by Philippine Daily Inquirer, Sep 22, 2017
LUCENA CITY — Illegal fishers are back in the bays of Tayabas and Lamon in Quezon province, this time with minors reportedly working on fishing boats, an official of an environmental group said.
“The recruitment of minors as boat workers will give birth to the next generation of illegal fishers. It will be an endless cycle of environmental destruction,” Zeny Bernal, Tanggol Kalikasan (TK) Southern Luzon program director, said on Wednesday.
She said TK, a public interest law office which advocates environmental protection, had been receiving reports of resurgence of blast fishing and other illegal fishing activities in the province’s waters.
Bernal said their reports also indicated the continuous operations of commercial fishers whose boats used the destructive “pangulong” (purse seines), “taksay” (ring nets) and “buli-buli” (modified Danish seine).
“But what was more disturbing were the reports that most illegal fishers had been recruiting teenage boys as crew members,” she said.
A patrol team from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, she said, encountered illegal fishers in the waters of Tayabas Bay in Lucena City on Monday.
“Most crew members, who were youngsters, were able to jump out of the boats,” Bernal said.
Years of illegal and commercial fishing and pollution had damaged Tayabas Bay, which covers 287,332 hectares, according to a TK study.
Bernal called on local officials and their social welfare officers to stop the recruitment of minors in illegal activities at sea.
The depletion of marine resources in Lamon Bay in northern Quezon and Tayabas Bay covering parts of Quezon, Marinduque and Batangas provinces has long been the subject of concern among environmentalists.
TK has started a rehabilitation project aimed at reducing threats and improving sustainable management of marine resources in Quezon’s waters, particularly Tayabas Bay. —Delfin T. Mallari Jr.
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“Support women every day of the year!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations against serious violations of Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government
(NUG) of Myanmar.
Reject Military!
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Monthly Observances:
Women’s Role in History Month
Weekly Observances:
Week 1: Environmental Week
Women’s Week
Week 3: Philippine Industry and Made-in-the-Philippines
Products Week
Last Week: Protection and Gender-Fair Treatment
of the Girl Child Week
Daily Observances:
March 8: Women’s Rights and
International Peace Day;
National Women’s Day
Mar 4— Employee Appreciation Day
Mar 15 — World Consumer Rights Day
Mar 18 — Global Recycling Day
Mar 21 — International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
Mar 23 — International Day for the Right to the Truth concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims
Mar 25 — International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade
Mar 27 — Earth Hour