Forum for East Asia - Latin America Cooperation throws dying marine environment aside for later

Photo of two fishermen at open sea, The Philippines’ fish production is on the decline due to competition from China and Vietnam. (Photo from United Nations)

“We used to earn enough to pay debts and sustain our families,” Forones said, his voice tinged with nostalgia. Back then, three-month fishing trips yielded bountiful catches worth up to $705.

Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is a broad term that captures a wide variety of fishing activity. Its disappointingly known that the Philippines are the main contributors to IUU. This is because they are mainly caused by people who suffer under the reign of the corrupted government. 

The European Commission continues its action to fight illegal fishing worldwide by warning the Philippines and Papua New Guinea that they risk being identified as countries it considers non-cooperative in the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

Furthermore, China and the Philippines are in heavy tension, once again, because of the dispute at the South China Sea. Due to that, this causes an illegal patrol between both countries, polluting and damaging the maritime, while the illegal fishing is continuing. 

“This incident highlights the CCG's non-compliance with the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS) and reflects a blatant disregard for safety at sea,” the Philippines government said in a statement.

The people who are doing IUU are forced to survive in the Philippines, this is because the greedy government does not want to help the people who need to do whatever it takes to suffice in the Philippines, but rather they blame those people for initiating that instead of using their “amazing” solutions. 

Due to this, the people of the Philippines are being bashed on by the public, being shamed for what they have to do to survive. Even with all of these in mind, the council of Forum of East Asia - Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) has not done anything to help, despite IUU being a pressing issue. 

“The current Philippines coastal score for the IUU is 2.81, possibly the lowest, which cannot be compared to me,” a Minister, who would like to be anonymous, stated without a second thought. 

If the people of the Philippines and other people from other countries who have to resort to IUU continues to suffer and being bombarded by hatred, which was supposed to be directed to the selfish government, IUU will continue to increase more and more around ASEAN. 

Written by Kenice Leow Ke Ying, Mirza Adriansyah Bin Muhmmad Syariff, and Rabe Ralph Yohan Ledesma