WPS fishers output increased by 15% in 2023 -Centino

The output of fishers in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) increased by 15% from 2022 to 2023, Presidential Assistant for Maritime Concerns Andres Centino said on Tuesday.

“According to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, there are around 385,000 fishers in the WPS,” said Centino during the launch of the Livelihood Activities to Enhance Fisheries Yields and Economic Gains from the West Philippine Sea (LAYAG-WPS) Project.

“And the fishers’ output in the WPS in 2023 reached 201,000 metric tons,” he added.

In February, the BFAR said it expected fisheries production in the WPS to improve as the government began its rotational deployment of ships at the Bajo de Masinloc amid the harassment of Chinese vessels.

According to Centino, geopolitical tensions in the maritime zones affected access to the waters and threatened fisheries production worth hundreds of millions of pesos.

Tensions between China and the Philippines recently increased as both sides traded accusations over a series of incidents in the WPS.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion in annual ship commerce.

China's territorial claims overlap with those of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei.

Parts of the waters within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone were renamed the West Philippine Sea.

In 2016, an international arbitration tribunal in the Hague said China's claims had no legal basis, a decision Beijing rejected.

To improve fishers’ output in the WPS, the BFAR launched the LAYAG-WPS project that aims to improve the lives of Filipino fishers in the WPS, covering the areas of Ilocos, Central Luzon, and MIMAROPA.

Initially, around 150 beneficiaries would receive livelihood support and training for fisherwomen, according to BFAR chief Demosthenes Escoto.

Select fishers’ groups will receive over 62-footer Fiber Reinforced Plastic (RFP) vessels with modernized fishing equipment.

“The DA-BFAR commits to the task of empowering Filipino fisherfolk and ensuring that this program is justly and equitably implemented,” Escoto said. — DVM, GMA Integrated News