Visayan Sea fishing ban to end Friday

The four-month close season on the fishing of sardine, herring, and mackerel in the Visayan Sea and its surrounding waters will end on Friday, March 15, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) announced Thursday. The fishing ban began last year on November 15. It was implemented to increase the sardine and mackerel supply, which had seen a 24-percent decline year-on-year to 472,000 metric tons (MT) in 2011. BFAR earlier said that the close season would result in at least 500 additional fish per spawning sardine. The ban covers the waters off Central and Western Visayas, a region which contributes at least 10 percent of the country’s total sardine and mackerel production. BFAR Region 6 Drucila Esther Bayate said local government units and commercial fishing operators observed the fishing ban; no major violations were reported by the composite team of the Philippine Coast Guard and the BFAR Fisheries Law Enforcement group during the period. On February 28, the BFAR lifted a three-month sardine fishing ban in the East Sulu Sea, the Basilan Strait and Sibuguey Bay. — BM, GMA News