The recent Supreme Court ruling on the Mercidar Case, allowing commercial fishing to operate within the 15-kilometer municipal waters is considered as an added form of injustice to the workers in the informal sector, particularly to small fisherfolk, Wennie Sancho, secretary-general of the General Alliance of Workers Association, said in a statement.
There was a ban on commercial fishing within the 15-kilometer municipal waters which would be nullified with the enforcement of this ruling, he said.
Sancho said the enforcement of this ruling would be a death-blow to all the small-scale fishermen in favor of the large-scale commercial fishing operators who are already dominating the industry.
He lamented that the decline of municipal fisheries, which is the backbone of small-scale fishing communities, is alarming. It is a situation where big-time fishers encroach on small fishermen’s municipal waters. Allowing big businesses within municipal waters will harm small fishers’ livelihood as well as the environment and maritime resources.
Sancho said the enforcement of the ruling would mean that 90 percent of our municipal waters in most of our coastal towns will be at the risk of exploitation by commercial fishers equipped with active and destructive fishing gear.
The dire consequences would be depleted fish stocks and worsening poverty and hunger among the fisherfolk who are already marginalized. These people are workers who belong to the informal sector who have families to feed, children going to schools but their only means of livelihood will be stolen from them because of this unfair ruling, he said.
But most of all, the devastating socio-economic impact would be the economic displacement of small-scale fishers and their families threatening their livelihood and food security, increasing poverty and inequality. This Supreme Court ruling can also undermine the effectiveness of fisheries management laws and could create a conflict between commercial and small-scale fishers leading to social and economic tensions, Sancho added.*
