Why are the small-scale fishers who contribute more to society having less in life? In this time of grave injustice, all certainly needed a reminder of what the seventh president of this country, Ramon Magsaysay (1953-1957), once said: “I believe that he who has less in life should have more in law.” [3] This line is the very essence of justice: laws and policies must uplift the poor and marginalized, protect the vulnerable, and empower those who have been left behind or those in the periphery. 

How can the small-scale fishers with smaller boats and limited boat reach compete with the big fishing vessels with efficient gears and sophisticated fish tracking systems in the municipal waters? Based on the estimates available [4], 15% of the 2.2 million km² territorial waters of the Philippines are municipal waters. If commercial fishing is allowed in municipal waters with depth above 7 fathoms, the area reserved for small-scale fishers will be reduced to 2%. This means intensification of conflicts and the further shift in benefits from more than a million small-scale fishers to only 4,368 commercial fishing operators [5]. This will further decrease their fishing income and worsen poverty. 

In the Visayan Sea, located at the center of the Philippines, an estimate showed that for every 1% increase in commercial fishing effort, there is an equivalent displacement of 500 municipal fishers. If commercial fishing is allowed in municipal waters, then the potential number of municipal fishers to be displaced is 18,864 [6]. The DA-BFAR 2023 report [7] on Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing showed that the volume caught by IUUF in the municipal waters was estimated to be 107,176 MT in the years 2022-2023. This was estimated to be potentially equal to 5.6 billion pesos in potential income for the 2.3 registered fisherfolks in the country at that time.  More than 54% of this loss was contributed by commercial fishing vessels. An earlier study by USAID Ecofish (2012-2017) showed that the catch of every 30 ringnetter is equivalent to 240 hook and liners or 100 gillnetters. This also meant an estimated P300,000 worth of fish catch of hundreds of small-scale fishers was transferred to only one ringnetter.

Allowing commercial fishing in municipal waters will temporarily increase fish production at the expense of further resource degradation. Marine scientists in the county have been sharing information that overfishing was already detected in major fishing grounds in the country since the 1980s. With 40 years of overfishing in the country, what would be left in municipal waters if this is not protected from the efficient gears of commercial fishing?

Aside from having less economic power, small-scale fisheries have less political influence. They are big in number but have less representation in local and national governance structures and often marginalized in decision-making. They have less environmental security. Fishing is highly vulnerable to climate change, yet their poverty makes them the least prepared to adapt and mitigate. They have less access to social protection like health care, education, and safety nets during emergencies. 

Given the reality now and the bleak future for small-scale fisheries under the RTC ruling, justice demands that they receive more under the law. Laws and policies must recognize their disadvantaged position and must support to uplift them. This is about fairness. It is important that there is legal protection for the fishers (from land and ocean grabbing that displaces them) and their tenure rights to the fishing grounds are secured. With the NPOA on SSF Guidelines in the Philippines now available, it is important that it should be institutionalized at the national and local levels. The small-scale fishers should be given more economic opportunities and market access (fair markets, financial institutions), opportunities to adapt to climate change, more inclusion in decision-making and governance, and more social protection.