THE Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources has banned the fishing of tamban in Zamboanga region from Dec. 1 until March 1, 2016.
Lawyer Asis Perez, bureau chief, said the ban is imposed to allow tamban to spawn freely and multiply until next year.
The ban covers only the commercial fishing of tamban, which is made into sardines, and the small fishermen.
Nazario Briguera, BFAR information officer, said they have sent at least two patrol vessels to monitor the Zamboanga seas and go after commercial fishing vessels that would violate the ban.
The closed season on the fishing of tamban would preserve and protect its production, he said.
“In fact, the closing season has been proven to bring about a high production of tamban,” he told The Standard.
Even the harvest or stocks of tuna will increase, he said.
“It has been a domino effect. Where there is abundance of tamban, there is tuna in the area because tuna eats tamban,” he added.
“At least 20 percent of the total municipal and commercial fisheries production comes from sardines that composed of three species—the Fimbriated sardines (tunsoy), the Indian sardines (tamban) and the round herring (tulis),” its statement read.
“Based on the studies conducted by BFAR and other research institutions, the sardines in the country belong to only one stock, which means that the fish breeds and spawn at almost the same time.
The major sardine fishing grounds are in the waters off Zamboanga Peninsula and the Visayan Seas.”
Despite such, sardine production has continued to dip in the past years.