Sherwin Baltazar BSF 3-2

Takeaways from IUU Fishing Webinar

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing persists to be one of the major

challenges facing ocean ecosystems and sustainable fisheries, because of its powerful ability to

thwart national and regional efforts to conserve and manage fish stocks and, as a result, to

obstruct progress towards achieving the objectives of long-term sustainability and responsibility.

As a fishery student, I am very grateful that I was able to attend on fishery-related

seminars like IUU fishing webinar; because it enables me to foster my knowledge and be more

aware about our marine ecosystem. Moreover, here are my take-aways from IUU Fishing

Webinar:

a. This seminar highlighted the connection between IUU fishing and several other illegal

activities.

b. One of the challenges in fisheries sector includes lack of awareness and lack of

coordination between relevant people or institution

c. Food security and the sustainability of fish resources are seriously threatened by IUU

fishing.

d. IUU fishing index is a tool used to compare the vulnerability of IUU fishing threats to

different areas.

e. IUU fishing reduction planning guide is implemented to lessen the case of IUU fishing in

our country to preserve the marine ecosystem.

f. A research by the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and the

United States Agency for International Development (USAID) claims that IUU fishing

damages the nation P62 billion ($1.2 billion) annually.