Soon, on August 31, the three-month fishing ban in the Davao Gulf will end. This prohibition is a crucial initiative aimed at safeguarding small pelagic fish species during their peak spawning season. The objective of the ban is to promote the long-term sustainability of the marine resources in the Gulf.
Throughout the duration of the ban, the use of certain commercial fishing equipment, including bagnets and ringnets, is strictly forbidden, irrespective of the vessel’s tonnage. Nevertheless, registered municipal fisherfolk utilizing authorized, low-impact municipal gear are exempt from this restriction. Allowed fishing methods encompass hook and line, gillnet, and fish pots.
The Davao Gulf, covering an area of 308,000 hectares and extending across ten coastal municipalities in the Davao region—from Malita in Davao Occidental in the south to Boston in Davao Oriental in the east—boasts a diverse marine ecosystem.
The period from June to August is recognized as the spawning season for tuna and pelagic fish species, including mackerels, scads, and sardines, in the Davao Gulf, which spans 308,000 hectares across ten coastal municipalities in the region—from Malita in Davao Occidental in the south to Boston in Davao Oriental in the east.
Fish, along with rice, serves as a staple food for Filipinos. On the average Filipino consumes approximately 34 to 40 kilograms of fish and seafood every year. This translates to about 94 to 110 grams of fish daily, establishing it as a primary source of protein in their everyday meals.
This local consumption rate significantly exceeds the average global fish intake, according to the sector trend analysis conducted by the government of Canada.
“Fish and seafoods are the main source of good quality protein for Filipinos, thus, availability and accessibility must be ensured. If the situation persists and left unattended, this may result in higher medical costs for the management of illnesses as a resultant factor of nutrient inadequacy,” said Dr. Imelda Angeles-Agdeppa, director of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI).
Unfortunately, the fisheries in the country are on the brink of collapse, suffering from the relentless “plunder of the commons.” The term “commons” refers to unoccupied land and all bodies of water that are regarded as a divine set of resources available for the public to utilize as needed.
These resources seem to have been exploited to the point of depletion. In spite of the country’s extensive marine resources, which include 220 million hectares of coastal and oceanic waters and a coastline stretching 36,289 kilometers, the country is currently facing a deficit in fish supply.
Davao Gulf, recognized as the 10th principal fishing area in the country, is no exception. Research conducted by the World Fish Center, based in Kuala Lumpur, indicates that since the year 2000, both the quantity and quality of fish in this region have been consistently declining.
Except for the maya-maya, the catch rates for the other nine species have been decreasing. If this trend continues, species such as caraballas, bilong-bilong, molmol, and danggit could vanish entirely from Davao Gulf within the next ten years, according to the study.
Although matambaka, tamban, and moro-moro show greater resilience, they too may face extinction within a generation, the study warned.
With approximately 7,641 islands, life in the Philippines is never far from the sea. “Every Filipino lives within 75 kilometers of the coast, and every day, more than 4,500 new residents are born,” wrote Joan Castro and Leona D’Agnes in a report circulated by the Washington, D.C.-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Right now, the population of the country is estimated to be around 117.8 million people, based on Worldometers analysis of United Nations data. This positions the country as the 14th most populous in the world. Given the large number of people, the supply of fish is insufficient to meet everyone’s needs.
A policy brief published by The Philippine Journal of Fisheries stated: “The human population of the Philippines is expected to reach 158 million by the year 2050, or an increase of 37% relative to 2022. This implies increased demand for fish. This begs the question of whether the country can meet the expected increase in fish demand.”
The authors of the policy brief further stated, “We estimate that even if the Philippines can maintain its current fish production, the Philippines will still require 1.67 million metric tons more fish per year by 2050 to at least maintain its current per capita fish consumption of 34.27 kilograms per year.”
Burgeoning population is not the only culprit to the dwindling fish supply. “Open access to fisheries and rampant destruction of fish habitats such as mangrove stands, coral reefs, and seagrass beds have further exacerbated the fisheries’ decline,” Castro and D’Agnes noted in their collaborative report.
Coral reefs
“One of the greatest natural treasures, (coral reefs) are habitats for rare species, including some 488 species of corals, 971 species of benthic algae, and 2,000 species of fish,” explained the late Dr. Miguel D. Fortes, one of the country’s marine experts. “A single reef may contain 3,000 species of corals, fish, and shellfish.”
Studies have shown that a single reef can support as many as 3,000 species of marine life. As fishing grounds, they are thought to be 10 to 100 times as productive per unit area as the open sea.
