The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) will await next month’s peer review of scientific papers on sardines before declaring the season for banning in Mindanao harvest of this small pelagic fish, one of the country’s most commercially important marine species.
“We want to have scientific basis for our action,” said BFAR Assistant Director for Technical Services Gil Adora.
He noted the peer review from October 4 to 7 in Zamboanga will show if the season for banning sardine harvest must commence in November as BFAR targeted.
Adora said stakeholders concerned and BFAR recognize need for declaring such closed season to help prevent further depletion of the country’s sardine stocks.
Several experts earlier reported some Philippine fishing grounds already started showing signs of such depletion from over-fishing.
BFAR is eyeing a November-February closed season particularly in Zamboanga waters which the agency identified as being among the country’s richest sardine fishing grounds.
“Both local government and sardine stakeholders there are recommending December as start of the closed season, however,” Adora said.
He said such clamor arose as the stakeholders reported preparing for respective workers financial packages covering the December-February period.
Such packages aim to help tide over the workers while awaiting their next sardine harvest activity, he noted.
The stakeholders are concerned advancing the closed season by a month will create a gap in such assistance to the workers and affect the local sardine industry as well, he continued.
Adora said BFAR is open to negotiating with the stakeholders a schedule for the 2011 close season, even if the peer review shows this period must commence in November, to avoid such problems.
“There could be a transition period for this year,” he said.
He expects such period to give stakeholders concerned time to adjust respective financial plans and packages of assistance for succeeding years.
A closed season for sardines is already observed in the Visayas from November to March, Adora said.
If BFAR declares a closed season for sardines in Mindanao, he said this will be the first of such fisheries management strategy for that area.
Among people BFAR earlier invited to review the scientific papers on sardines are experts from University of the Philippines-Visayas, Marine Science Institute and Zamboanga State University, Adora said.
He noted experts from such institutions, BFAR and National Fisheries Research and Development Institute produced the scientific papers that are due for review. [PNA]
BFAR is inviting sardine industry stakeholders and other parties to submit similar scientific papers they prepared so these can be included in the review.
“It’s best to have a comprehensive database,” Adora said.
He added interested parties may submit their papers to BFAR’s central office in Quezon City on or before October 3 this year.
