The National Consortium for the Small-Scale Fisheries Research and Development or Too Big To Ignore (TBTI) Philippines launches the official website and call for abstracts for the First Philippines Small-Scale Fisheries National Symposium (PSSFNS1) on 16-18 October 2024 in Iloilo City.
TBTI Philippines organized an online round table discussion on the Proposed Amendment of the 2015 Republic Act No. 10654 or an act to prevent, deter, and eliminate illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, or the amended The Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998 (RA 8550).
The National Consortium for Small-Scale Fisheries (SSF) Research and Development or Too-Big-To-Ignore (TBTI) Philippines had a formal Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signing with the heads of six member-organizations last 13-14 September 2023 in Davao City, Philippines.
The last time I was in Iloilo, Western Visayas, was in April of 2019, when Dr. Alice Ferrer and her colleague, Dr. Harold Monteclaro, organized a transdisciplinary training workshop in conjunction with the 12th Asian Fisheries and Aquaculture Forum.
The Portrait of Small-Scale Fishers in the Philippines’ is an amazing collection of stories about small-scale fishers who make a living from fishing and fishing related activities across the Philippines.
The National Consortium for Small-Scale Fisheries Research and Development or Too Big To Ignore (TBTI) Philippines was launched on November 21, 2022 at the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) Iloilo City Campus and via Zoom.
Established as a research network and knowledge mobilization partnership, TBTI Philippines is based at the UPV. It focuses on addressing issues and concerns affecting the viability and sustainability of small-scale fisheries in the Philippines.
During the launch, TBTI Philippines Project Leader and Dean of UPV College of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Alice Joan Ferrer emphasized that “there is a need to organize a consortium for small-scale fisheries research and development to share resources, expertise, and facilities and develop information that will guide policies and decision-making on SSF in the country.”
“We all could agree that more of this type of organization and network building will be needed considering the kind of challenges that we continue to face as we try to achieve sustainability, especially for small-scale fisheries“, said TBTI Global Director, Dr. Ratana Chuenpagdee.
The launch also included a short sneak peek video about the TBTI Philippines Book titled ‘Portrait of Small-Scale Fishers in the Philippines’.
This book deals with these questions: Who are the small-scale fishers in the Philippines? What do they look like? What do their households look like? What is their typical day? How are they doing? How are they treated? What are their contributions? What are their challenges? This is the first book in the country that seeks to co-create answers to these questions in the form of a compilation of essays and stories on small-scale fihers in the Philippines. The aim is to shed light on the meaning of ‘small’ or ‘small-scale’ by distilling the meaning from the small-scale fishers themselves. In the process, it is giving the small-scale fishers a voice. The book features 83 fishers from 125 contributors in 61 coastal provinces and 2 coastal cities in 16 administrative regions in the country. There is a lot to learn about fishers in the book. The book is for policy makers, program managers, researchers, teachers, students, and general readers so they can have a better appreciation of the fishers and small-scale fisheries in the country. We look forward to the day when small-scale fishers are no longer labelled as poor, unrecognized, and undervalued but with their rights recognized and respected.
The ‘National Consortium for Small-Scale Fisheries Research and Development’, affectionately known as TBTI Philippines, formally signed the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) on July 11th 2023, the World Population Day. The argument is simple – the 8 billion people of the world will need to be fed, and what is a better food if not fish from small-scale fisheries.
Under the leadership of Dr. Alice Ferrer and Dr. Harold Monteclaro, and with the great support of University of Philippines – Visayas (UPV), TBTI Philippines was formed as a network of academic institutions. The signing of the MoA was a formalization of a partnership that illustrates strong commitments from the top officials of the 31 universities – the founding members of TBTI Philippines – to support research and development for sustainable and viable small-scale fisheries in the country.
The gathering was also a celebration of the official launch of the new TBTI e-book ‘Portrait of Small-Scale Fishers in the Philippines‘. This gem of a book is a product of a major collaboration between 83 fishers and 125 contributors who interviewed the fishers and wrote down their stories.
TBTI Global Director Ratana Chuenpagdee was there for the event, together with Dr. Yinji Li, TBTI Japan Director. To read Dr. Chuenpagdee’s detail account of the event, follow the link.
Alice Joan G. Ferrer, Project Manager
Harold Monteclaro, Co-Project Manager
Pearl Aljean Santacera, Project Assistant
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: TBTI Philippines
Alice Joan G. Ferrer is a Professor 12 and Scientist III from the University of the Philippines Visayas. She is the present Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and the project manager of the National Consortium for Small-Scale Fisheries Research and Development or TBTI Philippines. She is the Immediate Past President of the Asian Fisheries Society (AFS), Immediate Past Chair of Asian Fisheries and Social Science Research Network, Constitution Coordinator of Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries Section of AFS, and a pioneer member of TBTI Global. Her publications cover topics on fisheries social science, policy analysis, impact assessment, gender, governance, climate change, and health economics.
Harold M. Monteclaro is a Professor at the Institute of Marine Fisheries and Oceanology, University of the Philippines Visayas and the co-project manager of TBTI Philippines. A UP Scientist, he has a strong background and interest in capture fisheries and fisheries biology, ecology and management. He is actively involved in marine fisheries research in the country and has participated in collaborative projects in the Philippines and in the region. His publications are mainly in the field of fish sensory biology and behavior, fisheries management (including gender), capture fisheries and fisheries biology.
