IN a move to fight illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the country, the United States and Philippine governments brought together 135 participants from various sectors to measure and understand IUU fishing at a national level in a two-day online workshop that ended on Thursday. John Law, US Embassy-mission deputy chief, said the exercise is a critical first step to understanding the complex global threat that IUU fishing represents to ocean health and maritime security. “I commend the Philippine government as it continues to ramp up its efforts against IUU fishing through investment in multi-stakeholder and inter-agency actions,” Law noted. Eduardo Gongona, undersecretary for Fisheries and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) national director, said to cope and recover from the pandemic, there is a need to ensure food security, while at the same time consider natural capital such as fish stocks and their habitats. “This is the bluer normal we want to achieve toward the vision of a food-secure and resilient Philippines with prosperous farmers and fishers. We cannot afford to lose our fish to IUU fishing,” Gongona added. The embassy said IUU fishing is a far-reaching and complex issue that threatens ocean health and maritime security of nations and while it is believed to be widespread in the Philippines, its magnitude, prevalence and impacts are yet to be accurately quantified, thus, the workshop is expected to bolster the Philippine government’s efforts to reduce IUU fishing in the country. The embassy also noted that quantifying the losses to harmful fishing practices will enable fisheries managers to use the best available data to inform fishery policies. This will be undertaken through the collaboration of BFAR and the United States Agency for International Development (USAid) in developing an IUU Fishing Index and Threat Assessment Tool that local governments can use to produce a more standard metric of IUU fishing throughout the country, it said. The workshop was supported by the BFAR and USAid through its Fish Right program with experts from the University of the Philippines School of Statistics who facilitated the online workshop.
