Commercial fishing in 15 klm provincial waters

"Palawan’s fishing ban stirs renewed debate over municipal waters"

WRITTEN BY: Cristina Eloisa Baclig, April 15, 2026

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2212472/palawans-fishing-ban-stirs-renewed-debate-over-municipal-waters

MANILA, Philippines — For years, municipal waters — the 15-kilometer stretch from the shoreline reserved by law for small-scale fishers — have sustained most of the coastal communities across the Philippines.

Recently, they have once again become the focus of a national debate. This time, the spotlight is on Palawan.

With the passage of a landmark provincial ordinance banning all commercial fishing within its municipal waters, the country’s largest province has drawn a firm line that conservationists say other local governments must now follow, as a court ruling stirs uncertainty over long-standing protections.

A sweeping local ban

On March 26, Palawan Gov. Amy Roa Alvarez signed Provincial Ordinance No. 3761, Series of 2026, prohibiting all commercial fishing activities within the province’s municipal waters.

The move makes Palawan the first province in the country to adopt a binding, provincewide ban that reserves the entire 15 klm zone exclusively for municipal fisherfolk.

“As larger commercial fishing pressures continue to affect our waters, we need to make sure that the benefits of our marine resources are felt more by our local communities and across the Palawan economy,” Alvarez said.

The ordinance declares the protection and sustainable management of municipal waters as official provincial policy, with violators facing administrative and criminal penalties.

For Palawan officials, the decision was driven by what they described as a growing and visible threat.

“At the same time, we recognize that behind these vessels are workers who are also trying to earn a living,” Alvarez said.

Reports from island municipalities cited large commercial fishing vessels — including those linked to Mercidar — operating as close as five kilometers from shore, often coming from as far as Manila, Batangas, Mindoro and Iloilo.

“I stand by this: Fishing remains part of our bread and butter, but it must be sustainable. It cannot be just a one-time, big-time approach. We need to protect our seas because they are not only natural resources, but also a source of food and livelihood for our people,” Alvarez said.

The ordinance, local officials said, is meant to curb these incursions while safeguarding long-term food security and livelihoods.

“What matters is making sure local communities get their rightful share and that our seas continue to provide, not just for today, but for the years ahead,” Alvarez said.

A response to a controversial ruling

A 2024 Supreme Court resolution involving Mercidar Fishing Corp. has brought renewed scrutiny to long-standing protections for municipal waters.

The case traces back to a Dec. 11, 2023, decision by a Malabon Regional Trial Court, which ruled in favor of Mercidar and declared certain provisions of the Fisheries Code and its implementing rules unconstitutional.

The trial court held that municipal waters are natural resources owned by the state, and that authority over them is vested in national government agencies rather than local government units — a position that effectively set aside long-standing provisions granting LGUs jurisdiction. It also found that the law’s preferential treatment for small-scale fishers did not explicitly exclude large commercial fishing operations.

The Supreme Court, in a resolution dated Aug. 19, 2024, denied the government’s petition on procedural grounds and affirmed the lower court’s ruling.

Crucially, the high court did not rule on the substantive constitutionality of the Fisheries Code provisions themselves. Instead, it upheld the RTC decision, finding that the government’s appeal was filed out of time, rendering the lower court’s ruling final and executory.

As a result, Mercidar was effectively allowed to operate within municipal waters “without regard to the [15-kilometer] limit,” provided it fishes in areas at least seven fathoms deep, based on its commercial fishing license.

For local governments and fisherfolk groups, the implications are far-reaching.

Why the 15-kilometer zone matters

Under Republic Act No. 8550, or the Philippine Fisheries Code, municipal waters are reserved for the “preferential use” of small-scale fishers. This was later strengthened by amendments under RA 10654.

These waters are not just legal boundaries. They are among the most productive marine ecosystems in the country.