The Philippines has the distinction of being home to more than 400 of the 700 coral reefs known to man. Unfortunately, most of these reefs are in a sad state of destruction. These reefs have been slowly dying over the past 30 years, as reported by the Southeast Asian Centre of Excellence during the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Mangroves
Mangroves are very important to marine life, contends Dr. Laura T. David, a marine scientist and Marine Science Institute Director. They serve as sanctuaries and feeding grounds for fish that nibble on detritus (fallen and decaying leaves) trapped in the vegetation, and on the bark and leaves of living trees.
Mangroves are home to 68 species of fish (including bangus, kitan, tilapia, eel, and mullet, to name a few), 54 species of crustaceans (shrimps, prawns, and crabs), and 56 species of gastropods.
“Fish use the spaces under the mass of prop roots of mangrove trees as ‘delivery rooms,’ and the offspring of many marine species spend their growing period in the mangrove swamps before moving on to the open said,” explains Dr. Rafael Guerrero III, former executive director of the Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development.
Like coral reefs, mangroves are not spared from denudation. In 1981, there were an estimated 450,000 hectares of mangrove areas in the country. Since then, there has been a decreasing trend. The current rate of mangrove deforestation ranges from 2,000 to 3,000 hectares per year.
Seagrasses
The Philippines has 18 species along its coasts, making the country the second highest (after Western Australia’s more than 30 species) in terms of the number of seagrasses in the world. The area covered by seagrasses in the country is 27,282 square kilometers.
Among the diversified species found in the seagrass beds are fishes, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, crabs, scallops, mussels and snails. Shrimps spend the early stages of their lives in seagrass areas. A total of 1,384 individuals and 55 species from 25 fish families have been identified from five seagrass sites in the country alone.
“All have economic value mostly as food and aquarium specimens,” Dr. Fortes said. “Five times as many fish live in seagrass beds as above sea floors of mud, shells, and sand.”
“Despite their high biodiversity and abundance, seagrass habitats are still poorly understood in our country,” said Dr. Fortes. “Hence, it appears only marginally useful when, in fact, the ecosystem plays significant economic and ecological roles.”
Overfishing
Although fish stocks are a renewable resource, many of them are strained to the limit. “Over the years, they have suffered from a widespread notion that the seas are inexhaustible and economic pressures that have encouraged over-exploitation,” deplored the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), a line agency of the Department of Agriculture.
“Overfishing is the primary cause of dwindling fish populations,” wrote Peter Weber, author of Net Loss: Fish, Jobs, and the Marine Environment published by the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute.
The Manila-based Asian Development Bank says that most fishing vessels, which are often subsidized by governments, have twice the capacity needed to extract what the oceans can sustainably produce. The result, according to the bank, is “a vicious circle: as catches per vessel fall, profits plummet, and fishers overfish to maintain supplies, causing serious depletion of stocks and endangering long-term availability.”
The BFAR also attributes the decline in fish catch to the employment of destructive fishing methods like the use of cyanide and dynamite. The practice of cyanide fishing has been rampant among Filipino fishermen for more than 25 years already.
Climate change
“We still have enough fish now but with global warming we may have problems in the next five to ten years unless we do something about it,” Dr. Guerrero observed.
This has been confirmed by a recent report released by the United Nations. “At least three quarters of the globe’s key fishing grounds may become seriously impacted by changes in circulation as a result of the ocean’s natural pumping systems fading and falling,” the UN report suggests.
Dr. Josefino Comiso, a physicist at the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, once told the Philippine media that increasing temperatures may eventually lead to significant mortality among various living organisms. He noted that the temperature thresholds would differ across species and that the loss of these sea creatures would have a serious impact on the food supply chain.
Bottom line
The population in the Philippines keeps increasing – with population growth rate of 0.80%. “If current trends in population growth and coastal resource exploitation continue, the availability and affordability of fish to provide a crucial protein source will be lost,” the Department of Environment and Natural Resources points out.
Fish are regarded as “the last wild meal in the human diet.” This perspective is held by Jeannyline T. Arriaga from Bansalan, Davao del Sur. As a devoted mother, she usually wakes up early to prepare breakfast for her two children before they leave for school. Typically, she cooks rice paired with fish.
However, she has recently observed a growing scarcity of the fish she usually buys at the public market. There are times when she is unable to find any, which forces her to purchase a different variety of fish. Her children are not pleased with this change, as they do not like the new fish she provides.
Jeannyline has also noted that when her preferred fish is available, it is often smaller in size. “Not only are they becoming harder to find, but they are also becoming more expensive,” she comments.
