a municipal ordinance for establishing a coastal greenbelt, Republic Act 10121, otherwise known as the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010, is cited, as it requires LGUs to “identify and implement cost-effective risk reduction measures and strategies.” Quoted about the Senate Bill she authored in an Oceana press statement, Senator Risa Hontiveros noted how the cost of establishing coastal greenbelts would

(Clockwise from above) Fisherfolk in a mangrove in Calauit Island, Palawan ALVIN BALOLOY; a coastal greenbelt in the Biri-Larosa Protected Landscape and Seascape in Northern Samar JR DIZON; socio-civic leader and mangroves advocate Mona Lacanlale; local government officials plant mangrove seedlings in Leganes, Iloilo LEGANES LGU; the National Power Corporation oil spill in December 2005 damaged around 100 hectares of mangroves in Semirara Island, Antique. JOSEPH BINAS

only be a fraction of the damages caused annually by typhoons and storm surges.

Further, the draft municipal ordinance states that it is the city or municipality’s responsibility to uphold its residents’ right to “a balanced and healthful ecology” by designating coastal greenbelt zones. This also entails formulating a local coastal greenbelt management action plan employing precautionary principles, ecosystem-based adaptation and mitigation, and a science-based approach; engaging civil society organizations (CSOs), the private sector, the youth, and academe volunteers in the local coastal greenbelt action plan; and providing logistics and resources for the protection, maintenance, administration, and regulation of the coastal greenbelt zone.

In the draft of the Senate Bill, a “coastal greenbelt” is defined as “a strip of natural or artificially created coastal vegetation including mangroves, beach forest, phytoplankton, and seagrasses…designed to prevent coastal erosion, and mitigate the adverse impacts of natural coastal hazards on human lives and property and mitigate the impacts of climate change.”

The cost of establishing coastal greenbelts would only be a fraction of the damage caused annually by typhoons and storm surges

ABSORBING WAVE ENERGY

In a position paper released February 24, 2024, to maintain awareness and push once more for an informed Integrated Coastal Management Act to become law, Ramos further shared the definition of a coastal greenbelt suggested by Dr. Jurgenne Primavera, Chief Mangrove Scientific Advisor for the Zoological Society of London, an internationally acknowledged mangrove expert, and one of the scientists pushing for government action on the law:

“Coastal greenbelt refers to a 100-meterwide strip of natural or planted coastal vegetation extending from the seaward edge of mangroves (middle intertidal zone) towards land, or extending from the seaward edge of beach forest (high tide line) towards land, in cases where mangroves are absent,” Primavera stated. “Its function is to absorb wave energy during storms, thereby reducing wave damage, preventing coastal erosion, and protecting human lives and property.” It is a scientific and experiencebased definition, noted Ramos, citing how, based on a 2012 study by McIvor et al, such a belt could reduce destructive wave energy by as much as 60 percent.

In the position paper, Ramos further cited the importance of separate but complementary sections on National

Coastal Greenbelt Action Plans (NGCAP) and Local Coastal Greenbelt Action Plans (LCGAP). Implementing a national plan would mean bringing it to the communities via local plans, sending much-needed support to localities that have already established such greenbelts. Meanwhile, local plans would reflect the bigger principles of a national plan at the grassroots level, and would entitle them to “the necessary support and technical assistance from national agencies and supervising local governments.”

In the interest of facilitating further action, the position paper also brought forward the importance of integrating the LCGAP with the Local Climate Change Action Plan, the Comprehensive Land Use Plan, and other local development plans. The paper further discussed designated areas for coastal greenbelts, incentives for best practices in local government, the role of national agencies and local government, the need for a scientific advisory group, prohibited activities, and a provision for monitoring, evaluation, and reporting on the implementation of the law. Thus, a National Coastal Greenbelt law would directly tackle the paramount concerns of food security and increasingly dangerous natural disasters.

In July 2024, a photo exhibit on “Our Coastal Greenbelts, Our National Treasure” was held at the National Museum of Natural History, organized by Oceana and scientifically curated by Dr. Primavera.

In the meantime, stakeholders and even civic groups continue to campaign for legislation that will clearly and unequivocally protect these guardians of Philippine coastlines.

Businesswoman Mona Lacanlale, president of the Sigma Delta Phi Sorority Alumni Association, recounts how the association teamed up with Oceana to help fund the restoration of mangroves in San Enrique, Negros Occidental. The group is also planning information campaigns to spread awareness among more Filipinos.

“Each one of us should be involved, as earthlings living on this planet,” she says. “You don’t get to complain about floods and things like that if you’re not a contributor to what is good for the environment. And organizations like Oceana are the vehicles that can put us on the right track.”

A BIG ‘NO’ TO PLASTICS

Taking a stand against the scourge of marine pollution

It is a global recognition for the Philippines, but certainly a dubious one.

In a statement for its campaign against single-use plastic, Oceana confirmed that the country is indeed one of the world’s worst offenders when it comes to marine plastic pollution, as one of the five countries responsible for half of the world’s plastic waste, based on a 2020 study by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), a nongovernment organization working to fight plastic pollution. In terms of waste mismanagement, despite a significantly smaller population, the Philippines has a bigger proportion of mismanaged plastic waste (MPW) than the United States, India,

and Brazil combined, at 5.91 percent. A 2021 study by Lourens J. J. Meijer, et al, further revealed that this amount of MPW adds up to 4 billion tons per year.

In 2017, the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) had already brought up the scourge of microplastics: “Plastic debris is found in the environment in a very wide range of sizes. Researchers first reported finding tiny beads and fragments of plastic, especially polystyrene, in the ocean in the early 1970s. The term ‘microplastics’ was introduced in the mid-2000s. Today, it is used extensively to describe plastic particles with an upper size limit of 5 mm.”

“…Once ingested by fish, birds

or sea mammals, the compounds (in microplastics)—which penetrate the structure of the plastic—may start to leach out…Organisms become continuously contaminated by contact with their environment and by ingestion of contaminated food.” Microplastics are found in many consumer items, from clothing to cosmetics. The clincher: “Many products labelled ‘biodegradable’ (that is, they allegedly break down over time) are not.”

In 2019, the report “Plastic & Health: The Hidden Costs of a Plastic Planet” by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) also determined that some of the chemicals used in plastic may have links to diseases such

as cancer, neurological, reproductive, and developmental problems, and compromised immunity. More recently, in March 2023, in a study by experts from the Mindanao State University, the Iligan Institute of Technology, and Ateneo de Cagayan, published on the website of the US National Institutes of Health’s National Library of Medicine, it was revealed that one can actually breathe in microplastics; the presence of microplastics in the atmosphere was seen in ambient air in Manila—the first study to record such a phenomenon. All the 16 cities and one municipality in Metro Manila tested were confirmed to have suspended atmospheric particles (SAMPs), almost certainly

The Philippines is one of the world’s worst o enders— one of the ve countries responsible for half of the world’s plastic waste

affecting residents’ health.

IN

THE AIR WE BREATHE

“Microplastics are in the air we breathe, in the soil, freshwater, and our seas,” said Atty. Liza Osorio, Senior Director for Campaigns, Legal, and Policy of Oceana, which is advocating the ban of single-use plastics at the source, namely the manufacturers. “Plastic is an escalating crisis for the environment, health, and climate. If we don’t act now to mitigate its impacts, when will the government move?”

A video produced by Oceana listed additional alarming data. As leading consumers of products in sachets— shampoo, toothpaste—Filipinos go through a staggering 6 billion sachets a year, not counting other culprits like plastic bags and bottles; 3 million disposable diapers are thrown into the sea annually, as well, along with 48 million shopping bags. The fact is, only 9 percent of all plastic all over the world is recycled; 12 percent is burned and 70 percent thrown, with 8 million tons heading to the oceans annually— the equivalent of a large garbage truck unloading its insidious contents every single minute.

No wonder then that birds, turtles, fish and other wildlife are killed by plastic; in fact, the video stressed, if Filipinos enjoy their seafood, they are highly likely to be

eating the microplastics consumed by fish, as well: “Sarap, ano? (Delicious, right?)”

In a statement on “Plastic Pollution 101” in July 2021, Oceana had backed this data: “Forty percent of the plastic currently produced is for packaging and single-use plastic, and the amount of plastic entering the ocean, is expected to triple by 2040.” A year earlier, a study published in July on the website Science (science.org) and funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts estimated that 710 million metric tons of plastic waste would still end up in the environment by 2040, despite efforts to curb consumption. Thus, it must boil down to drastically reducing the production of single-use plastic—companies have to stop making them, and offer consumers plasticfree alternatives for their products.

The video discussed how this material, created in 1907 from fossil fuels, first became popular in the 1950s as an alternative to glass because it was light, durable, and cost-efficient, achieving new levels of packaging convenience. Unfortunately, the convenience has cost us, noted the Oceana statement: “The problem is simple. Single-use plastics are profoundly flawed by design. They use a material made to last for centuries—but used only for a few moments…While we’ve been spoonfed by the plastic industry the idea that if everyone recycled, our oceans would not be in its current predicament, the reality is recycling alone can’t solve this crisis.” In fact, the UNEP also estimated that at the current rate, there will actually be more plastic than fish in the oceans by 2050.

Also in July 2021, Oceana hosted a webinar with the International Pollutants Elimination Network and Ecowaste Coalition, where Australian fisheries expert and veterinarian Dr. Matt Landos,

The amount of plastic making its way into the ocean is equivalent to one garbage truckload every minute. DIUVS DE JESUS

director of the Future Fisheries Veterinary Service in New South Wales, underscored how microplastic particles are seriously endangering aquatic life, especially when creatures as small as zooplankton mistake these artificial, zero-nutrition particles for food. Meanwhile, bigger creatures that rely on these zooplankton as food “suffer in a knock-on domino effect of starvation,” Landos said.

Marine microplastics were defined in the webinar as “tiny plastic particles that come from the breakdown of larger plastic items, such as water bottles, plastic packaging, and similar products. This breakdown is caused by exposure to environmental factors, mainly the sun’s radiation and ocean waves.” Yet, no matter how small, like all plastics, these can take hundreds of years to decompose.

Microplastics have, in fact, already infiltrated even drinking water.

The irony is that the Philippines actually has an existing law to address this issue, although implementation has evidently been sorely lacking. Republic Act 9003, “An Act Providing for An Ecological Solid Waste Management Program, Creating the Necessary Institutional Mechanisms and Incentives, Declaring Certain Acts Prohibited and Providing Penalties, Appropriating Funds Therefor, And for Other Purposes,” was passed by the Philippine Congress on December 20, 2000 and approved by the Office of the President on January 26, 2001.

ANNUALLY UPDATED LIST

The Act lists “guidelines and targets for solid waste avoidance and volume reduction” through various measures, including reducing waste at the source, composting, and even proper treatment and disposal of waste in management facilities. The use of non-environmentally acceptable products (NEAP) is prohibited, defined as any materials deemed “unsafe in production, use, post-consumer use, or that produce or release harmful by-products when discarded.” The National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC) was mandated by the Act to prepare a list of such products; Section 29 of the law prescribes that within one year from the effectivity of the Act, the NSWMC would prepare a list of NEAP—a list that was required to henceforth be annually updated by the NSWMC.

That was 2002. In October 2021, Oceana and several sectoral representatives—youth, fisherfolk, even lawmakers, a total of 52 petitioners—filed for legal action against the NSWMC,

citing “utter neglect on plastic pollution.” Respondents in the petition were the NSWMC and its members from 14 national government agencies and the private sector, including Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu, Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez, Science and Technology Secretary Fortunato dela Peña, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, Public Works Secretary Mark A. Villar, Agriculture Secretary William Dar, and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) CEO Benjamin Abalos Jr., among others.