According to Oceana’s Primer on Municipal Waters and Jurisdiction of Local Governments, these nearshore areas serve as breeding and nursery grounds for fish and host critical habitats, including mangroves, seagrasses and coral reefs.

They are also central to food security and livelihoods.

Municipal fisherfolk, typically using small boats or no vessels at all, depend almost entirely on these waters. The law defines them as fishers operating vessels of three gross tons or less, or those fishing without vessels.

The same primer emphasizes that commercial fishing is generally banned in municipal waters, except under strict conditions, including depth restrictions, public consultations and compliance with environmental standards.

The Constitution itself guarantees “preferential access” to communal fishing grounds for subsistence fishers — a principle meant to protect vulnerable communities from being displaced by large-scale operations.

Declining fish stocks, rising pressure

As the debate unfolds, the country’s fisheries continue to decline, with smaller catches and mounting pressure on coastal communities.

In a recently launched fisheries assessment, Oceana estimates that the Philippines is losing an average of 45 million kilograms of fish annually, with 88% of assessed fish stocks already overfished or depleted.

Capture fisheries production has dropped from 2.6 million metric tons in 2010 to around 1.9 million metric tons in 2023, signaling a decline of more than 590,000 metric tons over the period.

Municipal fisheries, in particular, are under growing strain.

Production has steadily declined in recent years, falling to 802,770 metric tons in 2024 — the lowest level recorded since 2002 — while the average daily catch per fisher dropped from about five kilograms in 2010 to around four kilograms in 2023.

Fishers have been forced to travel farther and spend more time at sea for smaller returns.

The impact is most acute among small-scale fishers who depend almost entirely on nearshore waters.

Nationwide, more than 353,000 fisherfolk families now live below the poverty line, underscoring how declining catch and shrinking fishing grounds are translating directly into economic hardship.

Where municipal fishers once averaged 10 to 20 kilos a day, Pablo Rosales, chairperson of PANGISDA Philippines, said the catch has fallen to about 2.5 kilos on average, translating to roughly P250 a day — an income he said is increasingly difficult to stretch against rising prices.

“Ngayon, kaunti na ang nahuhuli mo, malaki pa ang gastos dahil lumalayo ka na,” he told the Inquirer. “Yung 100 [peso] mo, dalawang kilong bigas lang ‘yun.”

(Now, you catch very little, and your expenses are even higher because you have to travel farther,” he said. “Your 100 pesos only buys two kilos of rice.)

Widespread pressure across municipal waters

The Philippines’ coastline stretches more than 36,000 kilometers, placing vast marine areas under the shared responsibility of around 930 coastal local government units tasked with managing municipal waters.

Yet enforcement remains uneven across this extensive coastline.

Data show that at least 20 municipalities recorded the highest average monthly number of fishing vessel detections within municipal waters.

Satellite records reveal repeated patterns of nighttime fishing activity in nearshore areas over several years, indicating sustained commercial fishing pressure in waters reserved by law for small-scale fishers.

Monitoring and analysis by Karagatan Patrol, an electronic monitoring platform created by Oceana and supported by the League of Municipalities of the Philippines, found that commercial fishing intrusion into municipal waters averaged 80 incidents per day from 2023 to 2025.

In Palawan, the scale of intrusion is particularly stark.

Satellite monitoring detected more than 5,000 apparent commercial fishing vessels inside the province’s municipal waters each year in 2024 and 2025 — a 40% increase from 2,989 in 2022.

For fisherfolk, the impact is already being felt.

“Noong pumasok yung commercial fishing sa municipal waters mas mabilis naubos ang ating mga isda. Ito ang nagdahilan ng mabilis na pagbagsak ng huli ng mga mangingisda,” Rosales said.

(When commercial fishing entered municipal waters, our fish stocks were depleted more quickly. This led to a rapid decline in the catch of fisherfolk.)

‘A clear and necessary line’

For Oceana, Palawan’s ordinance is both a local policy and a national signal.

