SLIM PICKINGS FOR 12 HOURS AT SEA: Most Guimaras blue crab fishers earn below PHP 5,000 monthly

By Mariela Angella Oladive

JORDAN, Guimaras — About 70% of blue swimming crab fishers in three Guimaras municipalities earn only PHP 1,000 to PHP 5,000 a month, according to a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) profiling presented during a stakeholders’ meeting here on July 13.

The profiling, conducted in Buenavista, San Lorenzo, and Sibunag, identified 193 fishers and 12 consolidators engaged in the blue swimming crab (Portunus pelagicus) industry.

BFAR Guimaras Officer-in-Charge Mateo Doyola said 70.6% of respondents reported monthly earnings within the PHP 1,000 to PHP 5,000 range.

The survey also found that 88% of fishers are male, while the largest age group is 40 to 49 years old, accounting for 26.5% of respondents.

Fishing operations in the Guimaras Strait typically use gillnets and crab pots, with motorized boats manned by two-person crews.

Fishing trips usually last eight to 12 hours, yielding an average catch of three to five kilograms per trip.

During the peak season from August to December, catches may reach about 10 kilograms.

Nearly all harvested crabs are sold steamed for processing and the domestic market, with Negros Occidental serving as the primary market destination.

The livelihood data were presented during a meeting of blue swimming crab stakeholders, local government units, and environmental agencies that discussed the province’s role in the country’s response to the denial of the Philippines’ comparability finding by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act.

NOAA Fisheries first denied the Philippines’ application in September 2025, when it assessed roughly 2,500 fisheries in 135 nations and rejected 240 fisheries from 46 countries for failing to show marine mammal protections comparable to U.S. standards.

The U.S. Court of International Trade stayed the resulting Jan. 1, 2026 import ban in October 2025 pending reconsideration, but on May 11, 2026, NOAA upheld its denial of the Philippines’ two blue swimming crab fisheries even as it cleared Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam to resume exports. The import ban on Philippine crab and crab products took effect June 11, 2026.

NOAA’s final report cited insufficient documentary evidence of marine mammal bycatch monitoring in the gillnet and pot fisheries, and pointed to the risk they pose to the Irrawaddy dolphin, whose small Iloilo-Guimaras Strait population is considered at high risk of extinction and whose bycatch limits have likely been exceeded.

The July 13 discussions focused on measures to reduce marine mammal bycatch and strengthen protection for dugongs, sea turtles, Irrawaddy dolphins, and other marine wildlife in the Guimaras Strait.

BFAR Regional Director Remia A. Aparri, who chairs the Blue Swimming Crab National Technical Working Group, urged local governments to institutionalize and document existing conservation measures to support the country’s compliance efforts.

“If we don’t legislate, implement, and report the already existing mitigating measures, it will not be accepted as part of our comparability measures,” Aparri said.

Among the proposals discussed was the establishment of a marine mammal rehabilitation center in Guimaras.

Governor Ma. Lucille L. Nava said having the nearest rehabilitation facility in the province would improve emergency response for marine species inhabiting the Guimaras Strait.

Stakeholders also discussed strengthening bycatch monitoring, improving local response to marine mammal strandings, and expanding the province’s incentive program for reporting marine wildlife sightings, with a proposal to increase the reward from PHP 500 to PHP 1,500 per verified report.