The four-month fishing ban imposed by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources within the Visayan Sea has been assailed by fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamalakaya ng Pilipinas-Negros.

Jo-an Locsin, spokesperson of the group, said the move is dictatorial and a curtailment of the rights of fisherfolk.

Fisheries Administrative Order 167 prohibits fishing activities from November 15, 2007 to March 15, 2008 within a major part of the Visayan Sea for the protection and conservation of sardines, mackerel and herrings.

The order issued by BFAR 6 Director Drusila Esther Bayate states that fishing will not be allowed from: the mouth of Danao River on the northeastern tip of the Bantayan Island to Madridejos, through the lighthouse on Gigantes Island , to Clutaya Island , to Culasi Point in Capiz province;

The northern coast of Capiz to Bulacaue Point in Carles, Iloilo, southward along the eastern coast of Iloilo to the mouth of Talisay River, westward across the Guimaras Strait to Tomonton Point in Negros Occidental, eastward along the northern coast of Negros Island and back to the mouth of Danao River in Escalante, Negros Occidental.

But Locsin said the fishing ban is a prelude to the five-year fishing ban suggested by Sea Squadron two years ago. “It will mean hunger and poverty for thousands of fisherfolk and their families, including the fish worker that depends on the Visayan Sea ,” she said.

She said fishing ban was imposed without any consultation or notice to the marginal fisherfolks. It is also a sheer disrespect of the rights to life and livelihood, she added.

She also said that renowned marine biologist Kent Carpenter considers the Visayan Sea as “the epicenter of the richest marine biodiversity in the world.”

It is ironic that at a time we commemorate November 21 as World's Fishers' Day, the government imposed a fishing ban in the Visayan Sea without consultations with the affected fisherfolk, Locsin said.

FAO 167's guidelines is based on a scientific research and study conducted decades ago that established the "pregnant season" of sardines, mackerels and herrings.

It provides that it is unlawful for any person, association, or corporation to kill or catch, or cause to be killed or caught or taken from those waters, purchase, sell, offer or expose for sale, or have in his possession or under his control any sexually mature sardines and herrings and mackerels or their larvae, fry or young known locally as "lupoy," "silinyasi," "linatsay" or "manansi" during the closed season from November 15 to March 15.

Violators will face a fine of five hundred P500 to P5,000 or imprisonment from six months to four years, or both such fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the Court.*NLG

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