While the Chinese fishing militias help pull off the so-called great ocean robbery, by serving the dual purpose of harassing Filipino boats and ships, and by harvesting the bounty of West Philippine Sea (WPS), both done in illegal and dangerous manners, China still remains the top source of the country’s imported fish, Deputy Speaker and Batangas Representative Ralph G. Recto said.
Because of this Chinese blockade, share of our fish catch in the WPShas dwindled to 7 percent of total national fisheries production, according to Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
The fencing off action made by China in Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal) has claimed the country’s exclusive economic zone territory as its backyard fishpond, and declaring it off limits to its true owners — the Filipinos.
Some of the fish it feeds its 1.412 billion citizens are poached from Philippine waters, vacuum-cleaned from our rich reefs.
The value of this stolen fish is in the billions of pesos, not annually, but monthly, Recto said.
If harassing fishermen were a water sports in the Asian Games, China will sweep all the medals, as it treats the entire WPS as its exclusive practice area.
Chinese constriction of WPS cripples a pillar of our food security, as that area contributes almost 30 percent of commercial fisheries output.
And as we grapple with fish shortage, partly due to the fact that our access to WPS has been denied, we resort to imports, Recto a former senator said.
And the painful irony is that we buy fish from China – the very source of our discontent.
By value, China is the number one source of our imported fish, accounting for a robust one third (32.92 %), valued at $247 million or about P12.145 billion in 2021.
By volume, 30.58 percent ang share ng China, or 158,088 MT out of the 516,898 MT imported during the same year.
Ibig sabihin, ang “balikbayan fish” na inangkat sa China ay hinuli ng iligal at ibinenta pabalik ng legal, if true is the worst kind of fish migration, Recto said.
Ang pamahalaan ay naglabas ng pahintulot sa pag-angkat ng 35,000 toneladang isda sa darating sa fourth quarter ng taon.
But the big and worrisome picture here is that since 2016, volume and value of our fish imports are growing.In 2021, import volume jumped 31.48 percent from the previous year.
Nagkahalaga ito ng P36.89 billion, kung saanP101 milyon na halaga ng isda ang lumanding sa bansa bawat araw, hindi pa kasama ang smuggled, kaya ang ginagawa ng China ay isang malakas na suntok sa sikmura ng mga Pilipino, Recto said.
By cutting our access to a major protein source, China is playing a different kind of hunger games, making fish scarce for us, while satiating its people’s large appetite for seafood.
China must be called out for what it is really doing in the WPS: a food blockade that is a crime against humanity, Recto added.(Benjie J. Murillo)
