The Fisheries Management Area 4 Management Board extend its appreciation to the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources for organizing a consultation dialogue on September 28, 2022 in Zamboanga City, which gathered key stakeholders of the sardine industry including the issues and concerns surrounding the sardine industry including the issue on the alleged looming shortage of sardine supply for canning
After a thorough consideration of the recommendations that emanated from the said consultation dialogue, the Board has resolved to adopt the recommendations and pursue the necessary measures to ensure its implementation within a short-term and long-term period.
Among the major recommendations are as follows:
The FMA 4 Management Board being at the forefront of fisheries governance in the FMA 4 is committed to ensuring sustainability of the sardine fishery within its management area while giving importance to wide stakeholders participation and promoting inclusive and equitable progress of the country’s sardine industry
Supporting facts/information
An FMA Management Board is a management body composed of key stakeholders from the industry, representatives from local government units, civil society organizations, the academe, and national government agencies created in line with the establishment of the country’s 12 FMA.
The FMA 4, in which the waters of Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay, Tawi-Tawi, Basilan, Sulu, Negros Occidental, Iloilo belong to, has a functional Management Board as well as a Scientific Advisory Group with the aim of safeguarding the region’s marine and coastal resources and the services they provide to the community
TThe FMA 4 is one of the 12 FMAs established by virtue of Fisheries Administrative Order no. 263 s. 2019. It is a new governance framework on sustainable fisheries management anchored on the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM). Through the FMA, fisheries governance shifted from the traditional way of managing the country’s resources based only on political delineations towards a more holistic, science-based, and participatory management