For the commission’s 20-year inaction on listing NEAP, the petitioners referred to two mechanisms of the law: the Writ of Kalikasan, a legal remedy under Philippine law that provides protection of one’s constitutional right to a healthy environment, as prescribed in the Philippine Constitution, and a Writ of Continuing Mandamus, for the unlawful neglect of or lack of compliance to a mandated act. “Members of the courts need to be capacitated,” said Oceana Vice President Atty. Gloria Estenzo Ramos. “If they don’t appreciate the connectivity of all ecosystems and people, they are just being technical. They don’t study environmental implications, so it doesn’t translate into action.”

As one fisherman petitioner stated in Pilipino, “Plastic waste is getting caught in corals, which serve as breeding ground for fish. The death of these corals means less fish to catch, and is a huge setback for us who depend on our ocean for income and sustenance.”

“What is so frustrating,” Ramos added, “is the fact that these problems could have been avoided had the NSWMC acted on its mandate…The two decades that NSWMC wasted are a clear manifestation that the agency is not taking this problem seriously. The Filipino people have had enough and are now demanding accountability.”

Just last July 2024, the Court of Appeals again directed the commission to come up with a list, noting that it had not done its job for over two decades, Ramos noted. In fact, the manufacture, distribution, or use of non-environmentally acceptable materials, as well as the import of consumer products packaged in such materials, have been prohibited under Section 48 of RA 9003 for the last 24 years. The NSWMC’s next move is currently awaited.

Meanwhile, plastic continues to be an insidious presence in the environment. In November 2021, the Coastal Resources

How about a plastic-free home?

In 2022, Oceana released guidelines on how to bring the no-plastic solution home, as it were, and keep your house a plastic-free zone.

“Every time we click ‘check out’ in any online shopping platform, we contribute to the plastic crisis not only in our country but all over the world,” Ramos said, referring to the proliferation of online deliveries that resulted in multiplied amounts of plastic during the COVID-19 lockdowns. “If we don’t rethink our strategies, even if the pandemic doesn’t kill us, plastic pollution will.”

Oceana recommended that Filipinos make a difference by making sustainable lifestyle choices each day.

• Cook at home to avoid food deliveries in plastic containers with plastic cutlery; when delivery can’t be avoided, pick restaurants that choose non-plastic packaging, like restaurants that serve meals on banana leaves.

• Bring your own bags to markets and supermarkets, whether they be cloth, net bags, or bayong.

• Ask online supermarkets to deliver in boxes, not plastic bags, and buy products in bulk— certainly not in plastic-intensive sachets.

• Bring reusable water bottles, mugs, even cutlery and straws; those metal straws are all the rage.

• Store leftovers in glass containers.

• Choose personal items that don’t come in plastic bottles, such as bar soaps and shampoos.

• Bring your own refillable containers for cleaning supplies when the option is available.

• Use washable cloths instead of single-use wipes to clean surface areas.

and Ecotourism Research, Development and Extension Center (CRERDEC) of the Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (ERDB) released an Ecosystem Research Digest on “Microplastic Contamination Determination on Selected Major Water Bodies of the Philippines.”

Samples were collected from 10 sites all over the country: Subic Bay, Lamon Bay, Manila Bay, Apo Reef Natural Park, Boracay Island, Taklong Island National Marine Reserve, Tañon Strait Protected Seascape, Butuan Bay, Iligan Bay, and the Davao Gulf. The troubling result was that a protected area, the Tañon Strait Protected Seascape, had the highest density of microplastics, at 54 pieces per liter, followed by tourism destinations Subic Bay and Boracay. “Such findings can be a cause of alarm, as the presence of microplastics could be detrimental to the coral reef ecosystem in marine protected areas,” the study stressed.

These findings by a government-led study renewed the push for the immediate ban of single-use plastic by marine conservation groups, citing how the food security of future generations of Filipinos was now at stake. Fisherfolk leader Pablo Rosales lamented in Filipino, “It is saddening to hear that the Tañon Strait we protected and cared for is slowly being degraded by plastic waste. The sea is where

we get our income and food.”

SECURITY AT STAKE

In July 2022, at his inauguration, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. mentioned the need for the country to address the scourge of plastic. Oceana released a statement urging the new administration to “do what previous administrations failed to do—muster the political will to fully implement RA 9003 and ban singleuse plastics.”

Oceana cited the example of places in the country which have achieved success in doing away with plastic, such as the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park (TRNP), a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site, governed by Administrative Order No. 2, series of 2019 issued by the Tubbataha Protected Area Management Board (TPAMB). After a first-offense warning when caught with single-use plastic, further violations merit a fine of

Wildlife is in constant danger of harm or even death due to the ingestion of microplastics.
*Waste Assessments and Brand Audit 2019 conducted by Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA)

P10,000 for the second offense, P30,000 for the third offense, and a one-year ban from entering TRNP for the fourth offense. Single-use plastic products include mineral water bottles, plastic cutlery, straws, stirrers, and styrofoam cups and plates. The ban is a way to protect birds, fish, and wildlife from the effects of plastic.

Meanwhile, Oceana continues to celebrate victories, and campaign for solutions. In a report released on November 14, 2023, the organization revealed how a mere 10-percent increase in reusable packaging for soda and other

There’s a law,

but…

On March 5, 2024, single-use plastic was banned in the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park in Isabela, the country’s largest protected area

beverages by 2030 could decrease the number of single-use bottles and cups being produced by a whopping 1 trillion, keeping 153 billion of them from floating away in already stressed-out oceans

and bodies of water. Oceana provided a staggering image: When stacked, these bottles and cups could reach the moon and back 300 times!

The report cited beverage giants The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo, who already have reusable containers, and have committed to increasing the number of such receptacles by at least 10 percent by 2030. Returnable glass bottles are abundant in the Philippines, so a system for reuse is already in place. Refillable plastic bottles, the report noted, can be used up to 25 times, while refillable glass bottles can be reused 50 times.

Everything that needs to be done about plastic is in the Solid Waste Management Act of 2000—but as always, it’s the implementation that has stalled

REPUBLIC Act No. 9003, “An Act Providing For An Ecological Solid Waste Management Program, Creating The Necessary Institutional Mechanisms And Incentives, Declaring Certain Acts Prohibited And Providing Penalties, Appropriating Funds Therefor, And For Other Purposes,” was signed on January 26, 2001 by then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

The law is quite clear on policies and responsibilities; it seems the implementation remains the problem, as it remains to this day, 23 years later. Here are some salient portions of the Act:

Chapter I, Article 1, SECTION 2.  Declaration of Policies. — It is hereby declared the policy of the State to adopt a systematic, comprehensive and ecological solid waste management program which shall:

(a) Ensure the protection of public health and environment;

(b) Utilize environmentally sound methods that maximize the utilization of valuable resources and encourage resource conservation and recovery;

(c) Set guidelines and targets for solid waste avoidance and volume reduction through source reduction and waste minimization measures, including composting, recycling, re-use, recovery, green charcoal process, and others, before collection, treatment and disposal in appropriate and environmentally sound solid waste management facilities in accordance with ecologically sustainable development principles;

(d) Ensure the proper segregation, collection, transport, storage, treatment and disposal of solid waste through the formulation and adoption of the best environmental practice in ecological waste management excluding incineration;

(e) Promote national research and

development programs for improved solid waste management and resource conservation techniques, more effective institutional arrangement and indigenous and improved methods of waste reduction, collection, separation, and recovery;

(f) Encourage greater private sector participation in solid waste management;

(g) Retain primary enforcement and responsibility of solid waste management with local government units while establishing a cooperative effort among the national government, other local government units, non-government organizations, and the private sector;

(h) Encourage cooperation and selfregulation among waste generators through the application of market-based instruments;

(i) Institutionalize public participation in the development and implementation of national and local integrated, comprehensive and ecological waste management programs; and

(j) Strengthen the integration of ecological solid waste management and resource conservation and recovery topics into the academic curricula of formal and nonformal education in order to promote environmental awareness and action among the citizenry.

Chapter II – Institutional Mechanism, Section 4: National Solid Waste Management Commission. — There is hereby established a National Solid Waste Management Commission, hereinafter referred to as the Commission, under the Office of the President. The Commission shall be composed of fourteen (14) members from the government sector and three (3) members from the private sector. The government sector shall be represented by the heads of the following agencies in their ex

officio capacity:

(1) Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR);

(2) Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG);

(3) Department of Science and Technology (DOST);

(4) Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH);

(5) Department of Health (DOH);

(6) Department of Trade and Industry (DTI);

(7) Department of Agriculture (DA);

(8) Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA);

(9) League of provincial governors; (10) League of city mayors;

(11) League of municipal mayors;

(12) Association of barangay councils; (13) Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA); and (14) Philippine Information Agency.

The private sector shall be represented by the following:

(a) A representative from non-government organizations (NGOs) whose principal purpose is to promote recycling and the protection of air and water quality;

(b) A representative from the recycling industry; and

(c) A representative from the manufacturing or packaging industry

Section 5: The Commission shall undertake the following activities: …p) Formulate and update a list of non-environmentally acceptable materials in accordance with the provisions of this Act. For this purpose, it shall be necessary that proper consultation be conducted by the Commission with all concerned industries to ensure a list that is based on technological and economic viability.

“We’ve spent too much time chasing circular fantasies while huge amounts of plastic continue to flood into our oceans,” noted Matt Littlejohn, Oceana’s Senior Vice President for Strategic Initiatives. “The way to really make a difference is to replace single-use plastic with reusable packaging. We need companies and governments to stop betting on the wrong horse with recycling and to prioritize the expansion and re-establishment of reusable packaging systems instead.”

Oceana shared the news on March 5, 2024, when single-use plastic was banned in the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park (NSMNP) in Isabela, the country’s largest protected area. The park measures 359,486 hectares, 287,861 hectares of land area and 71,625 hectares of coastline marine areas, covering eight municipalities, plus the city of Ilagan, all in the Province of Isabela.

The Protected Area Management Board’s (PAMB) resolution prohibits the sale or distribution of any product “placed, wrapped, or packaged in single-use plastics, such as plastic bags, straws, cutlery, stirrers and styrofoam,” said the Oceana statement. The NSMNP was established as a protected area through Republic Act No. 9125 of 2001, in accordance with the National Integrated Protected Area System of 1992 and the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 2018. It is one of the Philippines’ richest protected areas, one of 10 priority areas in the country, outstanding in terms of species and habitat diversity.

The year before, on June 13, 2023, the Apo Reef Natural Park (ARNP) Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) had also passed an ordinance prohibiting the use, sale, or distribution of lightweight plastic singlet bags (known as plastic labo) and produce bags (known as sando bags), as well as disposable cutlery, straws, stirrers, cups, bowls, flat plates, Cling Wrap, and clamshell food containers. Beverages in single-use bottles or doy and tetra packs were likewise banned.

“While most of the trash in Apo Reef is washed ashore from nearby provinces and countries, we still need to address this waste pollution problem inside the protected area,” said Krystal Dayne T. Villanada, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)’s Ecosystem Management Specialist and Protected Area Superintendent of ARNP. “We want to be the beating heart of the battle against marine pollution in Mindoro.” ARNP is only the second marine natural park to ban single-use plastics in the country, after the Tubbataha Reef Natural Park.

About 90 percent of the litter that clogs Manila Bay—and which destroys mangroves, as well— consists of plastics. DIUVS DE JESUS

timeline

2014

AUG

1

Oceana was established in the Philippines, the rst outpost in Asia of this US-based marine conservation organization.

