Fixing the broken net: Improving enforcement of laws regulating cyanide fishing in the Calamianes Group of Islands, Philippines

Abstract

Recent studies indicate a progressive degradation of the marine habitat in the Calamianes Group of Islands, Philippines, which is one of the most important sources of live food and aquarium fish in the country. A number of empirical studies have shown that the proximate cause of the degradation is the use of destructive fishing techniques, chiefly the use of sodium cyanide. In theory, law enforcement is an effective means of curbing destructive and illegal fishing practices and can thereby help to regenerate degraded marine habitats. If effective, law enforcement mechanisms deter, persuade or punish violators, correct non-compliant conditions and create a norm of expected behavior (Eichbaum 1992). This is not occurring in the Calamianes. In the last four years, there has been no case in which a cyanide fisher was convicted. Clearly, changes are needed in order to make it prohibitively costly for fishers to conduct destructive fishing practices. This study examines the socioeconomic context and the legal and political milieu in which the problems of cyanide fishing take root. Specifically, the study examines the infrastructure and logistical problems of detecting cyanide fishing activities and arresting violators and discusses the bureaucratic, procedural and other barriers to the prosecution and imposition of penalties. It concludes by proposing a law enforcement structure that would put the police agencies and the local government units in a better position to address the issue of cyanide fishing. 1. The author is a Specialist on Environmental Policy. He has developed and managed various community-based resources management programs in the Philippines. He currently sits on the Boards of Trustees of East Asia Seas Initiatives (EASI) and the Environmental Legal Assistance Center (ELAC). Address: c/o Environmental Legal Assistance Center (ELAC), No. 271-E Malvar St., Puerto Princesa City, 5300 Palawan, Philippines. Tel. +63 2-4335183; Email: palawan@elac.org.ph SPC Live Reef Fish Information Bulletin #15 – December 2005 4 Legal framework for live fish and cyanide fishing The response of both the national and local governments to the cyanide fishing problem has been tentative and ambivalent at best. In 1993, the provincial local government unit (LGU) of Palawan passed Provincial Ordinance (PO) No. 1993-02 banning the gathering, buying, selling and shipment of live fish in Palawan. The following year, the provincial legislative council bowed down to the strong lobbying efforts of live fish traders by passing PO No. 1994-29, which exempted all species from the ban other than Napoleon wrasse, or mameng (Cheilinus undulatus), panther grouper (Cromileptes altivelis) and aquarium fish in the Balistidae, or triggerfish, family. Later, the provincial council amended PO 1994-29 through the passage of PO No. 1998-332, providing further exemptions and installing a complicated certification system for shippers, traders, and catchers of live fish.2 Given how weak these laws are, it is not surprising that in the last four years there have been no cases filed by law enforcement agencies in the Calamianes for violation of these provincial ordinances. Furthermore, the law is so confusing that some believe it was not intended to be enforced in the first place. In 1998, the Philippine Congress enacted the New Philippine Fisheries Code, which explicitly provided, among other things, that “exportation of live fish shall be prohibited except those which are hatched or propagated in accredited hatcheries and ponds” (Sec. 61 [a], Republic Act 8550). This legal proviso has not impeded live fish catchers, traders and shippers, because according to them the Palawan Philippines Puerto Princesa City Philippines Linapacan Culion Busuanga N