The joint committees of the House of Representatives approved a bill that aims to establish a separate Cabinet-level department tasked to focus on the management of the country’s fisheries and aquatic resources.
The measure, which will create the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DFAR), has hurdled the scrutiny of the House Committee on Aquaculture and Fisheries Resources chaired by Rep. Brian Yamsuan of Bicol Saro party-list group and the House Committee on Government Reorganization represented by its vice chairpersons—Kabayan Partylist Rep. Ron Salo and General Santos City Rep. Loreto Acharon.
Both committees approved in a recent joint hearing the substitute bill consolidating 13 similar measures seeking to create the DFAR, subject to the amendments introduced by Albay Rep. Joey Salceda and Tingog Partylist Rep. Jude Acidre.
Yamsuan said establishing the DFAR would help fulfill the country’s goal of attaining food security and safeguard the welfare of 2.5 million Filipinos dependent on the country’s oceans and inland water bodies for their livelihood.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the Philippines produced 1.02 million metric tons (MT) of fish in the second quarter of this year, down by 6.2 percent from the 1.07 million MT output recorded in the same period a year ago. Significant decreases in production were in aquaculture and municipal fisheries, which account for 46.3 percent and 25.5 percent, respectively, of the overall production.