2015

OCTOBER 15–NOVEMBER 5

An exploratory and scienti c expedition to the coral-rich Panaon Island, Southern Leyte, paves the way for the ling of bills in both the House of Representatives and the Senate to declare the island a protected area under RA 11038, the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 2018.

OCTOBER 12

Agriculture Secretary William Dar issues FAO 266 to promulgate vessel monitoring rules for all commercial shing vessels. The order aims to deter over shing caused by the illegal intrusion of commercial shing inside municipal waters.

MAY 15

2020

The National Sardines Management Plan is approved by the Department of Agriculture, after Oceana pushes for recognition of the importance of sardines, which account for 15 percent of the national sh catch. Oceana campaigns for the adoption and implementation of the plan in all 12 FMAs.

Oceana and its campaign partners among artisanal sherfolk, academe, scientists, and other civil society groups successfully block the passage of House Bill 7853. This bill, sponsored by Cebu Rep. Pablo Garcia Jr., attempts to allow commercial shing operations inside the 15-kilometer zone of municipal waters.

Oceana participates in initiatives to protect mangroves, seagrass beds, and coral reefs threatened by reclamation and seabed dredging projects in Manila Bay and other areas. DILG issues

Memorandum Circular 2022-018, reminding local governments of their duty to protect the environment, and outlining critical measures to do so.

Oceana joins consultations on the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of RA 10654, the Amended Fisheries Code, which upholds science-based and inclusive sheries management and puts in place key measures to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) shing, which marginalizes artisanal sherfolk and leads to over shing and shrinking sh populations.

Oceana and the League of Municipalities of the Philippines launch Karagatan Patrol (https://karagatanpatrol. org/), the country’s rst online platform for reporting illegal shing in municipal waters.

To keep leaders accountable, Oceana develops a Citizens Scorecard to assist stakeholders in assessing the compliance of decision-makers to the legal requirements and safeguards for environmental protection under the Philippine Environmental Impact Statement Systems Act, the Amended Fisheries Code, and other laws.

FEBRUARY

Oceana, together with Rare, government agencies, and local government units, convenes the 1st General Assembly of the Management Body of Tañon Strait Protected Seascape.

Oceana and partner civil society organizations develop the FMA Scorecard to monitor the implementation of FAO 263, assess the level of compliance in FMAs, and recommend measures for e ective sheries management.

JUNE

Oceana and artisanal sherfolk work closely to push for the use of vessel monitoring measures (VMM).

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issues a memorandum directing the full implementation of vessel monitoring rules to track the location, speed, and catch of all commercial shing vessels greater than 3 gross tons.

House approves the Panaon Island Protected Seascape and Coastal Greenbelt bills.

BFAR issues the implementing guidelines for reference points and harvest control rules of the National Sardine Management Plan.

Letter to Tañon Strait, about the largest marine protected area in the Philippines, is released.

JANUARY 28

T

Oceana joins marine scientists from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and the University of the Philippines (UP) for an expedition to Benham Rise. The government appoints a Special Prosecutor for illegal commercial shing in Tañon Strait.

he Fisheries Bureau issues Fisheries Administrative Order 263, paving the way for the establishment of 12 Fisheries Management Areas (FMA) in the country, each governed by a management body and supported by a scienti c advisory group.

The Tañon Strait Protected Seascape Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) requires monitoring devices for all commercial shing vessel transiting in the area

Oceana works for DILG Memorandum Circular 2018147, providing guidelines on the implementation of the Fisheries Compliance Audit (FishCA).

MAY 16

Together with partners from government, academe, and NGOs, Oceana successfully campaigns for the signing of a presidential proclamation by President Rodrigo Duterte, declaring the 500-square-kilometer Benham Rise, renamed the Philippine Rise and including Benham Bank, a marine resource reserve.

Oceana works for the promulgation of DILG Memorandum Circular 201859, providing policies and implementing guidelines to coastal local governments on shery activities in municipal waters, in conjunction with RA 10654, the Amended Fisheries Code.

NOVEMBER 28

Oceana collaborates with protected area management boards to lead to resolutions banning the single-use plastics in nationally established marine protected areas, such as the Tubbataha Reefs National Park and Apo Reef National Park.

Oceana campaigns to protect mangrove forests, the archipelago’s primary defense against climate change, leading to coastal greenbelts being established by 84 local governments all over the country. The Integrated Coastal Management/National Coastal Greenbelt Bill is under deliberation in the Senate, having been passed in the House of Representatives.

Oceana helps push for the signing of the Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), banning bottom trawlers within municipal waters and protecting 266,000 square kilometers of ocean.

AUGUST 1

The National Sardine Management Plan is adopted through legislation by 29 local governments in Samar and Northern Samar, who were issued legal instruments to implement the plan. Oceana supports this implementation in collaboration with artisanal sherfolk, the academe, and civil society organizations.

Oceana marks 10 years of successful advocacy for sheries abundance in the country.

Pioneering Oceana campaign is launched to integrate food security and livelihood and reduce sh loss in Daram,

CHAMPIONING TRANSPARENT, SCIENCE-BASED FISHERIES

Fighting illegal commercial fishing through monitoring, control, and surveillance

Oceana began operations in the Philippines the same year the then outdated Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998 (Republic Act or RA 8550) was being amended and eventually lapsed into law as RA 10654, “An Act to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing,” on March 24, 2015.

The move was nudged along by a yellow card warning from the European Union (EU) in June 2014, leading to a long-awaited update in the 17-year-old RA 8550. The warning: The country should move to combat IUU fishing, or

all Philippine seafood products would be banned in the EU, the world’s top fish consumer, which works to maintain international fishing standards—and which imported US$9.4 billion worth of seafood from the Philippines in 2013.

In a 2017 statement, Oceana Vice President Atty. Gloria Estenzo Ramos noted, “The amended Fisheries Code provides the bite needed to empower our local enforcers to better protect our seas, allowing fish stocks to recover from decades of overfishing…Now we’re paving the way for science-based policies, transparency plus better enforcement.”

Ramos added that such significant amendments in the code “allow for a more rational approach to fish catch production. We have had good laws on paper but sadly, we have been quite lacking in terms of enforcement.”

The code contains 142 sections with 10 chapters of updated management

and conservation measures for the management of marine resources, fisheries, and aquaculture in the Philippines, and for the empowerment of both local and national fisheries agencies.

Also in 2017, Oceana published Primer: The Fisheries Code of the Philippines–RA 8550, as amended by RA 10654, a simple guide for fishers, local government units (LGUs), and laymen to understand the amended Fisheries Code.

The primer discusses how the country’s wealth of marine resources feeds about 50 million Filipinos, provides long-term livelihood to fishing communities, and even supplies the rest of the world as an exporter of wild-caught fish. Yet, Filipino fisherfolk remain poor, due to several factors: declining fish catch, the destruction of marine habitats, and probably the most insidious of all, the encroachment of commercial fishers in municipal waters.

“Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing exploits the natural resources of coastal nations, reduces economic opportunities, and threatens food security—particularly in developing countries,” says the Oceana Europe website.

“IUU fishing is found in all types and dimensions of fisheries,” states the United Nations Food and Agricultural

Organization (FAO). “…IUU fishing undermines national and regional efforts to conserve and manage fish stocks and, as a consequence, inhibits progress towards achieving the goals of long-term sustainability and responsibility. Moreover, IUU fishing greatly disadvantages and discriminates against those fishers that act responsibly, honestly and in accordance with the terms of their fishing authorizations…threatening marine biodiversity, food security for communities who rely on fisheries resources for protein, and the livelihoods of those involved in the sector.”

In an April 2023 statement, Oceana added that IUU fishing accounted for 27 to 40 percent of fish caught in the Philippines in 2019, at the cost of some P62 billion annually. Up to 422,000 metric tons of catch by commercial fishers remain unreported.

DA Undersecretary for Fisheries Drusila Bayate notes how adept illegal fishers have become at evading the law. “The approach of those who violate the law is very

dynamic. Never underestimate them if they want to be illegal, because they can be smarter than a Ph.D. holder in fisheries. They will revise the gear so they can still be on the legal side.”

Meanwhile, “illegal fishing” now also covers violations on the regional level, and involves harsher penalties; the “cost” of unauthorized fishing, for example, has increased from P10,000, with the confiscation of catch and gear, as per the previous law, to up to P10 million in fines and six months’ imprisonment.

Other amendments cover such details as an area’s carrying capacity and the number of fishing vessels allowed in an area at any given time, and most significantly, reportorial requirements—a daily record of fishing information—and a crucial Monitoring, Control, and Surveillance (MCS) System henceforth required for every municipal, commercial, and distant water fishing vessel, in order to constantly ascertain their position, course, and speed for traceability.

In a note published in May 2015, then Oceana CEO Andy Sharpless lauded these “much-needed reforms that will undermine illegal fishing activity and help rebuild fisheries. It is an important precedent: The country is the fourteenth largest in terms of catching wild seafood, and has 1.3 million small-scale fishers and millions more who rely on fisheries for their livelihood—and yet over 75 percent of Filipino fisheries are currently considered overfished.”

IUU shing accounted for 27 to 40 percent of sh caught in the Philippines in 2019, at the cost of some P62 billion annually

Meanwhile, small fishers still get the short end of the stick. After a year as regional director of Region VI, a very productive fisheries production area, “I discovered that coastal municipalities with the highest production also have the highest poverty incidence,” Bayate adds. “Our fisherfolk, when they go fishing, already owe money for the ice. They owe for the fuel. So when the fisherman returns from his fishing trip, he already has a debt.”

NEW PROHIBITED ACTS

The Philippines’ Amended Fisheries Code ramps up the fight against IUU fishing, counting some 21 new prohibited acts.

A key weapon against IUU fishing has been highlighted in the Amended Fisheries Code of 2015, in Section 7: “SEC. 14. Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) of Fishing in all Philippine Waters and Philippine Flagged Distant Water Fishing Vessels. – A monitoring, control and surveillance system shall be established by the

Department in coordination with LGUs, FARMCs [Fisheries and Aquatic Resource Management Councils], the private sector and other agencies concerned to ensure that the fisheries and aquatic resources in Philippine waters are judiciously and wisely utilized and managed on a sustainable basis and conserved for the benefit and enjoyment exclusively of Filipino citizens. The MCS system shall encompass all Philippine flagged fishing vessels regardless of fishing area and final destination of catch.”

In 2018, Fisheries Administrative Order No. 266 laid out the “Rules and Regulations on the Implementation of Vessel Monitoring Measures (VMM) And

Large foreign commercial fishing fleets (opposite page) and even the smaller commercial fishers (above) threaten the livelihoods of artisanal fishers (below) every time they encroach on municipal waters. DIUVS DE JESUS

Electronic Reporting System (ERS) for Commercial Philippine Flagged Fishing Vessels.” This requires the installation of a monitoring device to track and transmit a boat’s location and speed in real time, for every fishing boat over 3 gross tons. The order was signed in 2020 by Secretary of Agriculture William Dar.

VMM, according to Oceana, is an effective tool for fisheries management, especially inside the 15-kilometer area municipal waters. Data from the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA) has revealed that the volume of marine fisheries from both commercial and municipal fishing areas has been declining continuously for the last decade; 2017 data from the National Stock Assessment Program had already indicated that 80 percent of Philippine fisheries stocks are highly exploited.

As of July 2024, 89.4 percent of commercial shing vessels had been tted with VMM and ERS, according to BFAR

The UN FAO listed some of the objectives of Fisheries Administrative Order No. 266, including enhancing monitoring of fishing operations for fisheries management through the implementation of VMM; facilitating law enforcement in the regulation of capture fisheries for greater resource sustainability; tracking fishing behavior for scientific research and data; gathering data on fishing effort and catch through electronic reporting, to inform fisheries

management; helping ensure seafood traceability and catch documentary requirements; ensuring fishers’ safety; and implementing Republic Act 8550, as amended by RA 10654.

