The Fisheries Administrative Order 167 of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources is in effect from November 15 to March 15 next year, BFAR Negros Oriental officer-in-charge, Florencia Mepana, said.

She said the four-month period is a closed season for harvesting sardines, herrings and mackerels in the Visayan Seas to conserve them.

The order states it is unlawful for any person, association or corporation to kill or catch…from the Visayan sea and adjoining waters, sardines and herrings and species of fish belonging to the family Clupeidae, and locally known as “tunsoy,” “lao-lao,” “tabagak,” “tamban,” “liryan,” “halobaybay,” “lapad,” “lapa,” Indian sardines, “haul-haul,” round dwarf herring, “tulis,” “balantiyong,” and “hilos-hilos;” short-bodied mackerels, or “hasa-hasa,” striped mackerels, or “alumahan,” and “bulao,” “lupoy,” “silinyasi,” “ linatsay,” and “malangsi.”

Mepana said that, while Dumaguete waters do not belong to the Visayan sea but to the Bohol maritime, there are also regulations on the use of fine-meshed nets for the protection and conservation of resources in fishing grounds not included in the closed season.

She issued the statement in response to concerns raised by fishermen in Sitio Canday-ong, Barangay Calindagan in Dumaguete City, who requested Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria to allow them to use the “pamo” means of catching mackerels.

Mepana said fishermen can use the standard provided that the size of the mesh is not less than three centimeters, or at least 11 numbers of knots per six inches, so as not to catch fingerlings and immature fishes.*JG

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