The Alliance of Philippine Fishing Federations (APFFI) has welcomed the decision of the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources to suspend the mandated monitoring of commercial fishing vessels in the country. The implementation of Fisheries Administrative Order No. 266 (FAO 266), which mandated fishing vessels to report their catches through a vessel monitoring system, has been suspended until the Supreme Court decides on its constitutionality. APFFI believes the move will improve local fish production, with Roderic Santos, an Inter-Island and Deep Sea Fishing Association director, stating that fuel costs had taken up 40% to 50% of operational costs, whereas it used to be just 20% to 30%. The APFFI had informed Malacañang that the Malabon City Regional Trial Court Branch 170 ruled FAO 266 as unconstitutional, rendering it null and void. Despite this, the DA-BFAR allegedly still tried to implement the order, and the agency “threatened not to issue permits and licenses if the fishing vessels were not equipped with the satellite transponders required under the administrative order.” International advocacy organisation Oceana Philippines previously opposed the suspension, appealing to the Palace to reverse the decision, but the APFFI said that overfishing was not a threat to those under FAO 266’s scope, as “catch data is not accurate and at present there is no credible scientific study conducted in the Philippines.”