In June 2019, a Filipino fishing boat, the F/B Gem-Ver, was rammed by a Chinese vessel in the Reed Bank in the South China Sea, once again bringing to the fore the need to be able to monitor such vessels.

“Our fisheries laws are clear on requiring tracking device for commercial fishing vessels, but if we continue to ignore its importance in deterring illegal fishing and

possible human rights abuses, and take the business-as-usual mindset, our own people will face the grave consequences,” Oceana said in a statement, where it urged the Philippine government to immediately implement the vessel monitoring system for all commercial fishing vessels. The organization’s own investigation of the incident blamed “poor oversight, weak regulations, and lack of transparency” for making fishing “a vulnerable sector for illicit activity like IUU fishing, human trafficking, and forced labor.”

By 2022, in an ANC television news feature on Oceana’s satellite monitoring system Karagatan Patrol, launched in 2019, it was revealed that the organization had already filed a petition the previous year, asking the Supreme Court to compel the Department of Agriculture and BFAR to implement the VMM, to no avail.

In February 2023, the M/T Princess Empress sank off Oriental Mindoro and was found three weeks later, still leaking the 800,000 liters of the industrial fuel it was carrying, with the contents reaching the waters of Palawan and the Verde Island Passage. During investigations, it was revealed that commercial fishing was still taking place even in the area of the oil spill. That same month, Oceana had reported that only 58 percent of commercial fishing vessels had been fitted with VMM and ERS.

Then, in an unexpected Memorandum dated March 13, 2023, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin directed DA-BFAR to suspend the implementation of Fisheries Administrative Order No. 266, “until

Fishing grounds within 15 kilometers of the shore are the territory of subsistence fishermen. DIUVS DE JESUS
Former Agriculture Secretary WILLIAM DAR / TEDDY PELAEZ

the Supreme Court has not issued its final resolution on the constitutionality” of the order—and meanwhile, allowing commercial fishers to continue functioning without the required satellite transponders for their VMM and ERS.

STERN REMINDERS

In April 2023, Oceana released a position

What’s

paper on this suspension, with some stern reminders: “It bears stressing that the fight against IUU fishing is anchored on the commitment as member of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN-FAO), which adopted the International Plan of Action (IPOA) to prevent, deter, and eliminate IUU fishing. The Philippines likewise formally adopted a National Plan

in the Amended Fisheries Code?

of Action (NPOA) through Executive Order No. 154 in 2013… Suspending FAO 266 is a grave abuse of discretion and exercised without authority, as the duty to enforce laws are mandates of the Executive Department.”

Oceana enumerated several reasons for its objection. The suspension contradicted the Amended Fisheries Code, despite this

Mandatory monitoring tech and fines amounting to millions, for starters

“An act to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing” sums up Republic Act 10654, an amendment of Republic Act 8550, or the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1988. Recognized as law in February 2015, signed by President Benigno Aquino III, it addresses IUU fishing activities not regulated by its predecessor—among them, fishing in a foreign state without permission, fishing activities unreported or misreported to the authorities, and fishing in areas under regional fishery management organization by vessels without nationality.

To keep tabs on vessels (and potential IUU activity), Philippine flagged fishing vessels “regardless of fishing area and final destination of catch” are required to install a Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) system (SECTION 7, Section 14). With the MCS, vessels can be tracked for their “position, course, and speed at any given time for the purpose of managing fishing effort and for traceability.”

Meanwhile, six months of jail time, and penalties of up to P45 million (for commercial fishers) and even P120 million (for poachers) await violators of the repealed Section 17, Chapter VI of RA 8550. Prohibitions and Penalties in the new Chapter VI of RA 10654 include:

SEC. 86. Unauthorized Fishing. – (a) It shall be unlawful for any person to capture or gather or to cause the capture or gathering of fish, fry or fingerlings of any fishery species or fishery products without license or permit from the Department or LGU. Except in cases specified under this Code, it shall also be unlawful for any commercial fishing vessel to fish in municipal waters…Provided, that fishing for daily food sustenance or for leisure which is not for commercial, occupation or livelihood purposes may be allowed.

SEC. 87. Engaging in Unauthorized Fisheries Activities. – It shall be unlawful for any person to exploit, occupy, produce, breed or culture fish, fry or fingerlings of any fishery species or fishery products or construct and operate fish corrals, fish traps, fish pens and fish cages or fishponds without a license, lease or permit.

SEC. 91. Poaching in Philippine Waters. – It shall be unlawful for any foreign person, corporation or entity to fish or operate any fishing vessel in Philippine waters.

SEC. 92. Fishing Through Explosives, Noxious or Poisonous Substance, or Electricity. – (a) It shall be unlawful for any person to catch, take or gather or cause to be caught, taken or gathered fish or any fishery species in Philippine waters with the use of explosives, noxious or poisonous substance such as sodium cyanide, which will kill, stupefy, disable or render unconscious fish or fishery species…

SEC. 94. Fishing in Overexploited Fishery Management Areas. – It shall be unlawful for any person to fish in fishery management areas declared as overexploited.

SEC. 96. Ban on Coral Exploitation and Exportation. – It shall be unlawful for any person or corporation to gather, possess, commercially transport, sell or export ordinary, semi-precious and precious corals, whether raw or in processed form, except for scientific or research purposes. It shall also be unlawful for any person,

corporation or entity to commit any activity that damages coral reefs.

SEC. 99. Conversion of Mangroves. – It shall be unlawful for any person to convert mangroves into fishponds or for any other purpose.

SEC. 100. Fishing During Closed Season. – It shall be unlawful to fish during closed season.

SEC. 101. Fishing in Marine Protected Areas, Fishery Reserves, Refuge and Sanctuaries. – It shall be unlawful to fish in marine protected areas, fishery reserves, refuge, or fish sanctuaries as declared by the Department or the LGUs.

SEC. 102. Fishing or Taking of Rare, Threatened or Endangered Species. – (a) It shall be unlawful to fish or take, catch, gather, sell, purchase, possess, transport, export, forward or ship out aquatic species listed in Appendix I of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), or those categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as threatened and determined by the Department as such.

SEC. 119. Noncompliance with Vessel Monitoring Measures. – No municipal, commercial or distant water fishing vessel shall engage in fishing activity without complying with the vessel monitoring measures promulgated by the Department in coordination with the LGUs: Provided, that for vessels operating in Philippine waters, only the catcher vessel shall be covered by this requirement. It shall also be unlawful to intentionally tamper with, switch off or disable the vessel monitoring system.

For a better understanding and appreciation of RA 10654, Oceana created a Primer that presents the amendments in non-technical terms and Q&A format. Meant as a guide for policy makers, law enforcers, local government units, and those in the fishing industry, the Primer is reader-friendly to civil society too, as everyone has a stake in our seas. “Illegal fishing must stop,” said former President Rodrigo Duterte. “The bounty of our seas and waters is not for us alone. We must leave something for the future generation.”

Watching the seas from the sky

Karagatan Patrol brings monitoring illegal fishing to new heights

I

F YOU’RE a fishing boat using a superlight to catch fish illegally, then the eye in the sky will see you. More specifically, Karagatan Patrol, the online platform established by Oceana Philippines in 2019 together with the League of Municipalities of the Philippines, uses global satellite technology to detect fishing vessels— and make sure bigger commercial boats are not encroaching on municipal waters, the turf of subsistence and community fisherfolk. Using Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), the platform identifies on a map the location of fishing boats that are using powerful lights to lure fish.

A 2022 ANC TV news feature on the platform revealed that VIIRS has been around for almost a decade, but this is the first time the data can be posted on Facebook, allowing the public to help report illegal fishing—a huge advantage considering that, according to the

Department of Agriculture, some P5 trillion a year is lost to illegal and destructive fishing. At the 7th Our Ocean Conference in Palau in April 2022, Tony Long, chief executive officer of the non-profit international watchdog organization Global Fishing Watch, called Karagatan Patrol “a prime example of how global satellite technology can be used to detect fishing vessels, in combination with information sharing and effective enforcement measures, to create impact at the regional level.”

At the same conference, Karagatan Patrol proved its mettle by presenting data on the presence of commercial fishing vessels during the closed fishing season for sardines in the Visayan Sea from November 15, 2021 to February 15, 2022. The platform counted 33 detections in Carles, Iloilo, and 46 in Coron, Palawan, also during the closed season. The biggest numbers of intrusions were from

code being almost a decade old, but had yet to be implemented in full; Oceana’s Karagatan Patrol platform, in fact, has “continuously detected and recorded” intrusions of commercial fishing vessels into municipal waters. The suspension was inconsistent with Philippine obligations as a signatory of international agreements, such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, requiring countries to exercise jurisdiction and control over their vessels; the UN’s IPOA, in fact, advises severe sanctions for IUU fishing vessels “to effectively prevent, deter, and eliminate IUU fishing and to deprive offenders of the benefits accruing from such fishing.”

Oceana cited the oil spill to appeal to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to lift the suspension of Fisheries Administrative

Former Agriculture Secretary William Dar candidly recalls how implementing VMM was the biggest challenge during his term, from 2019 to 2022

Order 266: “We are in an emergency situation and the health and safety of the source of food of the people should be of utmost priority,” said Oceana’s Ramos.

Karagatan Patrol had used its Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) to spot 276 vessels in the Cuyo West Pass waters near Northern Palawan from March 5 to 18, Oceana revealed. The

Tongkil, Sulu at 97, 52 in Hadji Muhtamad, 23 in Zamboanga City, and 14 in Sibuco, Zamboanga del Norte. The closed season in Zamboanga Peninsula takes place during sardine spawning season. Karagatan Patrol’s 2021 data also revealed some 1,937 incursions during the pandemic in Zamboanga City, as well as the year’s top “scorer” province, Quezon, with 5,120 detected incursions.

The system still has its limitations, however, ANC reported, as it only works at night, is not immediate—there’s a 24-hour turnaround— and is unable to identify specific vessels. Still, Oceana used this presentation as a reason to push for comprehensive vessel monitoring, still to be undertaken despite a two-year-old law at the time of the conference, proving that Philippine municipal waters are still at risk from illegal commercial fishing—and commercial fishers continue to defy the law.

Still, enforcers on the ground have already benefited from Karagatan Patrol, as shown in a video produced by Oceana. “We can’t patrol our whole maritime territory, which is so vast, but with the tool developed by Karagatan Patrol and our partner Oceana, you don’t need to scour every area of our seas,” said Police Col. Fernando Cunanan Jr. of the Philippine National Police Maritime Group.

Police Corporal Gerald Garganera, Bantay Dagat police escort in the Municipality of Tolosa, Leyte, talked about how local fisherfolk were actively reporting illegal fishing activities on Facebook. “Most important, we get reports in real time. Sharing our accomplishments on Karagatan Patrol’s Facebook page was a big help for our team, since we gained the trust of our fisherfolk in helping us stop illegal fishing activities and protecting our marine protected areas.”

statement also quoted Mindanao State University–Iligan Institute of Technology Environmental Science Professor and MSU-Bataraza, Palawan Campus Director Dr. Hernando Bacosa, during a press conference organized by Greenpeace, Oceana, and the Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED), who said that “an oil spill can really alter, can really destroy this complicated food web, destroy marine life, degrade shore amenities, harm economic activities, and impact human welfare.”

“VMM would definitely help the government identify fish catch for safety tests, and this would have been in place already had the government pursued the completion of VMM installation on all commercial fishing vessels, as mandated

A screen grab from Karagatan Patrol’s boat detection video

by the law,” added Ramos. “Moreover, the Philippines has already rebounded from the yellow card warning handed down by the European Union for unchecked illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in our waters. But it seems that we have not yet learned our lesson.”

