forum on the development of the philippine marine capture fisheries profile

The country's leading fisheries experts and practitioners, representing key government agencies, academic institutions, and organizations involved in fisheries development in the Philippines are working together through a series of workshops and discussions to develop a multi-sector, multi-agency Philippine Marine Capture Fisheries Profile.

Be a partner in this important undertaking by joining this forum and contributing to the development of the Profile. Through this forum, we will consolidate opinions, comments and suggestions on the proposed Profile from all interested individuals, agencies and groups working in the Philippines.

The latest draft outline of the Profile can be accessed here for your comments. This outline was first developed at a workshop on "Fisheries Management in the Philippines" in Quezon City last September 2002, and is currently being reviewed and refined by the country's leading fisheries management experts and practitioners from the academe,fisherfolk sector, private sector, government and non-governmental organizations.

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About the Profile

There is a myriad of information on Philippine fisheries. Numerous comprehensive assessments of the country's major fishery resources have been made. The Asian Development Bank-funded Fisheries Resource Management Project (FRMP) and its precursor the Fisheries Sector Project, for example, conducted assessments of both the resource and socio-economic aspects of fisheries. Concerned government agencies, in particular the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR), non-governmental organizations, and academic institutions have also implemented small-scale fisheries-related studies. In addition, BFAR publishes an annual fisheries profile that details the status of the major fisheries sectors and the resources that make up each sector, as well as the trade and market of major Philippine fisheries products and by-products.

But these data are at best patchy, not having been collated, analyzed and consolidated into "one big picture" that provides an overall view of the status of Philippine fisheries. While it is widely accepted that the overall health of the country's fish stocks is poor, the extent and implication of the problem for the fishing industry and consumers is uncertain.

The Profile is a multi-agency, multi-sector effort aimed at developing an overall snapshot of the status of fisheries in the Philippines, which can be used as baseline data that policy makers and fishery managers can use in their fisheries management efforts.