Spatio-Temporal Declines in Philippine Fisheries and its Implications to Coastal Municipal Fishers' Catch and Income

Abstract

The problem of overexploitation in global fisheries is well-recognized. However, published assessment of fisheries spatio-temporal trends at the national scale is lacking for many high biodiversity developing countries, which is problematic since fisheries management is often implemented at the local or national levels. Here, we present the long-term spatio-temporal trends of Philippine fisheries production based on the landed national fish catch data and fishers' interviews. We found that the total Philippine fish catch volume (Metric Tons MT) of most capture fisheries throughout the country has either stagnated or declined over the last three decades. The decline is even more prominent when evaluating fisheries trends at the provincial level, suggesting spatial serial depletion of the country's fisheries. In contrast, the total Philippine fish catch value (US Dollars US$ or Philippine Pesos PHP) has continued to increase over time, despite the declining fish catch volume. However, local municipal fishers are experiencing both low fish catch and income, contributing to observable poverty in many coastal communities in the Philippines. The various stakeholders of Philippine fisheries need to recognize the depleted state of Philippine fisheries, and learn from various experiences of collapsed and recovered fisheries from around the world, in order to recover the Philippines' capture fisheries. Lessons from the literature on collapsed fisheries offer the following options for recovery: (1) regulate or reduce fisheries exploitation and other human activities impacting the fisheries to allow fisheries to rebuild or recover, (2) enforce effective networks of marine reserves, (3) engage fishers, consumers, and other stakeholders in fisheries management, (4) improve fisheries science, monitoring, and management capacities, and (5) provide alternative livelihood, skills, and improved education to fishers and their families.

Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) on Fish Behavior Around Anchored FADs: the Case of Tuna Purse Seine and Ringnet Fishers from Southern Philippines

“…Caro (2007) recognizes the contribution of descriptive behavioral information in addressing specific conservation challenges. With the dwindling fisheries resources (Anticamara and Go, 2016), understanding fish behavior could aid in the conservation and management of these resources.…”

Environmental fixes and historical trajectories of marine resource use in Southeast Asia

“…Increasingly since the 1980s, however, fisheries catches have provided limited returns. There is much local variation, but cases of declining or stagnating catches in the face of increased effort are common across the country (Muallil et al 2014;Anticamara and Go 2016). The case study from Ambulong corroborates these national trends, where there do not appear to be many new types of fishing that can be profitably exploited.…”

“…The FAO's profile on Philippines fisheries notes that: 'all of the country's main fish species and marine organisms are showing signs of overfishing…' (FAO 2014). A recent national review concluded that 'fish catch has not increased over time (and in fact, has decreased for several provinces), despite continuously increasing fishing effort in the country and the increasing number of registered municipal and commercial fishers in the Philippines… Philippine fisheries production is declining, with the high production volume of the aquaculture sector (i.e., mostly seaweeds) masking the stagnating or declining fish catch of most capture fisheries in recent times' (Anticamara and Go 2016).…”

Food and water insecurity in specialised fishing communities: evidence from thePhilippines

“…Those who are more food secure and those who are more water secure are those who can buy food and water more easily. Given the reports of declining catches at a local level in Ambulong (and the widespread occurrence of this at a national level; Anticamara and Go, ), it seems likely that food and water insecurity may become even more challenging in the future.…”

“…Examples of ‘coastal grabbing’ related to rapidly escalating coastal land values for tourism development have also placed pressures on marginalised fishing households, who often have no formal land tenure (Fabinyi, ; Cabral and Aliño, ; Dressler, ; Knudsen, ). Overfishing remains prevalent throughout the country (Anticamara and Go, ). And in response to declining fisheries, the government has been expanding forms of maritime governance such as marine protected areas, often reducing access to fishing grounds for fishers, with significant consequential social impacts (Segi, ).…”