Fisheries Sector Workshop
Calls and demands of small fisherfolk
1. Junk Fisheries Code and other neoliberal policies affecting fisheries. Uphold fishing rights of small-scale fishers in the country’s communal fishing grounds. Give adequate and appropriate support to strengthen the local fish industry instead of relying on fish importation. Stop fish importation and strive for food self-sufficiency.
2. Stop reclamation, conversion and privatization of fishing grounds. Stop all “Build-Build-Build” projects that destroy marine biodiversity of Philippine waters and displace fisherfolk families from their homes and livelihood. Instead, support the building and strengthening of resilience of the fisherfolk to climate change and other disasters.
3. Junk the Anti-Terror Law. Stop the attacks on the rights advocates and environmental defenders including the fisherfolk.
4. Stop China’s imperialist plunder and aggression in the West Philippine Sea. Assert national sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea, protect national patrimony from plunder of China and Filipino fisherfolk from imperialist aggression.
5. Protect the environment and support genuine rehabilitation from ridge to reef. Whatever happens inland will affect our seas. Protecting our carbon sinks is one of our biggest contributions to climate change mitigation.