Illegal commercial fishing activities in municipal waters continue to threaten coastal communities and the country’s food security. Making commercial fishing legal will push the country’s fish stock to the brink of collapse, the country’s food security organizers and participants of a Convergence Summit for the Protection of Municipal Waters said. They attribute the strong opposition to commercial fishing in municipal fishing ground to the unfair competition between commercial fishers and artisanal and small fishers who depend mainly on fishing as a way of life. Citing the 2017 National Stock Assessment Program report of the National Fisheries and Research Development Institute (NFRDI), Oceana said 87 percent of the country’s fishing grounds are already overfished.

Mayuga, J. L. (2025, March 21). 'Overfishing pushes PHL fish stock to brink of collapse'. BusinessMirror, pp. A20, A2.