Fishery Resources

THE PHILIPPINE
MARINE FISHERY RESOURCES
What Will Remain for the Children of the 21st Century?

NSCB Future Plans

At present, the NSCB is undertaking the updating of the estimates for the resource depletion of the Philippine marine fishery resources. This is targeted to be available at the end of October 1999. The updated accounts will feature the estimates of both the resources depletion and the corresponding net rent from 1986 to 1998. It is also the goal of the NSCB to improve the current estimation methodology being utilized. In so doing, an effort is being done to institutionalize the compilation of physical accounts within the organizational structure of the Department of Agriculture (DA) with the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) as the agency compiler. Other DA bureaus, such as the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), are also involved as provider of the technical expertise as well as the needed fishery biological data to come up with a complete asset accounts for fishery resource. To facilitate a systematic and close coordination among the concerned agencies, a technical working group (TWG) under the Philippine Economic-Environmental and Natural Resources Accounting (PEENRA) system was created composed of the BAS, BFAR and two more DA agencies {(Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA) and Bureau of Agricultural Research (BA)}.

Synopsis

Having one of the country’s prime resource being depleted is no simple problem. With regards to livelihood, the ones that are basically affected are the municipal fishermen who, more often than not, are being marginalized by the commercial fishing operators. Municipal fishermen are equipped with indigenous fishing gadgets that are of no match to those of the commercial fishing operators.

The accounts presented in this article cover only the adverse effect of fish extraction. The environmental cost for polluting the water and coastal ecosystem, which equally threatens the survival of the marine fishery resource, has not been covered yet. In the same manner, the destruction of the corral reefs or the natural habitats, which has significant impacts to the resource’s natural growth, is not yet covered in this study.

It would suffice to say that the environmental cost for the resource, once completely accounted, would definitely be higher than the current estimation of the net rent. As such, we ought to do something to minimize resource depletion and prevent the degradation of our marine and coastal ecosystem. The government on its end has passed promulgations which are aimed at preserving the country’s fishery resource. The most recent is the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998, which integrates all laws on fisheries and aquatic resources of the country. This code aims to promote sustainable development of the country’s fishery resources based on ecological limits. However, the successful implementation of this code will largely depend on the genuine collaboration between the government, the civil society and the private entities.

Think about this, if in 1993 about 374,596 metric tons more than the natural growth of marine fishery resource have been extracted, how many fish will be left 20 or 30 years from now? Fifty years from now, will children still be able to see fish swimming in a lake, or in a bay perhaps? Maybe, one of the noblest things that our generation can do is to ensure that future generations of Filipinos can still experience nature in the same way that we have enjoyed it today.

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