The Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM), the oldest primary NGO in the country, through its Negros and Iloilo Offices, in collaboration with its partner, the Panay-Negros-Guimaras Crab Fishers Alliance (PANEG-CA), have spearheaded the first ever Regional Advocacy Mission in Western Visayas for the protection, conservation, and sustainable development of Blue Swimming Crabs (BSC).
A 10-person core team of PANEG-CA leaders and PRRM staff under the Gerry Roxas Foundation (GRF) Investing on Sustainability and Partnership for Inclusive Growth and Regenerative Ecosystem (INSPIRE) project, which funded the endeavor, held the advocacy mission on April 18 and 19, by visiting the Office of the Iloilo Provincial Governor, and the regional offices of the Department of Agriculture (DA), the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), and the Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG).
PRRM-Negros/Iloilo Area Manager Edwin Balajadia said the unprecedented advocacy mission aim to groundwork and initially engage with the various government regional offices on relevant BSC and fisheries concerns in Western Visayas, to submit PANEG-CA resolutions on pressing fisheries issues approved by its regional Founding Congress and first Regional Council of Leaders (RCOL) meeting respectively held on December last year and on January 2024, and hopefully to obtain initial commitments of support from the agencies, especially from the regional directors.
Western Visayas is considered the top producer of BSC, with the production value of the BSC industry reaching an all-time high of P5.47 billion in 2018. However, this has plummeted since, especially during the pandemic, and due to continuing illegal and unsustainable crab fishing. The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch based in the United States, a major BSC export area, has rated the BSC fishery in the Visayan Sea, including Western Visayas, as Red or “avoid.”
Rhylene Toquero, PANEG-CA chairperson, said the Advocacy Mission was a big victory for the small crabbers and fishers in the region as they were able to show their collective strength, held it and bannered their issues with government offices despite the lack of funds and experience.
Eduardo Espinosa, chair of the Negros Occidental Federation of Small Fisherfolk Associations (NOFSFA)-PANEGCA, said the mission was able to present their problems and concerns to the various regional offices, especially with the BFAR and DILG, and got initial responses on how to resolve their issues.
Among the pervading BSC and fisheries matters taken up or highlighted in the two-day mission were the persisting illegal fishing in the region, including the taking and selling of gravid and juvenile crabs; the use of fine mesh nets; rising mass poverty of small fishers and coastal communities; the lack of sustainable livelihoods for fishers and their families; lack of civil society voices and participation in local governance, especially within local fisheries and aquatic resource management councils (FARMCs), and in the local development councils (LDCs); the intrusion of illegal coastal and marine mining in several areas of the region; and worsening climatic changes which increase the vulnerabilities of coastal ecosystems and communities; a press statement from PRRM Negros/Iloilo said.
Among the substantive highlights of the advocacy mission was a dialog with the team of Iloilo Provincial Governor Arthur Defensor Jr., led by Provincial Administrator Dr. Raul Banias and Dr. Ildefonso Toledo, head of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA). Banias, on behalf of Defensor, thanked PRRM for advocating the mission to save the BSC and said that such effort has the full support of the governor.
Another highlight was the meeting/dialog with BFAR Regional Director Remia Aparri wherein among the urgent issues discussed was on the need to protect and conserve the BSC and the regional fisheries, strengthening of FARMCs and improving on the BFAR-initiated Sustainable Agricultural Area Development (SAAD) project in terms of defining criteria for its selection and project implementation processes, and provision of livelihood support to fishers.
DA-6 OIC FOD Ester Ruth Torreverde and Josephine BARTE, PMED OIC listened to the issues brought up by the small fishers especially on the need to improve on the DA-BFAR and DILG Joint Administrative Order (JAO 1), and Maricel Bechayda, DILG-6 Division Chief, said they appreciated the efforts of PRRM and PANEG-CA in bringing up their concerns, and assured the mission members that the DILG will look into their resolutions and grievances.
The advocacy mission is a prelude to a bigger event in May 2024, a Regional Conference on BSC and fisheries governance reforms.
Gerry Bedoya, PANEG-CA Business Manager, said they are thankful to PRRM for initiating the mission as it developed their leadership capacities and strengthened their resolve to engage effectively with government.*
