SMALL FISHERS GET SQUEEZED: Commercial fishing boats in PHL municipal waters hit 5-year high

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

International marine conservation group Oceana is calling for an investigation into the alarming increase of commercial fishing boats detected inside the 15-kilometer municipal waters of the Philippines, with the number of such vessels reaching a five-year high from 2022 to 2026.

In March alone, Oceana’s Karagatan Patrol website detected 3,853 apparent commercial fishing vessels inside municipal waters, using data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), which detects commercial-grade night lights.

The group criticized the government’s “gross negligence” in the surveillance and monitoring of the country’s municipal waters, where small-scale fishers hold the preferential right to catch fish.

Of the 3,853 commercial fishing boats detected, 1,331—the highest number—were found in Palawan, the province that already passed an ordinance banning commercial fishing operations inside municipal waters, making it the first province in the country to do so.

Quezon province had the second-highest number of detected commercial fishing vessels.

Oceana called on the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and other enforcement agencies to use state-installed vessel monitoring devices to strictly monitor commercial vessel movement and compliance with the law.

“It is incomprehensible that the government is letting commercial fishing operators completely ignore the law while poor municipal fishers struggle with their daily food and other basic requirements,” said Atty. Rose-Liza Eisma-Osorio, Oceana’s Senior Director for Campaigns and Legal and Policy. “They now have to seek for higher subsidies because the government is failing to ensure that their fishing grounds will give them the abundance of marine resources they can depend on.”

With closed fishing seasons ending in different parts of the country, Oceana warned of more commercial fishing vessel encroachment near the shore as operators seek to save on fuel costs.

Palawan Gov. Amy Roa Alvarez signed Provincial Ordinance No. 3761, Series of 2026, into law on March 26, making Palawan the first province to enact a binding local law that shuts out commercial fleets from the 15-kilometer municipal water zone, reserving it exclusively for small-scale municipal fishers.

“As larger commercial fishing pressures continue to affect our waters, we need to make sure that the benefits of our marine resources are felt more by our local communities and across the Palawan economy. At the same time, we recognize that behind these vessels are workers who are also trying to earn a living. I stand by this: fishing remains part of our bread and butter, but it must be sustainable. Hindi puwedeng one-time big time lang. Kailangan nating protektahan ang ating dagat dahil hindi lang ito likas yaman, ito rin ang pinagkukunan ng pagkain at kabuhayan ng ating mga kababayan. What matters is making sure local communities get their rightful share and that our seas continue to provide, not just for today, but for the years ahead,” said Alvarez.

Alvarez cited alarming reports from island municipalities of Mercidar and other large commercial fishing vessels, or lantsa, coming from as far as Manila, Batangas, Mindoro, and Iloilo operating within just five kilometers of Palawan’s shores.

Palawan Board Member Ryan Maminta, principal author of the ordinance, warned that the Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling allowing the Mercidar Fishing Corporation to fish inside municipal waters would devastate the long-term health of Palawan’s marine resources, given the capacity of large commercial vessels to strip fishing grounds bare in a matter of days.

“Itong ordinansa ng Palawan ay tagumpay para sa aming mga mangingisda at mga katutubo. Ang dagat ay hindi lang hanapbuhay para sa amin—ito ang aming palengke, bangko, at ospital. Kung papayagan ang mga komersyal na mangingisda sa aming municipal waters, mawawala ang lahat ng aming ipinaglaban. Huwag na sana nating hintaying maging alaala na lamang ang masaganang pangisdaan na ating kinamulatan,” said Fredil Muid, a fisherfolk leader from the Calamian Tagbanua indigenous group and representative of indigenous peoples in the National Technical Working Group for the National Plan of Action on Small-Scale Fisheries (NPOA-SSF).

The ordinance declares as provincial policy the protection, conservation, and sustainable management of Palawan’s municipal waters, with violators facing both administrative and criminal penalties.

Aside from Maminta, the ordinance was authored by Rafael V. Ortega Jr., Juan Antonio E. Alvarez, Roseller S. Pineda, Ariston D. Arzaga, and Maria Angela V. Sabando. It was approved during the 34th Regular Session of the 45th Sangguniang Panlalawigan on March 17, 2026.

