How commercial fishing threatens small fishers and sustainable seas

In municipal waters of Western Visayas where Filipino fishers cast their nets, fishing giants and the Supreme Court remain threats to their livelihood

- MAT T. RICHTER

In the marine life-rich province of Negros Occidental, small fisherfolk rely on their daily catch to survive.

For years, municipal waters and their fish stocks were managed sustainably, until the soothing crash of waves became screeching rather than calming. The tides have turned along the shores of Western Visayas, where the distant silhouettes of large fishing vessels cast shadows of disruption and unease.

It was once the sea breeze that fishermen first sensed at dawn, until it became a gust of greed. It used to be birdsongs that greeted them at sunrise, until it was drowned out by the clink-clank of machines releasing massive nets. Today, more than 45,000 fisherfolk still fear losing their livelihoods after a Supreme Court ruling in late 2024 opened the 15-kilometer municipal waters, once reserved for small-scale fishers, to commercial fishing operations.

The Supreme Court’s decision allows high-profit fishing firms to operate in areas where low-income fishermen make a living, threatening not only their already meager earnings but also the abundant fisheries they’ve sustained for generations. This doesn’t absolve coastal municipalities along Guimaras Strait, Panay Gulf, and Visayan Sea, which are “already frequented by commercial fishing vessels,” even before the Court ruling, according to a statement by the fishers group Pamalakaya-Panay.

Commercial fishing vessels, the group explained, often employ “illegal methods of fishing such as trawl (industrial fishing using huge nets to catch fish and shellfish) and purse seine (commercial fishers using large nets to target tuna and mackerel).” These practices harm marine ecosystems and jeopardize local livelihoods.

If the ruling takes effect, more than 15,000 small fishers in Guimaras Island’s five coastal municipalities, as well as those from 19 municipalities in Panay island, will lose their municipal waters to commercial fishing.