Palawan Council for
Sustainable Development

Live Fish Forum Concept

by
Malou Martinez, John Pontillas and Ryan Fuentes

Forum on the Palawan Live Reef Fish for Food Quota System
Schedule: 5 December 2007
Venue: Palawan Sustainable Development Training Institute (PSDTI),
Irawan, Puerto Princesa City

1.0 BACKGROUND

1.1 The international context

   The live reef food fish (LRFF) trade is an international trade. Though there is uncertainty in the literature on the global status of the trade, a recent study by WWF showed that the trade is growing between Hong Kong and the exporting countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines (WWF, June 2007, Live Reef Fish Trade in the Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion - Trade Scoping Study Draft Report). The declared imports into Hong Kong increased 27.5% between 2002 and 2005, and major growth has been recorded in low- and medium-value species. The same study showed that the Philippines is the major exporter of the commodity (particularly coral trout) to Hong Kong with a record high of 1,724.073 MT in 2005 compared to the other two major exporters, Indonesia and Malaysia. This accounts for 46% of the three country exports to Hong Kong, making the Philippines an important source of live reef fish for the trade.

   Hong Kong is the major trading and market destination for much of the traded live fish product, accounting for around 65-80% of the trade, although the bulk of its imports are sent to mainland China, which appears to be the largest market, followed by Hong Kong (Graham, 2001). Taiwan is the next largest market, but imports of market-size product are becoming less important as Taiwan increases local full-cycle and grow-out production (F. McGilvray, IMA Hong Kong, pers. comm., 2001). Other important markets for live reef food fish in the region include Singapore, Japan and countries scattered throughout the Pacific rim, including western USA, where temperate reef species are increasingly being marketed live (Sadovy and Vincent, in press).

1.2        The Palawan context

   The LRFF fishery is an important economic activity for the province of Palawan. The fishery is highly valued, with estimate of Php 1.22 Billion for a total volume export outside of the province of 679.26 tons in 2006 (Table 1).

   For 2007 a total of 186 PCSD accreditations were issued, broken down as follows (Table 2): trading, 89; caging, 62; and transport, 35. The highest number of 21 trading accreditations was issued in Coron Municipality. Meanwhile, the number of caging accreditations is most numerous in Taytay Municipality. For live fish transport, Puerto Princesa City and Taytay Municipality registered 6 accreditations each. The fulltime fishermen engaged in the industry is estimated to be 3,000.

Table 1. Palawan live reef fish for food export volume and value, 2003-2007

Year	Reported Live Reef Fish Volume (t) Shipped Out of Palawan	Approximate Gross Value, Php (based on Php1,800 landed price in Manila)
2007	669.08	1.20 Billion
2006	679.26	1.22 Billion
2005	531.81	957.26 Million
2004	517.92	932.26 Million
2003	305.19	549.34 Million

Table 2. Number of PCSD issued accreditation by municipality, 2007

Municipality	Trading	Caging	Carrier	Total
*Calamianes Group of Islands*
Busuanga	1			1
Coron	21	10	4	35
Linapacan	2	1		3

*Cuyo Group of Islands*
Cuyo	2			2
Magsaysay			2

*Greater Palawan*
Aborlan	7	6	3	16
Araceli	3	3		6
Balabac	2	2		4
Bataraza	4		1	5
Dumaran	2	2		4
Narra	2	1		3
Puerto Princesa City	1	2	6	9
Quezon	8	4	4	16
Rizal	4	3	4	11
Roxas	11	6	2	19
San Vicente	5	3	3	11
Taytay	14	19	6	39
TOTAL	89	62	35	186

Export volume for July-December 2007 projected based on the recorded export volume for the same periods for 2004-2006

     Currently, there are three main policies being implemented relating to the LRFF industry: Provincial Ordinance No. 941 “Providing for a sustainable and integrated regulation of live reef fish industry, imposing certain conditions for the catching, trading and shipment of live fish out of the province, providing penalties for violations hereof and for other purposes,” as amended; City Ordinance No. 110, 03 May 1999 “An ordinance regulating the shipment of live fish and/or lobster outside Puerto Princesa City and providing penalties for violation thereof, and for other purposes”; and PCSDS Administrative Order No. 05 “Revised Guidelines for the Accreditation, Regulation and Monitoring of Live Fish Catching, Culture, Transport and Trading in Palawan by PCSD,” as amended. The three policies address the problem of sodium cyanide use in the LRFF trade. In addition, Provincial Ordinance No. 941, as amended, goes beyond the issue of illegal fishing in the industry and also focuses on the issue of overfishing (with provisions for size limits and close and open season) and the protection of wild stocks through the identification and establishment of Spawning Aggregation Areas (SAAs) as fish refuges, sanctuaries and Core Zones under the ECAN of the SEP. City Ordinance No 110, on the other hand, stipulates that “all livefish are illegal for catch, trade and shipment except for sea bass, cat fish, mudfish, loba, milkfish fries, lobsters.”

      There is still a need, however, to harmonize and strengthen these policies towards developing a sustainable live reef fish for food industry for the province. Specifically, there is urgency to determine the following: (1) the setting of the annual quota to be harvested and traded, (2) the annual number of PCSD Accreditation to be issued, and (3) the annual allowable quota to be traded for each Accreditation. Furthermore, there is the need to (4) review and set size limits for each species captured and traded, (5) identify SAAs, (6) declare these SAAs as fish refuges, sanctuaries, and Core Zones under the ECAN, (7) set-up an effective trade monitoring system, and (8) review the sodium cyanide test protocol. Lastly, there is the need to (9) set up the implementing guidelines of these policies.

      The PCSD recently approved and adopted the policy on quota system following the initial findings and recommendations by the PCSD Staff. The quota shall be implemented by the removal of computed depletion for 2007. This will be done by setting the annual quota to be traded at the maximum sustainable export for grouper (MSEG) level either province wide or by cluster UNDER condition of negligible fishing pressure, distributed among the existing (100) accredited traders, AND to be implemented over a 3 year period. Under this condition, the quota in the export volume will amount to 493 t, 316 t, and 140 t, in year 1 (2008), year 2 (2009), and year 3 (2010), respectively. The third year will level off the depletion rate to the current computed value of MSEG of 139.56 t.

      The forum on the Palawan Live Reef Fish for Food Quota System (LFQS) shall tackle the quota system and its implementation, among other concerns, to sustainably develop the industry.

2.0 FORUM OBJECTIVES

The following shall be the objectives of the forum:

1. Finalize the implementing guidelines of quota system in live fish trade

2. Solicit strategies on how to enforce the quota system

3. Solicit strategies to maximize compliance of stakeholders

4. Introduce a more comprehensive trading system, i.e tradable permits

5. Solicit strategies on how to control illegal fishing activities, i.e. the use of cyanide

3.0 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

     The following diagram is an outline of our approach to LFQS. This consists of three elements or functions common to most environmental management policies (Hoel, 2003). The three elements are knowledge, regulations, and enforcement of regulations (which is also about compliance). Knowledge is the basis of any regulation and enforcement mechanisms. The ultimate goal is sustainability of the live fish trade and industry which can be measured by or assessed using several indicators. Since live reef fishery management is a continuing work in progress, the feedback loops are expected to refine the whole quota system as we go along in its implementation.

Figure 1. A general framework for the implementation of LFQS.