6.1. National Policies
6.2. Strategies and Plans
6.3. Programmes and Projects
There is no national policy per se that is specifically addressed to rural aquaculture. What the Philippines has are policies on fisheries and aquaculture development. These are embodied in various laws, but primarily in Republic Act 8550, the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998.
Use of public lands for fishery purposes is defined in the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998. The said Code states that “Public lands such as tidal swamps, mangroves, marshes, foreshore lands and ponds suitable for fishery purposes shall not be disposed or alienated.” Such lands however may be leased for fishpond purposes under the system known as FLA that has been discussed at length in an earlier section. The same law however prohibits the conversion of the remaining mangrove forests into fishponds thus effectively limiting the fishpond area to the area that has already been developed.
The same Fisheries Code states in the section on public land disposition that “two (2) years after the approval of this Act, no fish pens or fish cages or fish traps shall be allowed in lakes.” Lake is defined by the Code to include an expanded part of a river, as well as reservoir formed by a dam, and seasonal lakes. The Code was signed into law on February 25, 1998.
Other sections of the Fisheries Code, however, still provide for specific provisions for the construction and operation of fish cages and pens. It provides for licensing by Local Government Units (LGU) and provided specifically that only ten percent of the surface area of lakes and rivers may be allotted for aquaculture purposes. The Fisheries code also spelled out the need to control the stocking density and feeding rates in such aquaculture facilities.
Those who have attended the public hearings observed that as deliberated and approved, neither the House or the Senate version had any provision banning fish cages, pens and traps in lakes. Knowledgeable quarters, including a former lawmaker, speculated that the controversial provision banning pens and cages in inland waters may have been inserted during the consolidation stage when the House version is reconciled with the Senate version after each house has approved their respective version. There is a strong feeling both among the fishery policy planners and the industry that the said provision will be removed by the legislators once their attention is called to it either through a mere action of the oversight committee or through a legislative amendment.
The Fisheries Code is silent on sea cages but only provides that all aquaculture facilities be constructed “within established zones duly designated by LGUs”, and that any structure should not obstruct navigation and “defined migration paths” of migratory fish species. Curiously enough the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1998, or CARL, in a chapter on special areas of concern specifically singled out seaweed farmers, thus: “Small fisherfolk, including seaweed farmers, shall be assured of greater access tot he utilization of water resources.”
It is state policy to give preference to the poor over the use of fishery resources. Both the Local Government Code of 1991 (RA 7160) and the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998 (RA 8550) states this explicitly. RA 7160 states that in the granting of fishery privileges within a definite zone of the municipal waters “duly registered organizations and cooperatives of marginal fishermen shall have the preferential right to such fishery privileges.”
RA 8550 on the other hand states that the present FLA’s for brackishwater fishponds shall be entitled to only one 25-year extension after which the new FLA shall be granted with “preference primarily to qualified fisherfolk cooperatives/associations. In another section RA 8550 states that “No new concessions, licenses, permits, leases and other similar privileges for the establishment of fish pens, fish cages, fish corrals/traps and other similar structures in municipal waters shall be granted except to municipal fisherfolk and their organizations.”
Rural aquaculture is not a recognized sub-sector of fisheries in the Philippines. Thus all existing plans and programmes are designed for aquaculture in general. In response to the stated thrusts of the new leadership after the May 11, 1998 national election, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources has drafted new plans for the development of the fisheries sector including aquaculture as part of, a Department of Agriculture-wide programme called MAKAMASA. The word MAKAMASA is the acronym for the Filipino name of the program that translates into “New and Abundant Harvest”. The acronym itself translates into “pro-masses” to reflect the current leadership’s pro-poor stance.
According to the draft document, MAKAMASA-Fisheries is “designed to develop and manage the country’s fisheries resources for food security and ensure socio-economic upliftment of subsistence fisherfolk nationwide” (BFAR, 1998).
The stated purposes of the current plan are as follows:
Except for the item on offshore fisheries all the other objectives are applicable to aquaculture development.
To attain the stated objectives the strategies are laid out as follows:
MAKAMASA-Fisheries will rely on aquaculture to increase fish production by increasing the “ productivity in brackishwater and freshwater fishponds, swamp fishery and sea cages in coastal areas”. In order to achieve this “technical assistance and extension services shall be provided, and fisheries technologies disseminated.” Fishfarms shall be rehabilitated and improved and seed fund for production inputs made available in the form of credit.
Quantified targets have been set. Milkfish pond productivity shall be increased to 2.4 mt/ha per year and tilapia to 4.5 mt/ha per year. This is double the present national average productivity. The aquaculture areas to be covered shall also be increased to 23,700 ha. Lastly 0.367 million broodstock and 46 million fingerlings shall be produced of which 37 million fingerlings shall be dispersed. The species involved was not mentioned but is most likely Nile tilapia and probably some common carps.
Under the Agrikulturang Makamasa Fishries, BFAR has lined up the following programs or projects in aquaculture or has an aquaculture component:
These shall be discussed in more detail in a layter section.
