In June 2014, the European Union issued a yellow card warning to the Philippines because it deemed that the government has done nothing to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in Philippine waters for decades. The warning was meant to prompt the Aquino administration to comply and amend our fisheries law before trade sanctions were imposed. Members of the 16th Congress know that failure to act would mean losing one of the biggest importers of fish from the Philippines, which would deal a heavy blow to our fishing industry. Congress passed in December 2014 the amendments to Republic Act 8550, the Philippine Fisheries Code, through RA 10654, which imposed higher penalties against violations of the fisheries law and instituted a vessel monitoring system, among several reforms. The amendments lapsed into law in February 2015.

The Editorial Board. (2023, June 15). How commercial fishing is killing our small fishers [Editorial]. BusinessMirror, p. A14.