The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and UP Visayas asked members of the Iloilo media to help with information dissemination on initiatives for the fisheries sector.
On the sidelines of the recently concluded 7th International Conference on Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (ICFAS), the UPV College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences (CFOS) and Information and Publications Office (IPO) invited the local media to a press conference on Oct. 18 to discuss the activities of the said conference and concerns of the country’s fisheries sector.
BFAR Assistant Director for Technical Services Isidro Velayo, Jr. and Chancellor Clement Camposano, together with Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension Harold Monteclaro and CFOS Dean Emilia Encarnacion Yap, answered questions on illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing; enforcement of fisheries law; and the proposed elevation of BFAR into a department, among others.
IUU was one of the main topics of the keynote speakers during the opening program of the 7th ICFAS. Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda, in her message read by the Chancellor, said that IUU fishing jeopardizes the health of oceans and undermines the livelihoods of millions of people who depend on fishing for their sustenance and economic well-being.
According to Velayo, BFAR is strengthening its information campaign to teach and capacitate people to follow good fishing practices. He added the campaign is still a work in progress, and BFAR needs the media’s help to spread the information on the ground.
Camposano, on the other hand, said the government needs to work together to highlight fisheries issues for them to be given media coverage, considering the critical importance of the sector to the country’s economy.
“Like any government, the Philippine government must also address these things in light of maybe the way issues are articulated – the more prominent these issues are, I think the more chances we have of realigning resources,” he said.
Meanwhile, Monteclaro talked of the importance of having conferences like ICFAS, saying “It’s a platform for researchers – not just researchers but also students and other practitioners to discuss these issues because we need to put these issues into the light and make these known to everybody, not just among our circle, but also for other laymen people as well.”
Yap, for her part, talked about the overwhelming clamor to elevate the fisheries bureau into a department, adding that the move would imply a bigger budget allocation and pursuit of more initiatives for the fisheries sector. BFAR, at present, is an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture.