Former Agriculture Secretary William Dar candidly recalls how implementing VMM was the biggest challenge during his term, from 2019 to 2022. “Parts of the commercial sector resisted, especially since they were now going into community fishing grounds. We wanted to properly implement vessel monitoring so that municipal fishing grounds were not devastated or endangered. There were the recalcitrant ones who did not follow. They even went forum shopping and used the judiciary for support. There are officials in government who are part of the commercial fishers. Well, we stood our ground, even if there were challenges.”

The outcry was eventually heard, however, as on June 23, 2023, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. directed the full implementation of the vessel monitoring requirement.

The President, who was also concurrent Secretary of Agriculture,

The trouble with trawling

Reining in one of the most destructive of fishing methods

IMAGINE a heavy net dragged across the bottom of the ocean to catch fish, but inevitably destroying and running over everything in its path, including precious coral reefs.

Commercial trawling has been banned in many places in the Philippines since 1953, and for good reason. In a policy brief on “Bottom Trawling in the Philippines” published in December 2017, Oceana described the system as “cone-shaped fishing gear made of nets that are dragged on the bottom by one or more boats via long towing ropes attached to the sides of a main bag net.” Used mainly to catch shrimp and prawn, bottom trawling wreaks havoc on the seabed and its habitats, and often corrals in juveniles, dragging in turtles and other non-targeted species as by-catch. Trawling also displaces or destroys other fishing gear, including passive fish traps, leading to community tensions; considered an active type of fishing gear, it was also banned from use within 15 kilometers of any coastline, even by the now-amended Republic Act No. 8550 or the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998.

In 2001, Fisheries Administrative Order 201 was issued by the Department of Agriculture–Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR), addressing “Guidelines on the Ban on Active Gear” within municipal waters.

In the policy brief, Oceana pointed out the myriad of reasons why bottom trawling should be banned. As a non-selective fishing method, it catches indiscriminately, but mostly “victimizing” juveniles, and resulting in overexploitation and overfishing. The volume of discarded by-catch is high, and includes essential ecosystem species such as pufferfish, stonefish, sea snakes, porcupine fishes, soft and hard corals, algae, and seagrasses, and all their residents.

Oceana’s recommendations to address the menace of bottom trawlers include a joint administrative order by the DA-BFAR and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), mandating LGUs and other law enforcement agencies “to enforce the total ban of bottom trawlers in municipal waters, bays, and other fishery management areas, with corresponding measures for decommissioning and conversion to legitimate gear.” Oceana also recommends forming a scientific advisory group

directed the DA-BFAR to conduct comprehensive studies on the rehabilitation and maintenance of marine habitats to address IUU fishing. He also cited the country’s commitment to international conventions as well as the EU on fighting IUU fishing, and highlighted the need for a sciencebased approach to marine resources management. DA-BFAR was ordered to work with the Office of the Executive Secretary—which had announced the suspension of Fisheries Administrative Order No. 266 just three months earlier— to require all commercial fishing vessels to put VMM in place. As of April 2024, Oceana revealed in a statement, 81 percent of commercial fishing vessels now had VMM installed.

Though not yet at 100 percent, the figure is something to be proud of, says Oceana’s Senior Director for Campaigns, Legal, and Policy Atty. Liza Osorio. “Our illegal fishing campaign was a very, very difficult campaign, but we’ve managed to focus on one particular area that no other organizations would touch—that’s vessel monitoring, and going against commercial fishing industry interests.”

“to review biological and environmental impacts of bottom trawl to resources within Fisheries Management Areas,” and for the National Fisheries Resources Development Institute, under the DA-BFAR, to conduct a national inventory of boats and gear.

Cognizant of the need to assist former municipal bottom trawling fishers in the conversion to more sustainable fishing gear, as well as to rehabilitate fisheries damaged by trawling, the DILG and DA-BFAR issued a Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) in November 2018, listing “Guidelines on Strengthening the Implementation of the Ban on Bottom Trawl Operations Within Municipal Waters.”

Aside from reiterating the need to keep such fishing gear 15 kilometers away from municipal waters, Section 6.0.1. of the JMC states, “In accordance with the City/ Municipal Comprehensive Development Plan and its corresponding Annual Investment Program (AIP) and annual budget, the provision of livelihood assistance shall extend to municipal bottom trawl fishers, operators, crew or fish workers of municipal bottom trawl vessels, as long as they register as fisherfolk in the LGU.” Thus, all “appropriate” government agencies shall offer livelihood, employment, or training assistance programs to make it easy for fisherfolk to let go of the more efficient—but infinitely more deadly—bottom trawling gear.

Department of Agriculture Undersecretary for Fisheries DRUSILA BAYATE

Bringing science to the seas

Rebuilding fisheries through knowledge-based management

The Amended Fisheries Code of 2014 may have updated fisheries regulations in the country, but how to tell if it is finally working? Enter the Fisheries Compliance Audit or FishCA, a monitoring tool created by the Department of the Interior and Local Government and in use since 2018 to check the compliance of local government units (LGUs) with the Philippine Fisheries Code (RA 8550), as amended by RA 10654. The tool clarifies local government units’ (LGUs) responsibilities under the law, and brings

together compliance data from all LGUs to ensure effective fisheries management.

On August 31, 2018, the DILG released Memorandum Circular No. 2018-147, “Guidelines on the Implementation of the Fisheries Compliance Audit (FishCA),” meant to ensure that LGUs actively manage marine resources in their specific areas of jurisdiction and demonstrate accountability in this management.

Municipal and city agriculture officers, in particular, were tasked to support implementation through the accomplishment of Fisheries Data Capture Forms and coordination with the DILG regional office.

Oceana noted in a statement dated November 19, 2018 how the FishCA was “paving the way for nurturing healthy municipal waters nationwide.”

“This policy,” Oceana said of the guidelines for implementation, “is a reminder for LGUs to properly safeguard the health and vitality of the marine habitats and resources in the municipal

waters all over the country.” Municipal waters extend 15 kilometers from the coastline, covering offshore islands, and are exclusive fishing grounds for municipal fishing boats weighing less than 3 gross tons, and using only passive and nondestructive fishing gear.

The FishCA policy was timely, as the BFAR had reported that declining fish catch is due to the fact that 75 percent of the country’s fishing sites are overfished. “FishCA measures the performance of coastal local government units in fisheries governance, coastal environment, stakeholder participation, and law enforcement,” noted Oceana. The tool will record the accomplishments of coastal cities and municipalities as they issue municipal ordinances, keep track of fishery activities, progress towards sustainable fisheries, and ensure that municipal or city FARMCs are actually working.

“This much-welcome DILG initiative is not just about enforcement of fishery laws,” added Oceana Vice President Atty. Gloria

(Opposite and this page) All of the country’s 12 Fisheries Management Areas identify sardines as a favorite and dominant fish—but sardine populations are also under tremendous stress, experts say; (below) Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) representative Jeffrey Miranda gives an orientation on the validation process of the results of the Fisheries Code Compliance Audit to members of the Alliance of LGUs Along Samar Bays and Channels (ALSBACH).

Estenzo Ramos. “It is about food security and addressing poverty challenges which our artisanal fishermen and their families face when the municipal waters are not sustainably managed and amid the dire impacts of climate change.”

“This initiative directly responds to the needs of our fisherfolk to address

The application of EAFM to FMAs is an approach that is multidisciplinary, collaborative, and knowledge-based, as well as attuned to people’s needs

urgent issues, especially in areas where commercial fishing encroachment is pervasive,” added Pablo Rosales of the fisherfolk organization Pangisda-Pilipinas in the same statement.

FISHERIES MANAGEMENT AREAS

Adding more scientific management into the mix, the Amended Fisheries Code of 2014 highlighted the concept of a fisheries management area (FMA), as further outlined in Fisheries Administrative

Order (FAO) No. 263, issued January 28, 2019, on the “Establishment of Fisheries Management Areas for the Conservation and Management of Fisheries in Philippine Waters.” This was signed by then Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol and Undersecretary and BFAR National Director Eduardo Gongona.

The code cites “the management of fishery and aquatic resources, in a manner consistent with the concept of an ecosystembased approach to fisheries management…supported by research, technical services, and guidance provided by the State.”

FAO 263 defines an Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM) as “a holistic approach to management that represents a move away from fisheries management systems that focus only on the sustainable harvest of target species, towards systems and decision-making processes that balance ecological well-being with human and societal well-being, within improved governance frameworks.”

Thus, the application of EAFM to FMAs is an approach that is multi-disciplinary, collaborative, and knowledge-based, as well as attuned to people’s needs.

“Data and experience should guide science,” states Atty. Gerthie Anda, founding Executive Director of the Environmental Legal Assistance Center (ELAC). “If you have scientific research, you should be sensitive to social aspects. So, if the fisherfolk will not be able to understand what the law is, and their own experience is not articulated by scientists and legal experts, our litigation, advocacy,

Participants from local government units belonging to the Alliance of LGUs Along Samar Bays and Channels (ALSBACH) and local enforcement agencies join the simulation of the arrest and search of a commercial fishing vessel, facilitated by Coast Guard Capt. Atty. Oliver Tanseco.
DANNY OCAMPO; (below right) Oceana
CEO Jim Simon and Coast Guard
Capt. Atty. Oliver Tanseco during the simulation activity

and engagement are useless. That’s what you mean by evidence-based approach. It should come from the bottom. And that, to me, is how you will really build your case.”

Section 8 of the Amended Fisheries Code also cites reference points and harvest control rules, and how FMAs— defined in FAO 263 as “a bay, gulf, lake, or any other fishery area which may be delineated for fishery resource management purposes”—must be established with the concurrence of concerned LGUs, in consultation with the FARMCs in their respective areas.

Oceana’s Primer: The Fisheries Code of the Philippines–RA 8550, as amended by RA 10654 defined a reference point as “a set of indicators that describes the level of exploitation, status of the fisheries, or biological characteristics used as standards for regulatory purposes.” This can be either a limit reference point, indicating a level that should be avoided to prevent overexploitation of stock, or a target reference point, the ideal level to maintain. Harvest control rules refer to regulatory measures to ensure that “the target reference point is achieved and the limit reference point is avoided.” Examples of such measures are license issuance, net mesh sizes, or closed fishing seasons.

“A reference point is very clear, and provides a baseline for everything,” says Region VI Regional Director Remia Aparri, who heads the management team of the country’s first established FMA, FMA 11. “We can also present it to the LGUs and the stakeholders to discuss the status of the fishery. We were able to convince some of the local chief executives when we presented the reference points in FMA 11. It was easier for them to understand, and they became active and supportive in terms of really working with us, and for their fisherfolk to comply with the law.”

According to FAO 263, DA-BFAR and the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (NFRDI), in consultation with the National Mapping and Resources Information Authority (NAMRIA), commercial and municipal fishing sectors, LGUs, and other stakeholders identified FMAs throughout the country based on fish stocks, fish distribution, and scientific data on hand.

The country’s 12 FMAs are FMA 1: Cagayan–Isabela–Aurora, Quezon–Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur–Catanduanes, Albay–Sorsogon–Batanes; FMA 2: Northern Samar, Eastern Samar–Surigao del Sur, Davao Oriental, Davao del Norte–Davao del Sur, Davao Occidental, Compostela Valley; FMA

For the love of the sea

Norlan Pagal guards San Remigio’s waters with his life—literally

He’s not a marine biologist or an oceanographer; he didn’t go far in school to consider such career options. Still, Norlan Pagal’s earnest love of the sea and his firsthand knowledge of it as a fisherman since 1979 are not only palpable; they move and inspire.

