During the 2019 State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Rodrigo Duterte, he mentioned the concept of traditional fishing rights (TFRs). What is it? Is respecting the TFRs of foreigners in waters within the reaches of our sovereignty and sovereign rights compatible with the Constitution? And would this non-State-centric concept be a helpful tool in forging a cooperative relationship among the South China Sea (SCS) disputants? TFRs are part of customary international law, invoked by international arbitral and adjudication decisions prior to and after the adoption of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos). In international adjudications, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) decisions in two 1974 fisheries jurisdiction cases (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland v. Iceland and Federal Republic of Germany v. Iceland) are exemplary. In both cases, the ICJ decided that Iceland’s “preferential fishing rights” as a coastal state need to be “reconciled with the traditional fishing rights” of the fishermen of the UK and the Federal Republic of Germany and other nations which have habitually operated in the waters near Iceland.

Sasot, S. R. (2019, July 25). On traditional fishing rights. The Manila Times, p. A6.