Agriculture Secretary William Dar has directed the full implementation of the country's long-overdue National Sardines Management Plan (NSMP), citing declining sardines catch over the years.
“We can no longer ignore the critical need to manage our sardine fisheries. This means that all 12 Fisheries Management Areas must abide by the National Sardines Management Plan I signed in May last year,” Dar said during the second FMA summit.
Dar explained that the NSMP provides guidelines specifying reference points, harvest control rules, and other appropriate measures in line with the amended Fisheries Code.
"Our Scientific Advisory Group must work on concrete and definite recommendations to protect our fish stocks. The circumstances that have led to a rapid decline in our fish populations over the past few years have not been resolved. We need a science-based plan to address this critical issue and we need it now,” Dar said.
The country’s fisheries were delineated into 12 FMAs under the Fisheries Administrative Order (FAO) No. 263 issued by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) of the Department of Agriculture (DA). These areas are co-managed by representatives from the fisheries bureau and other national government agencies, local government units, fisherfolk groups, and sub-FMAs such as protected areas through management bodies. The Scientific Advisory Group provides the much-needed scientific expertise to recommend measures for sustainable interventions in management to the Management Body.
Meanwhile, the NSMP, approved in 2020, was designed to be integrated into this system to improve the science-based indicators for the sustainability of sardine fish stocks, distribute the benefits among sardine fisherfolk communities, and strengthen management for sustainable sardine fisheries by the end of 2025.
However, the plan has laid idle since its approval. Oceana Vice President Gloria Estenzo Ramos said that except for the Management Body of FMA 7, which just approved the adoption of the plan with the recommended reference points and harvest control rules, other FMAs still have to adopt and implement the plan despite the continuous appeal of artisanal fisherfolks.
Sardines are a major source of protein for Filipinos and a main economic driver in its fisheries industry, with an annual production of 333,743 metric tons (MT). However, experts have been raising the alarm on the deterioration of its population due to rampant overfishing.
Heavy fishing pressure and environmental changes over time have taken their toll on what was once a rich sardine resource. According to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), catch of sardine species bali (tamban) and fimbriati (lawlaw/tuloy) significantly declined by 26.4 percent from 442,045.75 MT in 2010 to 325,226.20 MT in 2019.
According to Dr. Wilfredo Campos of the University of the Philippines Visayas, the situation has not improved in recent years. His recent study revealed an alarming rate of more than three-fourths of the catch they monitored in Bulan, Sorsogon fell below the size at first maturity. Campos also spearheaded a recent study by Oceana, showing an urgent need to implement regulatory measures, including reducing the length of nets or the frequency of fishing in FMA 7.
“There is no time to waste in implementing the National Sardines Management Plan. We need to act now because science has long been telling us that our sardine stocks are already overfished. We must prevent their further deterioration,” said Campos.
This was echoed by Ramos, who lamented that “sardine populations are unable to recover because these are being caught before they even have the chance to reproduce. This problem can be addressed under the road map provided by the National Sardine Management Plan which is why we have been consistent in calling for its implementation, with the inputs of local stakeholders through series of public consultations.”
For his part, Dar reassured fisheries stakeholders of the DA’s commitment to the shared goal of solving “the substantive issues facing both the fisheries industry and our marine and coastal environment.” Also included in his directive are full and effective implementation of fisheries laws pertaining to vessel monitoring and coral reef preservation.
The BFAR, represented during the event by Kima Karla Cedo of its Capture and Fisheries Division, stated that the Plan was set to be “mainstreamed” in the plans to be formulated for the 12 FMAs.