According to BFAR Philippines should exploit its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) to feed its growing population, which is projected to be 135 million by 2025. But before that the authority will have to draw up its archipelagic baselines and firm up its territorial limits by law, a matter that is still pending in Congress. It is said that EEZ technically extends to the disputed islets and outcrops in the Spratlys, long the fishing ground of Chinese fleets.
BFAR told that its strategic plan, the Comprehensive National Fisheries Industry Development Plan (CNFIDP), has projected the demand for fish to rise to 4.2 million metric tons (MMT) for the years preceding 2025. But the Department of Agriculture (DA) over the weekend said it is targeting to harvest 5.7 MMT from fisheries next year. BFAR has been alarmed by the increase in the number of fishermen, from only 400,000 in the 1970s to 1,781,020 in 2002, meaning a quadrupling of the people competing for shallow coastal waters that harbor the largest schools of fish.
The present situation demand a massive exploitation of the seas, breaching the maximum sustainable yield (MSY), which refers to the volume of fish that must be harvested annually without affecting their reproduction.
