May 13, 2010

Philippine government urged to stop massive fish product importation

The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) and Anakpawis said that the fishery subsector's remarkable growth is enough to make the country fish self-sufficient.

The groups said the unbridled procurement of fish products from China, Taiwan, Papua New Guinea, Japan, South Korea, the United States, Thailand and 13 other countries is adversely affecting the livelihood of Filipino fishermen.

Pamalakaya national chairman Fernando Hicap and Party-list Representative Rafael Mariano of Anakpawis blamed the country's membership to the World Trade Organization (WTO) as the reason for the overimportation of fish that is is killing the livelihood of small local fishermen.

They said the country's adherence to neoliberal trade policies produced unfavourable measures of liberalizing trade has aggravated the dumping of food and agricultural-product surpluses of developed countries into the country, leading to the country's heavy reliance on food produced by other countries.

Hicap noted that the eight million full-time and part-time workforce in the fisheries sector can produce and meet the fish needs of 99 million Filipinos and there is no need to rely on heavy importation.

Mariano is set to file a resolution in the House of Representatives calling for a stop to the massive importation of fish, citing a recent report filed by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), which said the marine fisheries is a growing industry in the Philippines.

Mariano said from 2004 to 2010, there is an increasing trend in fish production. Fisheries production grew remarkably by 35 percent from 3.93 million tonnes in 2004 to 5.08 in 2009. The average annual production growth rate within that period was at 5.8 percent. In 2010 the total volume of fisheries production was 5.162 million tonnes and grew by 1.61 percent.

The Anakpawis congressman noted the Philippines ranked sixth among the top fish-producing countries in the world with its total production of 4.97 million tonnes of fish, crustaceans, mollusks and aquatic plants (including seaweeds).

The production constitutes 3.12 percent of the total world production of 159.1 million tonnes.

According to BFAR in 2009 total fish imports have an aggregated value of $152.25 million out of the US$223.3-million total import value. This was contributed by three major commodities in chilled/frozen fish (57 percent), prawn feeds (4 percent), as well as flour, meals and pellets of fish, crustaceans and mollusks fit and unfit for human consumption (7 percent). Chilled/frozen fish comprise of tuna, mackerel and sardines with a total of $127.1 million.