A fisheries expert claimed that allowing commercial fishing vessels into municipal waters will further worsen the already declining fish catch of small-scale fisherfolk. Dan Bialao, chief of the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center - Aquaculture Department (Seafdec/AQD), said the recent Supreme Court ruling allowing commercial fishing in municipal waters or areas within 15 kilometers from shore may not directly impact aquaculture, but poses serious risks to capture fisheries. “Aquaculture is going up. While capture fisheries are going down steadily, they are really going down,” he said.

Castor, R. Z. (2025, July 15). 'SC ruling will hurt small scale fishers'. The Manila Times, p. A9.