The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BFAR–ARMM) has imposed a ban or closed season until March for fishing “tamban” or Indian sardine in the Sulu Sea and Basilan Strait. The ban also includes the selling, buying and possessing of sardines caught within the conservation area, said Jerusalem Abdulahim, chief of the BFAR–ARMM Fisheries Regulatory and Law Enforcement Division He said the annual fishing ban is being implemented to give time for tamban to reproduce. The Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998 states that sardine fishing in the waters of East Sulu Sea, Basilan Strait and Sibuguey Bay is temporarily suspended to give way to the fish species’ spawning period.

Jannaral J. I. (2018, January 12). BFAR imposes 3-month fishing ban in Sulu, Basilan. The Manila Times, p. A7.