“This development draws a clear and necessary line – Palawan’s municipal waters belong to its municipal fisherfolk. At a time when our national fisheries are on freefall decline, this is exactly the kind of bold, science-grounded local action that the Fisheries Code demands. We call on other provinces to follow Palawan’s lead,” said Von Hernandez, Oceana Vice President. “The law already gives them the tools; what’s needed is the courage to use them.”

During the Feb. 18 hearing of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform, local chief executives from across the country testified on the damage that commercial fishing has inflicted on their communities and BFAR’s failure to stop it.

Oceana’s Karagatan Patrol found more than 5,000 apparent commercial fishing vessels inside Palawan’s municipal waters each year in 2024 and 2025—a 40 percent increase from only 2,989 detected commercial fishing vessels in 2022.

Oceana renewed its call on BFAR to share vessel monitoring and surveillance data with Palawan and other local government units, the Philippine Coast Guard, and the Philippine National Police–Maritime Group. The agency said it has installed transponders on more than 90 percent of commercial fishing vessels but has yet to share the data with enforcement agencies.

“The technology is there. The data exists. What is missing is the political will to use it. Every day that BFAR withholds vessel monitoring data is another day that commercial fishing vessels illegally operate inside municipal waters with impunity. The continuous intrusion of commercial fishing vessels is one of the major causes of overfishing and the reason why we are losing an average of 45 million kilos of fish catch every year,” Hernandez added.

Meanwhile, municipal fishers from across the country painted a picture of hunger, with many now unable to afford the fuel needed to go out and fish.

“Ang pinagtatrabaho na lang namin ay ang mga may-ari ng gasolinahan. Dahil halos doble ang itinaas ng gasolina. Kaya ang nahuhuli namin, pambili lang ng gasolina,” said Edward Diaz, president of Ugnayan ng Maliliit na Mangingisda ng Tayabas Bay in Quezon. “Malimit ay walang huli kaya pinipili na magtrabaho sa construction. Kaya kalimitan po ngayon ay nakabara na ang mga bangka namin. Yung ibang nakababa, pili lang ang araw ng paglaot namin kasi nabibitin sa budget sa pagbili ng gasolina.”

Fisherfolk leader Venerando Carbon from the Tañon Strait Fisherfolk Federation based in Cebu said artisanal fishers need to sail four to five kilometers from shore in the Tañon Strait to have any reasonable chance of a catch.

Carbon said fishers used to spend PHP 200 to PHP 300 each day on fuel but now need at least PHP 600 to PHP 700 due to the unprecedented increase in diesel prices—barely enough to cover the cost of fuel.

“Mas lalong namomroblema sila na sobrang mahal ng gasolina, nag-stop na talaga sila ng pagpalaot kasi walang kasiguruhan ang pagpalaot nila, kung may huli ba sila o wala. Pagpunta pa lang, lugi na sila sa dagdag ng mahal ng gasolina,” Carbon said.

Fisherfolk leaders from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao jointly issued an appeal to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to increase their subsidy beyond the PHP 3,000 aid they currently receive.

They also called on Department of Agriculture Secretary Francis Tiu Laurel and BFAR to fix the identification system of fisherfolk beneficiaries so every eligible fisher can receive assistance.

Fisherfolk leader Judith Castres from Davao Oriental said many artisanal municipal fishers have not received the subsidy due to the government’s outdated and fragmented fisherfolk database. Castres also appealed to the DA on behalf of all fishers, who have been receiving less subsidy than farmers.

“The fisherfolk who could have relied on the natural life support system that the ocean should give them, suffers the most from the economic shock caused by these crises. From the pandemic, until now, the government continues to fail with the necessary protection they need. They need to be able to rely on the DA-BFAR, and on government that has the duly constituted mandate to protect the municipal fishers’ preferential right in the 15-kilometer municipal water. Thus far, they have been unable to do that,” said Osorio.

A fisheries audit report released by Oceana this year found that the country’s fisheries has been in freefall decline for the past 13 years, with 88 percent of assessed fish stocks found to be overfished or captured extensively beyond their capacity to recover.

The report attributed the decline primarily to the continuous intrusion of commercial fishing inside the 15-kilometer municipal waters reserved for small-scale fishers. Over 353,000 fisherfolk families now live below the poverty line. /DG