Asked what motivates him to take up a cause that is both noble and frustrating, and the father of five holds back his tears. “My parents raised me by catching fish,” said Pagal, who became a fisherman at the age of 9. “That’s why I’m repaying the sea for what it has given us.”

“He doesn’t mind risking his life just to ensure the future of our children,” said Russel Batad, a member of Anapog Fishermen’s Association, which Pagal chaired in 2015. Based in their native San Remigio, Cebu, the association watches over Barangay Anapog’s vast waters, which include the Tañon Strait Protected Seascape, the largest ocean sanctuary in the Philippines.

“He’s a simple person but with a love and passion for the preservation of our sanctuaries,” said former San Remigio Mayor Mariano Martinez. “Because he’s very passionate, I tend to listen to him.”

Martinez is one of many. As a recipient of an Ocean Heroes Award by Oceana in 2016, Pagal has spoken to various sectors about the sheer beauty and wealth of our seas—and how we stand to lose everything if we don’t stop illegal fishing and other irresponsible practices.

In Masbate, he sympathized with fishers who lamented about the challenges of protecting their waters. At the University of Cebu Banilad, he addressed graduating classes of nurses, lawyers, and others on his advocacy.

“Unlike farmers who have alternative ways of enhancing their crops, only God can make fish,” said Pagal, who accepted from Oceana a plaque and cash price of P50,000, which he used to fund marine protection projects in his area. “Protecting our seas is the only way we don’t run out of fish for the future generation.

“For now, their catch is still okay. What about their families, their grandchildren, their great-grandchildren?  Will they still be able to see fish that are still alive? Maybe they will only see fish in books.”

Such pure intentions nearly cost him his life—thrice. In December 2010, illegal fishers who had crossed a marine protected area in Bantayan Island threw dynamite into his boat, which he promptly threw into the water, where it exploded. In November 2013, fishers caught

3: Sarangani–South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur; FMA 4: Zamboanga Sibugay, Basilan–Sulu–Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga del Norte, Negros Occidental, lloilo, Negros Oriental; FMA 5: Antique, Occidental Mindoro,

fishing near the sanctuary beat him senseless with a paddle. The mauling left him with a cracked skull and a wound that needed 14 stitches.

In October 2015, he was on his way home from a barangay fiesta when he was shot in the spine. “By the mercy of God, I lived,” said Pagal who was confined for two months. “But my parents sold all their possessions so we could settle the hospital bill.

“But I didn’t think of myself as a failure because of this,” he added firmly. “My advocacy is to protect the environment and the sea for the next generation. That’s why I continued with it. When I was discharged, I asked my wife and children to take me to the marine protected area.”

Paralyzed from the waist down, the wheelchair-bound Pagal remains unstoppable, guarding the waters of San Remigio with a pair of binoculars from the shoreline. He also conducts information drives and educates fishers by quizzing them on sound environmental practices. If they answer correctly, they win a small prize.

“When I joined Oceana, I didn’t know that what I was doing was what Oceana was teaching to protect the sea,” he said. “Through Oceana, my advocacy became stronger. I know about the laws of the sea and teach people how to love the environment. I owe Oceana a lot for allowing me to share my advocacy with others.”

Palawan: FMA 6: llocos Norte–llocos Sur, Pangasinan, Zambales–Bataan–Pampanga, Bulacan–NCR–Cavite–Batangas, Occidental Mindoro; FMA 7: Quezon–Camarines Sur, Albay–Sorsogon, Masbate–Samar, Northern Samar–Biliran–Leyte; FMA 8: Samar–Eastern Samar, Dinagat,

NORLAN PAGAL

Surigao del Norte, Southern Leyte–Leyte; FMA 9: Southern Leyte, Surigao del Norte, Misamis Oriental, Lanao del Norte; Agusan del Norte; FMA 10: Bohol–Leyte–Cebu, Siquijor, Negros Occidental; FMA 11: Cebu–Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental, Iloilo–Capiz–Masbate, Guimaras; and FMA 12: Aklan–Romblon, Oriental Mindoro–Marinduque, Occidental Mindoro, Batangas–Quezon.

In a briefer on the Establishment of Fisheries Management Areas (FMA) in the Philippines, Oceana listed the objectives for their creation as providing a “sciencebased, participatory, and transparent governance framework and mechanism to sustainably manage fisheries”; employing the ecosystems approach to fisheries management; providing additional livelihood opportunities for communities, based on the Amended Fisheries Code; and encouraging collaboration between LGUs, national agencies, and all stakeholders.

Each FMA must have its own governing structure, created through a multi-sectoral management body, with guidance from a scientific advisory group (SAG). It must develop its own Fisheries Management Area Plan, to guide the BFAR, LGUs, fisherfolk, and key stakeholders. It should also be responsible for putting in place reference points and harvest control rules for sustainable fisheries management. The BFAR and LGUs must work together to manage shared fish populations in some

‘We need to continuously enhance the understanding and the capacities of our sherfolk. They need a lot of help’

FMAs, bearing in mind that municipal and city governments have authority over municipal waters. FMAs are also governed by the NIPAS Act.

“An FMA is a good idea because there’s

a value added to what we are doing in BFAR,” says RD Aparri. “It is multi-tasking, and we need people to work together. Now, with the science-based data, it’s easier to convince people to work together to analyze and make plans on how we can really manage the fisheries resources.”

Also in 2019, a number of civil society and people’s organizations, including Oceana, the Philippine Earth Justice Center (PEJC), the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), the Zoological Society of London–Philippines (ZSL),

(Above) Fishing crew wait alongside fish storage containers for the new catch; (below) Oceana’s Dr. Mike Hirshfield, Atty. Gloria Estenzo Ramos, and Jim Simon (fifth, fourth, and second from right) with Oceana team members during an enforcement simulation activity

Corridor of life

Why Tañon Strait’s rich ecosystem and fisheries require special, beefed-up protection

The Tañon Strait is a narrow corridor of water between Cebu and Negros, with an area of 5,182 square kilometers, only 27 kilometers wide at most, but extending 160 kilometers in length and going down to depths of 500 meters. Thus, its waters have long been home to a bevy of charismatic marine creatures, from dolphins and whales to sharks and manta rays, making it one of the country’s richest fishing grounds that benefit the entire region as well as the archipelago. It also hosts a vast range of ecosystems and habitats, from coral reefs and seagrass to vast mangrove stands.

The protected seascape contains at least 90 species of fish, 20 species of crustaceans, 26 species of mangroves, and 18,830 hectares of coral reef, Oceana stated. It is where artisanal fishers from the coastal areas of the 42 cities and municipalities of Cebu, Negros Oriental, and Negros Occidental get their sustenance.

On May 27, 1998, Presidential Proclamation No. 1234, signed by then President Fidel V. Ramos, declared the Tañon Strait a protected area, pursuant to RA 7586 (the NIPAS—or National Integrated Protected Area Systems—Act of 1992), henceforth known as the Tañon Strait Protected Seascape, making it the largest marine protected area (MPA) in the country.

From February 10 to 12, 2015, Oceana and partner organizations, including the Department of Environment and Natural Resources–Region 7, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Rare, Philippine Earth Justice Center, and the Provincial Government of Cebu hosted the Tañon Strait Protected Seascape (TSPS) Summit in Cebu City, bringing together the 350-member Tañon Strait Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) for the first time ever since its founding in 1998.

In a 2015 Love Letter to Tañon Strait, collaborated on by Oceana’s Stacy K. Baez, Ph.D., Charlotte Grubb, and Margot L. Stiles, and Oceana Vice President Atty. Gloria Estenzo Ramos,the benefits of the unique area, as well as the challenges it faced, were enumerated.

“Tañon Strait in particular is known for a wide variety and density of fish living in the strait or passing through seasonally,” reads the Love Letter. Since several marine species ride the currents of the Tañon Strait to move between the Visayan and Bohol Seas, it is an important migratory route and habitat for whale sharks (Rhincodon typus), dwarf sperm whales (Kogia sima), 14 species of dolphins, including spinners (Stenella longirostris), several species of tuna, and even the elusive dugong (Dugong dugon). The Strait sustains fisherfolk with such important species as snapper, squid, tuna, and sardines.

As with many fisheries and habitats in the Philippines, however, Tañon Strait is under threat from destructive, illegal, and indiscriminate commercial fishing. The small sizes of fish and juveniles sold in the markets

the Environmental Legal Assistance Center, Inc. (ELAC), NGOs for Fisheries Reform, Inc. (NFR), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Philippines, the Institute of Social Order (ISO), Large Marine Vertebrates Research Institute Philippines (LAMAVE), and the Center for Agrarian Reform, Empowerment and Transformation (CARET), worked with FMAs to create and refine a tool that would facilitate feedback on FMA

attest to dwindling stocks and the illegal use of small-mesh fishing nets; many species are caught before they can even breed and spawn. Large commercial vessels are illegal in this protected seascape, where the fisheries are reserved for municipal fishermen. Yet, the use of destructive fishing methods such as purse seines and dynamite and the capture of endangered species are still taking place. Lack of enforcement of existing laws compounds the problem.

Inconsistent protection likewise diminishes Tañon Strait’s capacity to adapt to increasing external pressures such as pollution and climate change, manifested in the effects of destructive typhoons and rising temperatures that can be lethal to marine habitats.

The Love Letter offers recommendations on what are needed to keep Tañon Strait protected and healthy. Strong leadership to carry out the mandate of the Protected Area Management Board has been seen in the past in the concerted efforts of the governors of Cebu, Iloilo, Masbate, and Negros Occidental, and must continue and filter down to municipal mayors. The more proactive Amended Fisheries Code must be consistently enforced, and its implementation monitored.

Oceana also called for additional protective measures for the unique seascape. Finally, there is a demand for greater accountability and reporting from commercial fishing vessels that regularly pass through the area.

In a press release dated February 21, 2017, Oceana lauded the requirement of vessel monitoring measures for commercial vessels sailing through the Tañon Strait, in a resolution approved January 31 by the executive committee of the TSPS. “Its implementation is a momentous step in protecting our diverse yet fragile municipal waters and protected areas,” said Ramos.

The Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources has already noted this continuous encroachment of commercial fishers, reiterating that municipal fisherfolk using passive, non-destructive fishing gears such as hook and lines, fish traps, and crab pots have first access to Tañon Strait’s bounty.

Dr. Mundita Lim, formerly of the BMB and now Executive Director of the Asean Centre for Biodiversity, (ACB), worked with Oceana in campaigning for protecting Tañon Strait. “I already recognized that even back then, we at the BMB could not do it by ourselves. Oceana was with us in the partnership, so we were able to multiply our efforts.” In Tañon, Dr. Lim recounts, there were marine protected areas that were locally managed. Thus, a campaign on the ground was needed to help people see the bigger picture. “We needed to work on a common understanding for Tañon Strait so that we can have an effective network of marine protected areas. Tañon Strait needs to be conserved as one marine ecosystem.”

management from a wide range of stakeholders. This would also encourage coastal LGUs to share responsibilities as fisheries managers.

AN FMA SCORECARD

The Fisheries Management Area Scorecard was designed as an assessment and monitoring tool to record observations and give feedback for better management of the Philippines’ 12 FMAs. The scorecard

asks 22 questions—divided according to the stages of initiation, implementation, and monitoring and review—covering key indicators of good governance, including transparency, accountability, public participation, and compliance. NGOs, people’s organizations, and stakeholders are asked to use the scorecard to rate an FMA’s performance, which may be classified as Green (Excellent) if total points range from 33 to 40; Yellow (GOOD)

Stacy K. Baez, Ph.D., Charlotte Grubb, Margot L. Stiles and Gloria Ramos
LoveLetterto
TAÑON STRAIT

if total points range from 17 to 32; and Red (FAIL) if total score is 16 points and below.