“This development draws a clear and necessary line — Palawan’s municipal waters belong to its municipal fisherfolk. At a time when our national fisheries are on freefall decline, this is exactly the kind of bold, science-grounded local action that the Fisheries Code demands. We call on other provinces to follow Palawan’s lead,” Oceana Vice President Von Hernandez said.

“The law already gives them the tools; what’s needed is the courage to use them,” Hernandez added.

The group is also pressing the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources to release vessel monitoring data to local governments and enforcement agencies, citing a gap that continues to hamper on-the-ground enforcement.

“The technology is there. The data exists. What is missing is the political will to use it. Every day that BFAR withholds vessel monitoring data is another day that commercial fishing vessels illegally operate inside municipal waters with impunity,” Hernandez said.

“The continuous intrusion of commercial fishing vessels is one of the major causes of overfishing and the reason why we are losing an average of 45 million kilos of fish catch every year,” he added.

The scale of the monitoring system underscores what is at stake.

Proposed Senate Resolution No. 324, filed last month by Sen. Risa Hontiveros, noted that BFAR procured 5,000 vessel monitoring system (VMS) transceivers worth P2.096 billion. By 2024, transponders — electronic devices that automatically transmit navigational and identification data — had been installed on 90% of the 3,077 targeted commercial fishing vessels.

Yet the resolution flagged a critical gap: “despite this accomplishment, critical VMS data still has not been shared with enforcement agencies tasked with protecting the 15-km municipal waters,” including the Philippine Coast Guard, the Philippine National Police Maritime Group, marine protected area managers and LGUs.

It added that the “lack of information sharing, coordination and enforcement has led to persistent intrusion of commercial fishing vessels into the 15-km municipal waters.”

Voices from the coast

For many coastal communities, the issue is not abstract.

“Itong ordinansa ng Palawan ay tagumpay para sa aming mga mangingisda at mga katutubo. Ang dagat ay hindi lang hanapbuhay para sa amin — ito ang aming palengke, bangko, at ospital. Kung papayagan ang mga komersyal na mangingisda sa aming municipal waters, mawawala ang lahat ng aming ipinaglaban,” said Fredil Muid, a fisherfolk leader from the Calamian Tagbanua Indigenous group.

(This ordinance in Palawan is a victory for us fishers and for Indigenous peoples. The sea is not just a livelihood for us — it is our market, our bank and our hospital. If commercial fishers are allowed into our municipal waters, everything we have fought for will be lost.)

“Huwag na sana nating hintaying maging alaala na lamang ang masaganang pangisdaan na ating kinamulatan,” Muid added.

(Let us not wait until the once-abundant fisheries we grew up with become just a memory.)

Alvarez framed the issue similarly, pointing to rising fuel costs and shrinking catches.

“This is why we must protect our municipal waters and make sure that the marine resources within them continue to serve the small-scale fisherfolk and coastal communities who depend on them most,” she said.

Pressure mounts on LGUs

Palawan’s move comes amid growing pushback from local governments nationwide, as enforcement gaps and policy uncertainty continue to strain efforts to protect municipal waters.

During a Senate hearing in February, local officials testified about the damage caused by commercial fishing and the difficulty of enforcing existing laws. Under the Fisheries Code, LGUs are mandated to manage municipal waters, enforce fishery laws and regulate access within their jurisdictions.

Yet enforcement remains uneven — often constrained by limited resources, weak interagency coordination and restricted access to critical monitoring data.

The Mercidar ruling has added another layer of uncertainty. Advocates warn that if broadly applied, it could erode decades of policy aimed at protecting small-scale fishers and rebuilding fish stocks.

“This ruling threatens to dismantle one of the most important protections for our coastal waters. Without clear fishing regulations and effective enforcement, municipal waters become vulnerable to illegal fishing, overexploitation, and unfair competition that displace the very communities that have relied on these for generations,” Hernandez said last year.

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