Fish harvest drops to lowest amid legal fight over municipal waters
FISHING composite image from Inquirer files
MANILA, Philippines—International marine protection group Oceana has warned of worsening fisheries decline, with production hitting its lowest level in two decades and municipal fish catch dropping further.
This is amid concerns over a court ruling that could legalize commercial fishing in municipal waters.
A preliminary report from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the country’s total fisheries production dropped to 4.05 million metric tons in 2024, marking a 5.0 percent decline from 4.26 million metric tons in 2023. This represents the lowest output in two decades.
Oceana called the findings “highly disturbing,” warning that the situation could worsen if the Supreme Court First Division resolution and Malabon Regional Trial Court (RTC) ruling — allowing commercial fishing vessels to operate in municipal waters reserved for small-scale fishers — become final and executory.
READ: Groups to SC: Protect rights of small fishers
Article continues after this advertisementMunicipal fisheries production hits a new low
PSA stressed the reported declines in marine municipal fisheries, inland municipal fisheries, and aquaculture, while only the commercial fisheries sector showed growth in 2024.
Article continues after this advertisementMarine municipal fisheries production dropped by 8.8 percent, from 879.96 thousand metric tons in 2023 to 802.77 thousand metric tons in 2024 — its lowest level since 2002. This reduced the sector’s share to 19.8 percent of total fisheries production.
In contrast, commercial fisheries output increased by 4.2 percent, reaching 857.33 thousand metric tons in 2024, up from 822.43 thousand metric tons in 2023, now accounting for 21.2 percent of total fisheries production.
Oceana warned that the declining marine municipal fisheries output, already threatened by climate change, habitat loss, and pollution, faces an even greater risk if commercial fishing is legitimized within municipal waters, which are legally reserved for small-scale fishers.
The group warned that allowing large commercial fishing vessels — exceeding the 3-ton limit for municipal fishers and equipped with advanced mechanical gear — to operate in municipal waters could further deplete fish stocks, threatening the livelihood and food security of millions of Filipinos.
“Illegal commercial fishing inside municipal waters and overfishing have long plagued Philippine waters, depleting fish stocks and degrading marine ecosystems. These practices threaten biodiversity and can trigger the collapse of essential fish populations,” said lawyer Gloria Estenzo Ramos, vice president of Oceana.
“The unabated exploitation of these resources and often aggressive and destructive, and illegal fishing practices of commercial fishing operators endanger the future of our fisheries and the communities that rely on them,” she added.
Court ruling
The Supreme Court’s First Division upheld a Malabon RTC ruling that declared key provisions of the 1998 Fisheries Code unconstitutional, effectively allowing commercial fishing vessels to operate within municipal waters.
Under Republic Act No. 10654, or the Amended Fisheries Code, commercial fishing is restricted to areas beyond the 15-kilometer municipal water zone, which is reserved for small-scale fishers.
However, the court’s decision overturns this protection, raising concerns about its impact on artisanal fishing communities.
The case began when Navotas-based Mercidar Fishing Corporation filed a petition on October 25, 2023, challenging these restrictions. Less than two months later, the Malabon RTC ruled in its favor, striking down municipal governments’ authority to regulate commercial fishing within the 15-kilometer zone and lifting the ban on fishing in waters shallower than 12.8 meters.
On August 19, 2024, the Supreme Court affirmed the Malabon RTC’s decision, citing procedural lapses in the Office of the Solicitor General’s (OSG) appeal, which was filed too late.
READ: Petition filed vs SC ruling on big-scale fishing in town waters
The ruling allows commercial fishing operators with large vessels and modern gear to enter municipal waters. Critics, such as Oceana, warn that this move could displace small-scale fishers, one of the country’s most vulnerable sectors.
Devastating consequences
Oceana explained that the 1987 Constitution, Local Government Code, and the amended Fisheries Code grant preferential access to municipal waters for artisanal and small-scale fishers, ensuring their right to food and livelihood security while promoting the restoration of fisheries resources to meet the country’s nutritional needs.
However, data from the General Bathymetric Chart of Oceans shows that the recent court ruling could open more than 90 percent of municipal waters in 533 out of 884 coastal municipalities to commercial fishing vessels.
“Legitimizing illegal commercial fishing in the reserved 15-kilometer zone for artisanal fisherfolk poses grave consequences for artisanal fishers, who will unfairly compete with technologically advanced equipment and more efficient fishing gears of commercial fishing vessels,” said Ramos.
This shift, she cautioned, could lead to a sharp decline in their daily catch, jeopardizing both local markets and the livelihood of coastal communities, pushing many into economic hardship and food insecurity.
Backing small fishers
Fifty bishops of the Catholic Business Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), led by Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David of the Diocese of Kalookan issued a pastoral statement, strongly opposing the controversial courts’ decision.
“If the courts’ decisions become final and executory, our municipal fishers, who depend on these waters for survival, will face unfair and unjust competition from commercial fishers,” the bishops said.
“When commercial interests take precedence, the vulnerable are left to bear the cost—facing hunger, poverty and displacement. Didn’t the Lord often remind his disciples to take only what they need to guard against greed?”
READ: Bishops oppose SC ruling, back small fishers
Local government officials have also voiced strong opposition to the court ruling, asserting their responsibility to protect and manage municipal waters to safeguard the food and livelihood security of their communities.
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In Congress, Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez and Kabataan Rep. Raoul Manuel raised concerns over the ruling’s impact on marine biodiversity and small-scale fishers. Rodriguez has since filed a bill seeking to keep municipal waters exclusive to small-scale fishers.
Kabataan Partylist, GABRIELA Women’s Partylist, and ACT Teachers Partylist filed House Resolution 2202, calling on the Committee on Aquaculture and Fisheries Resources to investigate the effects of the Supreme Court’s decision.
“Artisanal fisherfolk, coastal communities and local government chief executives have lauded recent reforms for science-based solutions to the declining state of our fisheries and marine resources, including the implementation of vessel monitoring measures and Fisheries Management Areas system,” said Ramos.
“These are the lifeline to their livelihood and sustenance of their family. We need to fully enforce the laws to ensure that our fisheries rebound and the rights of subsistence fisherfolk are upheld against the profit-seeking interests of commercial fishing operators,” she added.
Graphics by Ed Lustan/Inquirer.net. Sources: Philippine Statistics Authority, Oceana