Questions cover the range of FMA operations. For the Initiation Phase, for example, the scorecard asks, “Is the Fisheries Management Area (FMA) properly delineated pursuant to Fisheries Administrative Order (FAO) 263?” Under that, it goes on, “Are the LGUs identified within the FMA?” and suggests having a complete list of LGUs up to the barangay level as “evidence.” The scorecard continues, “Are the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Councils (FARMCs), Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), People’s Organizations (POs), and existing bodies or sectors involved in the delineation process?”

Some questions under the Implementation Phase are, “Is the FMA Plan adopted through ordinances and resolutions, and translated into Action Plans by the LGUs within their respective jurisdiction?” and, notably, “Are there capacity building trainings conducted for LGUs and other stakeholders by Department of Agriculture–Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DABFAR) and other entities?” and “Are there enforcement systems set up to monitor compliance with these policies or regulations adopted by the FMA management body?”

Finally, under the Monitoring and Review portion, the scorer is asked, among other issues, “Is there a functional monitoring committee in the Management Body to ensure that the FMA Plan is implemented by concerned agencies and stakeholder?” Under this, the scorecard

probes, “Are the roles of the monitoring committee clearly defined?” As long as scorers can honestly answer such questions, FMA administrators will surely be kept on their toes.

During the annual FMA Summit in Cebu in March 2024, organized by Oceana and BFAR, Senator Cynthia Villar, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food and a principal author of the Amended Fisheries Code, brought up in her keynote speech the need for the protection of municipal waters and the full implementation of RA 10654—five years after the FMA system was mandated in 2019.

During the summit, scientists, NGOs, and government leaders appealed for increased budget support for the FMA system to address these constant issues in Philippine fisheries. “Fisheries management is crucial to ensure that fishing activities are conducted in a way that minimizes detrimental impact on fish stocks and ecosystems,” Villar noted, adding that overfishing may lead to “a collapse of the fishing sector as a source of livelihood.” Then BFAR National Director Atty. Demosthenes Escoto also acknowledged the huge impact of FMAs on fishing communities, batting for their continuing “effective, science-based, and participatory implementation.”

As of the summit, all 12 FMAs had established their management bodies, scientific advisory groups, and technical working groups. Four FMAs also showed excellent performances on their FMA

identified sardines, a perennial Filipino favorite, as the dominant species in their waters. Names like tamban (Sardinella lemuru, also known as Bali sardine) and lapad (Sardinella gibosa) are familiar to both fishers and consumers all over the country, for whom fish is the main protein source. In a July 2021 website feature on “The Plan to Save Sardines in the Philippines,” Oceana revealed how 15 percent of Philippine marine fisheries are about sardines, an annual catch of almost 334,000 metric tons. These are either bought fresh from markets, or canned and bottled by several fishing operations, lining shelves in supermarkets.

The supply is not unlimited, however, and populations have decreased dramatically over the years due to unregulated overfishing as well as environmental changes. More and more, juveniles are being caught before they get the chance to mature and spawn, leading to smaller fish. This, despite there being six major fishing grounds in the Philippines: the Ragay Gulf–Ticao Pass–San Bernardino Strait, the Bohol Sea, the East Sulu Sea and Sulu archipelagic waters, the Visayan Sea, the Moro Gulf–Illana Bay, and Sibuguey Bay.

15 percent of Philippine marine sheries are about sardines, an annual catch of almost 334,000 metric tons

Scorecards: FMA 1, led by BFAR 2 with Regional Director (RD) Dr. Angel Encarnacion as Chairperson of the Management Body; FMA 7, led by BFAR 5, under RD Ariel Pioquinto; FMA 11, led by BFAR 6 under RD Remia Aparri; and FMA 12, led by BFAR 4A, under RD Sammy Malvas.

Recommendations for stronger FMAs moving forward included legislative support in the Congress and Senate for a bigger budget; the quick approval of FMA plans, reference points, and harvest control rules; FMA-wide enforcement plans and capacitated Bantay Dagat teams; greater involvement of coastal LGUs; better information campaigns; and even stronger public participation in fisheries management.

SAVING THE SARDINES

Many of the archipelago’s 12 FMAs have

Dr. Wilfredo Campos, a fisheries expert from the University of the Philippines Visayas who worked with Oceana on rapid assessment studies for sardines, cites some figures from the 1990s, when 60,000 to 70,000 metric tons of sardines would be caught in the Visayan Sea alone every year. “Now, we’re down to about 20,000.” As for the shrinking sizes, he adds, “In a fishing ground like the Visayas, for example, if through many years you’ve been catching too much from the population, the population becomes stressed. So one of the effects we see now is they mature much earlier than they used to.” In many cases, sardines with life spans of more than three years are being caught before they are a year old, a fact Dr. Campos has confirmed by microscopically examining sardine ear bones, which indicate their age, very much like the rings on tree trunks—a definite sign of overfishing, he states.

“Too much extraction is not good,” says former Secretary of Agriculture William Dar. “That’s why we should know when are the best fishing months and when is the time for the fishing grounds to multiply

Fisheries expert Dr. WILFREDO CAMPOS

properly. We need to balance all of that, and we need to continuously enhance the understanding and the capacities of our fisherfolk. They are among the poorest of the poor. They need a lot of help.”

“Why are the fish gone? Why are there no more fish? Because you’ve already gone beyond the sustainable level,” affirms DA Undersecretary for Fisheries Drusila Bayate. “You didn’t give them an opportunity to breed. I once said, when I saw fish in the market when we did market profiling, ‘Oh no, the fish hasn’t even learned how to swim, and you caught it already!’”

In May 2020, the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR) approved the National Sardines Management Plan (NSMP), a five-year plan for implementation in Fisheries Management Areas (FMAs).

The NSMP envisions “a sustainable and equitably shared sardine fishery that contributes to food and increased income through responsible management.” The plan aims to enable the “coordinated management” of sardines across FMAs through reference points, harvest control rules, and measures outlined in the Amended Fisheries Code. Scientists, fisheries managers, and people’s organization representatives collaborated on the plan for two years.

‘Oh no, the sh hasn’t even learned how to swim, and you caught it already!’

Among the NSMP’s goals at the time of its approval were the establishment of reference points and the monitoring of stocks based on biomass and mortality, while improving stakeholder partnerships, centralizing and studying data, and implementing a catch documentation and traceability system; reducing juvenile catch by 10 percent by 2025 in priority sardine fishing areas, by securing support and encouraging better governance for the FMA, as well as increasing public awareness and compliance; and reducing poverty levels among sardines fishers by 5 percent through increased income, alternative livelihoods, and reduced postharvest losses.

In “The Plan to Save Sardines in the Philippines,” Oceana outlined the strengths of the NSMP, and why it was essential to saving these critical fisheries. First, it is a science-based management plan, drawing on fact-based studies, having been originally crafted by the National Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council. The plan also follows an ecosystem approach to fisheries management, which considers the bigger picture when formulating strategies. Second, it will

complement already existing policies, such as the Amended Fisheries Code and its longterm agenda of food security, by establishing empirical parameters such as reference points, harvest control rules, and a catch documentation and traceability system. It will also support FMAs, as mandated by FAO 263.

Finally, and arguably most significant, it will improve the lives and incomes of small-scale sardine fishermen who continue to live in poverty despite the high demand for this kind of fish. Incomegenerating options during closed fishing season are a priority of the NSMP.

Dr. Campos reveals that one out of every six kilograms of fish that Filipinos get from the sea is sardines, but in terms of the number of people involved, it is still a fishery associated with many smallscale fishermen. “So it’s really, truly a livelihood. If they don’t go out, they don’t have anything to eat. And many of them are just practically surviving.” If larger vessels are somehow allowed to fish for sardines closer to shore, stocks will be cleaned out, he asserts. “It’s not just a temporary loss of livelihood; it’s the complete loss of livelihood. What do we do with that?”

During the 2nd FMA Summit in 2021, Agriculture Secretary William Dar lamented how the NSMP he signed the previous year had remained idle, despite appeals from concerned and affected fisherfolk. “We can no longer ignore the critical need to manage our sardine fisheries,” said Dar, as quoted in an article published in the Manila Bulletin on December 21, 2021. “This means that all 12 Fisheries Management Areas must abide by the National Sardines Management Plan I signed in May last year.”

Among the NSMP’s expressed longterm objectives are sustained ecological well-being, enhanced human well-being, and stronger policies and governance. With a year left in the NSMP, the future of this once abundant but increasingly challenged species remains to be seen.

BFAR RD REMIA APARRI

FISH ON EVERY FILIPINO’S TABLE

Food security for all—especially for the poorest sherfolk— will guide Oceana Philippines’ work moving forward

On its 10th year, Oceana is moving forward to focus on the ultimate outcome of all its fervent campaigns in various fields, from habitat protection and improving fisheries management to fighting plastic pollution: food security.

“We recognize that it’s not just about who catches the most fish, but also who needs fish the most,” says the Oceana website of its “Save the Oceans, Feed the World” campaign. “Over 740 million people depend on ocean fisheries for food, livelihoods, or both. If they lose access to local fish, many will face poverty or malnutrition, or both.

“Many local fish populations are now in decline because of illegal and destructive fishing, limited management capacity, and warming oceans. In some cases, fish

are being taken out of the nets of local fishers by wealthier nations and sent to other countries. To address these threats, Oceana is partnering with small-scale fishing communities to help protect and strengthen their livelihoods, increase local access to fish, and support their voices in policy decisions at the national level.”

Oceana has been addressing the issue globally, working for “rebuilding ocean abundance,” since the “Save the Oceans, Feed the World” campaign was launched in 2013. In a September 2020 feature article on the Oceana website by Emily Nuñez, titled “The oceans can feed a billion people, but who needs fish most?”, it was revealed that nearly 90 percent of the world’s wild fish catch comes from the waters of just 29 countries and the European Union.

Meanwhile, global threats like overfishing and climate change are leading to plummeting stocks—and jeopardizing the well-being of millions of people who depend on the sea to live. “This deprives poorer people of previously affordable, nutritious fish, while producing costly farmed fish that are then largely consumed by people in the rich West or in East Asia,” stated fisheries scientist and Oceana Board Member Dr. Daniel Pauly in the same article. “So when we say fish is good for us, we need to ask who exactly is reaping these benefits.”

The feature goes on to enumerate the four pillars of food security, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO): availability, access, utilization, and stability. “Availability is whether or not there is food to be eaten,

access is whether you can get that food for yourself or your family, utilization is whether you can prepare it in such a way that it nourishes your body, and stability is consistency across those previous three dimensions,” Nuñez quoted Dr. Katie Matthews, Chief Scientist at Oceana. This is why the organization is working in countries where fisheries are critical to local nutrition, food security, and livelihoods— such as the Philippines: “We want to give more consideration to access.” In short, mechanisms must be put in place to ensure that even a small percentage of fishing catch is sold and consumed by the people in the area where the fish was caught.

The “Save the Oceans, Feed the World” campaign has posited that a billion people could eat a healthy seafood meal every

The ‘Save the Oceans, Feed the World’ campaign has posited that a billion people could eat a healthy seafood meal every day if the ocean’s resources are protected and restored

day if the ocean’s resources are protected and restored; it’s a matter of ensuring that these resources reach the people who need them most, Matthews concluded.

FIRST DETAILED ASSESSMENT

In June 2022, a report commissioned by Oceana, “The State of Fish in Nutrition Systems in the Philippines,” was released through a Memorandum of Understanding between the Marine Resources Assessment Group (MRAG) Asia Pacific and the Philippine Department of Science and Technology–Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI). It provided the first detailed assessment of the value of different fishery sectors and target species for food security in the country.

