MANILA, Philippines – For Senator-elect Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, the Duterte administration should focus on the fisheries sector by appointing a presidential assistant for fisheries with a Cabinet rank.

The Cabinet official will help “address and give priority to the concerns of the fisherfolk,” since the creation of a separate Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Pangilinan said, has yet to materialize.

“As an archipelago that depends on the sea for food, we should give fisheries its proper attention,” Pangilinan urged President-elect Rodrigo Duterte in a statement Thursday, May 26.

Pangilinan noted that Filipino fishermen are poorer than coconut and rice farmers. As of March 2016, latest figures from the Philippine Statistics Authority show that poverty incidence among fishermen is at 39.2%, while it is 38.3% for farmers.

Citing government figures, Pangilinan said around 1.5 million municipal fishermen are registered to fish in the country’s 220 million hectares of territorial waters.

For him, a separate Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources would help give priority to the problems of the country’s fisherfolk.

As proposed, the role of the presidential assistant for fisheries is to help in modernizing fishing with eco-friendly technologies, post-harvest processing and storage facilities, and training.

On Thursday, Pangilinan also proposed to build and establish the following:

• Fish landing centers in coastal communities – disaster-resilient trading centers or ports with freezers and storage facilities
• Fisherfolk settlements – built outside the danger zone, with residential tenure
• Fishing schools nationwide – to introduce fisherfolk to environmentally-sustainable technologies and to train a new generation of fisherfolk 

“Two of the most pressing problems our fishermen face are the lack of decent and safe livelihood and shelter,” the former presidential assistant on food security and agricultural modernization explained.

He added: “Most of the time, they go out to sea even with a typhoon because otherwise they won’t eat. And usually, they live by the sea which is also dangerous when there is a typhoon.”

The modernization of the fishing industry, according to the senator-elect, would help lift Filipino fisherfolk out of poverty.

“Like farming, fishing is noble work that does not provide sufficient earnings. We need to modernize fishing and increase the income of fisherfolk,” he added.

Duterte earlier said during the campaign season that he would push for credit cooperatives among the fisherfolk. 

Currently, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) – the government agency mandated to develop, improve, manage, and conserve the country’s fisheries and aquatic resources – is a bureau under the Department of Agriculture. The BFAR is headed by Director Asis Perez. – Rappler.com