International advocacy organization Oceana lauded the move of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources’ (BFAR) to permanently revoke the license of a fishing vessel found to have repeatedly violated the Fisheries Code’s provision banning commercial fishing in municipal waters. “We welcome this breakthrough in the implementation of the law. The permanent revocation serves as an effective deterrence on illegal commercial fishing happening in municipal waters. Strong measures in transparency and enforcement are needed if we are to return the abundance of our waters,” said Oceana Vice President lawyer Gloria Estenzo Ramos. To recall, Oceana formally requested on Dec. 9, 2019 BFAR’s Adjudication Committee for the list and status of commercial fishing vessels and owners/operators with repeated violations of the Fisheries Administrative Order 198-1.

Gomez, E. J. (2020, January 16). BFAR revocation of commercial vessel's license commended. The Manila Times, p. B2.