The objectives of the study were to

establish the importance of Philippine fisheries to food security, income, and employment, both at national and regional levels; to evaluate any potential risks for food security and livelihoods in the country; and to guide Oceana in continuously pushing for national policies to keep fish as an essential part of people’s nutrition, even in the face of ecosystem challenges.

The study revealed that some 1.35 to 1.41 million people work in fisheries and aquaculture in the Philippines. In 2020, the country reported 4.4 million tons of total seafood production, worth P273 billion or approximately US$5.2 billion. While farmed tilapia and milkfish were the most consumed species, aquaculture actually employs fewer people than wild capture fisheries, and the municipal wild capture fishing sector remains a bigger contributor to food security than commercial fishing.

This was confirmed during the SmallScale Fisheries Summit in Rome, Italy in

The establishment of Fisheries Management Areas is meant to provide additional livelihood opportunities for communities, based on the Amended Fisheries Code. DIUVS DE JESUS

October 2022, where it was reiterated in an Oceana press release that “municipal or artisanal fisherfolk provide more food fish for humans than commercial or industrial fishers. Almost all or 90 to 95 percent of their fish catch are for human consumption. Such is the critical role of small fishers in attaining national food security.”

“Fish is critical to nutrition and food systems, and small fishers play a pivotal role in providing people and communities with their daily food requirements,” stated Atty. Rhea Yray-Frossard, Oceana’s Campaign and Research Director, at a panel session on “Small-scale fisheries and their role in local food security” during the summit, where she represented Oceana.

The FAO has likewise declared, according to the press release, that small-scale fisheries provide at least 40 percent of global fish needs. “Thus, we should all the more empower smallscale fisherfolk, including the women, as they are our strong allies and heroes in protecting and restoring the abundance of our oceans that provide all of us not only with affordable nutritious food, but also as their sustainable source of livelihood and income,” said Yray-Frossard.

Food insecurity is greater among low-income people in remote areas, said “The State of Fish in Nutrition Systems in the Philippines.” Meanwhile, the study reminded readers, Philippine coral reefs remain valuable sources of livelihood, as they support several species at

different stages. They are important for both municipal and commercial fishers, directly contributing to food security. A disproportionate amount of assistance and investment has been going into aquaculture, however, thus requiring renewed focus on the constant and reliable production of healthy coral reef ecosystems.

The study also identified three main threats to food security. First is ineffective fisheries management, which has failed to address overcapacity and overfishing, and has not significantly improved income, employment, and food security for Filipinos. This can also be traced to lack of management capacity, resources, and scientific understanding. The second threat is the flow of fish to foreign export markets; in 2019, the country exported 264,254 tons of nutritionally important seafood, which, while earning revenue, has been

‘Where do people need sh the most? Where do they depend on sh the most? The Philippines comes in very high on that ranking’

taken away from the tables of the poorest of Filipino consumers. The third threat is climate change and its continuing effects on fish stocks all over the world. Poor people, particularly in fishing nations like the Philippines, are particularly vulnerable because of their lack of resilience and adaptation options; typhoons make fishing impossible, and floods and storm surges destroy coastal homes.

The researchers hope that the study directs the efforts of the government, local government units (LGUs), and even non-government organizations (NGOs) to helping craft strategically managed food and nutrition policies to make sure Filipinos have enough—and healthier—fish to eat for the long term. “We’re completing the loop,” Oceana Vice President Atty. Gloria Estenzo Ramos says of this new focus. “Because for us, there’s still a problem with implementation. Why are fishers still poor?”

POST-HARVEST LOSS

Ramos zooms in on the “tremendous” post-harvest loss of 20 to 60 percent of the catch of municipal fishermen, because of the lack of cold storage facilities.

Thus, for Oceana, including nutrition

and livelihood in the equation is a natural next step. The organization is set on piloting efforts to fight food and nutritional insecurity in Northern Samar, because of the province’s high levels of poverty and malnutrition—“There’s a dire need for intervention,” Ramos says—and the advantage of progressive-minded local officials. Northern Samar alone has some 90,000 fisheries households, Ramos notes. There have also been cooperatives set up in Samar and Bicol, working in food preservation or even establishing canneries. “There are models for setting up these livelihood programs or cooperatives. So this is what we’re looking at.”

“We are piloting a new campaign in Samar not only to improve fish abundance, but also to get the fish to those who need it the most,” says Oceana CEO Jim Simon. “We will be able to take the lessons learned in Samar to similar campaigns that we plan to launch in other nations like Ghana, Senegal, and Malaysia, where were are raising funds to launch campaigns.”

The project in Damar, Samar will give fishers access to a simple but life-changing facility to keep their catch fresh: ice.

“This idea of improving the quality of the fish and preventing its rotting away, by making ice available through machines connected to solar panels—it’s wonderful,” says Oceana Board Director Dr. Daniel Pauly. “You have a local place where people can access ice, which can be made without great cost. This is such a fantastic idea because fishers can get more money for the same, better quality fish.”

Mike Hirshfield, Senior Advisor and member of Oceana’s Executive Committee, emphasizes that food security is indeed the big picture, and Oceana was “never just a pure conservation organization. Fishermen, you know, always accuse NGOs of just wanting to kick all the fishermen out of the ocean and making everything a big park.

“And so we looked at the places in the world where the most fish are being caught. That’s where Oceana should focus, because that will deliver the most fish to our hungry world. In the last few years, we’ve realized, as one of our board members said, ‘I’m not interested in securing fish for some rich person in New York City. I’m interested in securing fish for the livelihood of, or the nutrition of, those who need it the most.’ And where do people need fish the most? Where do they depend on fish the most? The Philippines comes in very high on that ranking.

“So we have a track record of focusing on justice for the small-scale fishermen. We’re trying now in the Philippines to

Oceana Director Dr. DANIEL PAULY/ KIM BELLAVANCE/COURTESY OF THE TYLER PRIZE AND ‘THE SEA AROUND US’

think about ways that we can essentially get more out of every fish that’s caught, to enhance the nutrition or livelihoods of those who are catching the fish, but may not have good market access or may not have the facilities they need to make the best use of the fish.”

Osorio had reiterated the urgency of food security in a statement in May 2023, after the Office of the Executive Secretary had issued a memorandum suspending the implementation of Fisheries Administrative Order 266, requiring the installation of vessel monitoring measures in commercial fishing vessels, a suspension which President Ferdinand Marcos later lifted. The National Stock Assessment Program, she noted, had indicated in 2017 that 80 percent of Philippine fisheries stocks are already highly exploited. “This is alarming, considering that Filipinos are highly dependent on the consumption of seafood for their protein and other needed nutrients. According to the ‘The State of Fish in Nutrition Systems’ study, seafood comprises almost half or 42.2 percent of our total animal protein intake and about 18 percent of our total protein intake. The findings also show, however, that only six out of 10 Filipinos have adequate protein intake.”

OTHER OPTIONS

Four months later, in September 2023, Ramos lauded the memorandum of the Department of Agriculture–Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR) for all regional directors to mainstream the National Sardine Management Plan (NSMP). “This is a victory for all, including those whose livelihoods depend on sardines, especially

‘We have to rely on science, to make science-based decisions, to make sheries management more robust and e ective’

the artisanal fishers who have long appealed to address its dwindling catch and diminishing size of this species. This will also contribute towards achieving food and nutritional security of all Filipinos.”

Dr. Wilfredo Campos, a fisheries expert from the University of the Philippines Visayas, is open to other options, as the proper management of aquaculture and waste may actually help in beefing up food security, he says. “There are constraints there, but there’s still potential. In the past 10 to 12 years, our total production from the oceans for fish has already exceeded more than half a million metric tons. And that’s why, if we go to the aquaculture sector, and if they can time their production, for example, for certain times of the year that are not the peak season for fishing, we might be able to supply people’s food needs. The spoilage from fishing may be used for other things. If you put these things together, they will definitely help reduce whatever shortfall we have in food security.”

“Food security concerns all of us, because we eat fish, and it’s livelihood for the fisherfolk,” says Atty. Gerthie MayoAnda, founding executive director of the Environmental Legal Assistance Center (ELAC), who believes that climate change will always be a consideration, today and moving forward. “So I hope when we push for the attainment of food security, we also consider the climate lens, because

the climate crisis is here. Food security should take seriously the impacts of climate. We have to include disasters and climate change adaptation and mitigation in our fisheries development plans.”

Dr. Mundita Lim of the Asean Centre for Biodiversity credits Oceana for making the connections between food security and other priorities stronger. “The government is sectoralized when it comes to responsibility. So, when Golly (Ramos) was already there, the connection between biodiversity and food security and fisheries production became more apparent, and there was relationship building among different sectors.”

“You need to maintain a balance, making sure there is enough food, and at the same time, keeping the resource at a sustainable level,” concludes Department of Agriculture Undersecretary for Fisheries Drusila Bayate. “In our job of fisheries management, food security is the overriding consideration.”

“There is still a lot of work to be accomplished on illegal fishing; our focus is on holding the government accountable by making sure it meets its legal responsibilities,” says Oceana CEO Jim Simon. “We are campaigning to reduce the production and use of single-use plastics. Mangroves both offer protection to the adverse effects of climate change and prevent coastal erosion; Oceana is campaigning for the approval of a national law to restore and protect those beach forests.

“We’ve been able to achieve victories in the Philippines, but there is no shortage of challenges!”

Asean Centre for Biodiversity’s Dr. MUNDITA LIM
GLORIA ESTENZO RAMOS, MIKE HIRSHFIELD, and JIM SIMON

CELEBRATING A DECADE OF RESTORING THE OCEAN

Oceana partners came to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the international campaign organization in the Philippines. Representatives of key partners from fisherfolk, local government units, other civil society groups, academe, and youth put in a piece of the important marine and seafood resources in the bilao (woven tray) to show concerted action to fulfill the mission of Oceana to save the ocean and feed the world.

Oceana’s past and present staff and movers came to celebrate the 10 years of victories and milestones to effect policy reforms and ensure the implementation of progressive fisheries and environmental laws. It was a joyous reunion of campaigners for effective fisheries and ocean governance.

Oceana is dedicated to protecting and restoring the world’s oceans on a global scale.

OUR VISION:

Oceana seeks to make our oceans as rich, healthy, and abundant as they once were.

OCEANA’S SOLUTION:

Oceana was created to identify practical solutions and make them happen. The good news is that we can restore the oceans to their former glory. Oceana is…

CAMPAIGN-DRIVEN

We channel our resources towards strategic, directed campaigns to achieve measurable outcomes that will protect and restore our oceans to former levels of abundance.

FACT-BASED

We believe in the importance of science in identifying problems and solutions for the oceans.

MULTIDISCIPLINARY AND EXPERT

Our scientists work closely with our teams of economists, lawyers, communicators, and advocates to achieve tangible results for the oceans.

In the Philippines, Oceana intends to support the government in its goal to promote national policies that protect the Philippines’ vast marine resources. We will use the law to ensure that fish and fishers receive the protections they deserve. We will offer technical expertise to aid

the government in its goal of establishing sustainable catch limits, reducing discards and protecting spawning habitat. We also plan to carry out scientific expeditions to educate the public about the importance of healthy oceans and the role they play in the economy of the Philippines by providing food and jobs. Ultimately, our goal is to work to ensure that the Philippines achieves sustainable fisheries and healthy oceans for the benefit of all Filipinos.

ph.oceana.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/oceana. philippines  Twitter: @oceana_ph Instagram: @oceana_ph

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