Oceanas Ramos attributed the increase in apparent illegal fishing during the lockdown period to the fact that “some law enforcement agencies have been diverted to other COVID-19-related tasks.” As a result, illegal fishermen have taken advantage of the lack of oversight, she said. But some communities in the central Philippines have joined forces to “improve the enforcement of fisheries and environmental laws in their municipal waters,” she added. In February, before the lockdown began, VIIRS data showed 3,602 cases of apparent commercial fishing vessels, an average of about 900 per week, in municipal waters. In March, when the lockdown was introduced, that number rose to 5,950, an average of 1,487 cases per week. In April, the number was 4,487 for the month, or 1,121 average weekly cases. In the first week of May, detections fell to 309, but the number rose to 656 in the second week, May 9-15. When the lockdown was eased, a total of 1,666 detections were made in municipal waters during the week of May 16 to 22. According to the report, illegal fishing accounted for 27 to 40 percent of the fish caught in the Philippines in 2019, which equates to an annual value of about 62 billion pesos ($1.3 billion). He added that once fully implemented, this tool will provide BFAR with the regular information needed to find other ways to promote voluntary compliance, strategically guide law enforcement, and clearly communicate our progress in reducing IUU fishing in the Philippines. “Many of these vessels violate the ban on illegal fishing,” Ramos said. Community fishermen tend to be poor and indebted, as they lose both dynamite fishing boats and commercial fishing boats entering municipal waters. A legislative proposal will exacerbate their problems.

Most small-scale fishermen use boats that are under-equipped with lights that are not strong enough to be detected by VIIRS, observers say. And while VIIRS detection doesn`t automatically mean the presence of illegal fishing activities, the key factor is where light sources occur: in the Philippines, commercial fishing is not allowed within 15 kilometers (9 miles) of the coast. These areas, defined as Community waters, are limited to artisanal fishing to protect coral reefs and the marine habitats that thrive there. In collaboration with the Philippine Department of Science and Technology and Microsoft, USAID supported the TELEVISION Whitespace pilot project for the registration of municipal fishermen in Bohol province. Television white space reuses unused broadcast frequencies to provide low-cost, high-speed wireless Internet access with minimum infrastructure requirements, making it a promising solution in developing countries. After successful implementation, more than 16,000 fishermen were enrolled in the pilot project – almost a quarter through the white space of television. Government agencies use this registration data to design and deploy better fisheries management interventions to combat overfishing, monitor illegal fishing, and create alternative livelihoods. Following the success of the TV White Space pilot project, the Philippine government has taken the initiative to replicate the technology in other locations to support the goal of providing wireless internet access to 99% of the population.

Of the commercial fishery, approximately 274,000 to 422,000 tonnes of catches per year are not reported to the BFAR. These figures still show a “high level of uncertainty” compared to estimates of illegal fishing. Four fishermen from the central Philippines, whom we interviewed in separate calls, testify to the proliferation of merchant vessels in their territories. They recalled sharing communal waters with at least five commercial fishing vessels using zippering, Cebus designation for Hulbot-Hulbot, a modified Danish seine fishing technique. The DA-BFAR introduced the Danish calf in the 1980s, but locals added heavy stones, prompting the Fisheries Authority to ban the method until the year 2000 due to the massive destruction of the seabed and coral reefs. Dynamite fishermen are difficult to catch, as offenders build makeshift bombs in the middle of the sea while pretending to engage in collective fishing, said Wilmon Peñalosa, a lawyer and officer of the Lawod working group, praised by Negros Occidental, whose operations have seen a 90 percent drop in illegal fishing activities since its inception in 2014. The construction of dynamite at sea leaves little evidence for law enforcement officers on land, he said, as illegal fishermen or “Iligalista” have the evidence immediately afterwards. But IUU fishing is “inherently complex and secretive, meaning data is difficult to obtain and prove,” according to BFAR. Twenty minutes later, he appeared, out of breath, with five high-quality reef fish and 12 pounds of scad and sardines. It was a small catch. The men on the boat saved a few handfuls for their families and sold the rest to a local dealer. The two men shared the product, about $10.

In the city of Madridejos, one of the three cities of Bantayan and among the municipalities of the country where illegal fishing is high, Hulbot-Hulbot is “semi-legal”. However, not all commercial operators oppose the tracking system.