National Patrimony (property inherited from
Fisheries not alienable and the State shall
one's father or male ancestor) and 3 ways to
access them-
ARTICLE XII of the 1987 Constitution provides:
Sec1. The goals of the national economy are a
more equitable distribution of opportunities,
income, and wealth based on sound agricultural
development and agrarian reform.
'The country's fisheries code now has more
teeth and the necessary mechanisms to curb
illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing'
As “seatizens” and stakeholders of the
environment, most especially those who love
seafood, here are 5 things that you need to
know about RA 10654 or the amended Fisheries
Code:
1. There are too many boats out at sea.
Filipino scientists have said that we already
reached the maximum sustainable yield of our
seas back in the 80s, prompting fisherfolk
organizations and government agencies to
declare that 10 out of 13 of the country’s fishing
grounds have been severely overfished or have
now been depleted. Under RA 10654, there will
now be harvest control mechanisms to limit
fishing efforts based on the health of fishing
grounds.
2. Something’s fishy about today’s seafood.
A single commercial fishing operation can
impact the livelihood of 65 small municipal
fishers. These commercial fishers simply sell
their haul to the market, passing it off as legally-
caught fish, robbing fishermen of their potential
income. This is why fishermen remain one of
the poorest sectors of society.
Sec2.
protect the nation’s marine wealth in its
archipelagic waters.
Sec6. Distributive Justice (different distributions
of benefits and burdens across members of the
society).
Sec9. Congress-President-NEDA
10654
Now, there is a way to stop this highway
robbery happening at sea. Under RA 10654,
there will now be a vessel monitoring system
that will tell authorities when and where exactly
boats are fishing.
3. Saved by the yellow card.
In 2014, the EU issued a yellow card warning to
the Philippines after decades of rampant illegal,
unregulated, and unreported fishing happening
in Philippine waters. This means the EU is
prompting the Aquino government to comply
and amend our fisheries law before trade
sanctions were imposed.
Just like in football, if countries do not comply
with international fisheries standards, the EU
can issue them a red card, as they have done to
countries like Cambodia and Sri Lanka. A red
card for the Philippines would have resulted to
a loss of P9.4 billion worth of Philippine
fisheries export, certainly a huge dent to the
economy.
4. Penalties are no longer a slap on the wrist.
One of the reasons why illegal and
unsustainable fishing flourished is because the
government did not impose tougher penalties
to those who did not follow Philippine fisheries
laws.
For example, a fisherman caught doing
dynamite fishing only had to pay a fine of RA 6550
P5,000. Even commercial fishers, if caught and
apprehended for fishing illegally, only had to
pay a few thousand – practically peanuts in this
multi-million peso industry.

RA 10654 makes it loud and clear that illegal

fishers will be made to pay a lot more — to the
tune of millions — for plundering our seas and
destroying marine ecosystems which may take
decades to recover.

5. Saving sharks and dolphins

In the hunt for more fish, many commercial
fishers resort to unsustainable fishing practices
like using big purse seine nets or fish
aggregating devices which lure fish and other
sea creatures like sharks, dolphins and even
turtles. This is why sharks and dolphins end up
being sold in markets, adding to the illegal trade
of endangered species.

Under RA 10654, it is now unlawful to fish or

take, catch, gather, sell, purchase, possess,
transport, export, forward or ship out aquatic
species listed by the Convention on the
International Trade in Endangered Species of
Wild Flora and Fauna, or those categorized by
the International Union for Conservation of
Nature and Natural Resources as threatened, or
those marine and aquatic species determined
by the DA as such.

Fundamental changes need to be made in the

way our oceans are managed from the top
down. We need a healthy and thriving marine
environment for our sustenance to safeguard
people’s livelihood, and to ensure that we
continue to have fish on our plate.

We need seatizens’ support to uphold the gains

of this new and revitalized Fisheries Code of the
Philippines before it is too late.