Citing the depletion of the country’s tuna resources, the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) has warned commercial fishing boats against the use of illegal tuna purse seine nets.
BFAR assistant regional director Fatma Chaneco Monday said there will be a crackdown on erring boats after a one-month information campaign on Fisheries Administrative Order (FAO) No. 188. The FAO deems it “unlawful for any person, association, cooperative, partnership or corporation to operate commercial fishing boats using tuna purse seine nets with mesh sizes (holes or openings) of less than 3.5 inches.†Issued in 1993 by former agriculture secretary Roberto S. Sebastian, it gave boat owners a five-year grace period to comply with the requirement.
With the grace period long over, Chaneco said violators will be fined from P500 to P5,000, or imprisonment from six months to four years, or both. The law also empowers the head of the BFAR to cancel fishing permits.
FAO No. 188 describes a “tuna purse seine net†as a fishing gear to catch tuna, consisting of a long net buoyed by floats at the upper portion, and weights at the lower portion.
It said the national Agricultural and Fishery Council Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture determined the severe depletion of tuna resources in the country’s fishing grounds.