- CHERYL G. CRUZ
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Monday said the three-month closed fishing season for sardines, herring, and mackerel in the Visayan Sea will start tomorrow, Nov. 15.
The closed fishing season, annually implemented until Feb. 15, prohibits the catching of sardines, herring or tamban/tabagak/tamban-tuloy/balantiong, and mackerel or hasa-hasa/gumaa/bulao/alumahan, as well as their larvae, fry or young, locally as lupoy, silinyasi, linatsay, or manansi within the conservation area, based on Fisheries Administrative Order No. 167-3.
This is to ensure the protection and conservation of these species in the Visayan Sea, the BFAR said.
The areas of closure in Western Visayas include northern Negros, covering the towns of EB Magalona and Manapla, and the cities of Victorias, Sagay, Cadiz, and Escalante; northern Iloilo, from Barotac Nuevo, Anilao, Banate, Barotac Viejo, Ajuy, Concepcion, San Dionisio, Batad, Estancia, Balasan, and Carles; and part of Capiz, including Roxas City, Pilar, Pontevedra, President Roxas, and Panay.
The Island of Bantayan in Central Visayas and parts of Masbate are also covered by the closed season.
The Visayan Sea is a major source of food, income, and livelihood for 22 local government units in the provinces of Negros Occidental, Iloilo, Cebu, and Masbate surrounding it, and contributes 10 to 13 percent of the national fish production, the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD), one of the sectoral councils of the Department of Science and Technology, said in a study.
The BFAR6 also said that more than 100,000 fishermen and their families depend on the Visayan Sea for their sources of food and income.
Overfishing and degradation have been threatening the productivity of the Visayan Sea for many years, and the enforcement of the three-month closed season each year is one of the key initiatives in its conservation, the PCAARRD said, adding that the policy underwent a number of revisions and suspension and was strictly implemented starting 2012./CGC
