To prevent illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUUF), President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. is now considering the creation of Strategic Agriculture and Fisheries Development Zones (SAFDZ).
“The DA and the BFAR were also directed to study the establishment of Strategic Agriculture and Fisheries Development Zones (SAFDZ) to provide fishery stakeholders with an area for sustainable fishing,” the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said in a statement issued last Tuesday.
PCO said the President made the decision during his meeting with officials of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) last week.
It noted Marcos, who is also the concurrent DA Secretary, wants the country to comply with its international commitments, particularly to the European Union on preventing IUUF.
Aside from the SAFDZ, another measures, which was discussed in the meeting was for the Office of the Executive Secretary to come out with issuances to implement Fisheries Administrative Order (FAO) No. 266, series of 2020, which requires commercial fishing vessels (CFVs) to install vessel monitoring systems (VMS).
Marcos also wanted the review the licenses of CFVs that fail to comply with FAO No. 266, series of 2020 and for DA and the BFAR to determine the provisions of Republic Act (RA) No. 8550 or the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998, as amended by RA No. 10654, which needs to be amended.
In his speech during the 125th Founding Anniversary of DA last Tuesday, the President vowed to boost the competitiveness of the country’s fishing sector since it provides livelihood to many Filipinos.
“Moving forward, the DA will continue to devise interventions to advance our agri-fishery practices, improve the competitiveness of our agri-fishery products, [and] further boost the income of our farmers and fisherfolk,” Marcos said.
PBBM directs DA, BFAR to address illegal, unreported, unregulated fishing
Source: News Paper Radio
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