The Philippine capture fisheries resources have been under heavy fishing pressure since the 1970s - 1980s, with extensive overfishing of small pelagic and demersal stocks formally documented since the mid-1980s (Dalzell & Ganaden, 1987; Silvestre et al., 1987; Armada, 2004). The extent of overexploited resources, particularly in coastal municipal fishing grounds around the country, was further confirmed by systematic year-long assessments under the ADB-funded Fisheries Sector Program in the 1990s; Resources showed continued decline to the early 2000s as documented by the studies of the Fisheries Resources Management Project, a government project funded through a loan from ADB (MERF, 2006). More recently, nationwide assessments of the most common and abundant stocks throughout the country under the National Stock Assessment Program (NSAP) of DA-BFAR show that out of the 141 stocks monitored in 2015, 127 (90%) were overfished (Santos, et al., 2017). It is hence clear that overfishing in most of the country’s waters has been going on for the past 30 - 40 years. The absence of effective management measures during this entire duration has led to the deterioration of our fisheries resources, particularly in our inter-island waters. This has led to serious deficiencies in food security, the sustainability of livelihoods in the sector, and added fragility to social equity. This has also given rise to the following issues:

• Pressure from the commercial fishing sector, as well as the food processing sector, to amend the law restricting commercial fishing operations farther than 15 km from the coastline

• The urgent need to review the use of 15 km as the demarcation for municipal waters

• The jurisdiction over and regulation of small commercial fishing vessels (3.1 GT up to 20 GT size)

• The availability of appropriate and up-to-date scientific data, as well as data sharing, is necessary in order to come up with science-based and sound policy recommendations

• Insufficient knowledge of adaptive management strategies that can be employed for resource management

The present level of deterioration of our fisheries resources requires immediate interventions aside from the establishment of seasonal closures. Clearly, the common need is to reduce the proportion of stocks that are caught, and hence a reduction in fishing effort. The common goal cannot be inconsistent with this because no other goal can lead to stock recovery and sustainability. So, we already know the solution – reduce fishing effort. But, how many municipal fishers will be displaced, what is the cost to their livelihoods, including the processing and handling sectors, what alternative and supplemental livelihood options are available (skills development takes time, investments are critical from outside the fisheries sector), how to organize municipal fishers, what gears to be regulated, and where to shift if needed. Too many steps that we, stakeholders have systematically deliberated on.

We need to act. That is, we need to formulate a scheme of regulating efforts in all sectors, with informed consideration of livelihoods in all sectors. Unless a formula for this is discussed, consulted and deliberated upon extensively and openly, we will never be able to attain sustainable and science-based fisheries in the country.