With prices of fish rising, the government has approved the importation of galunggong. Among those hit by the move, however, are many of the biggest consumers of the so-called poor man’s fish: small-scale fishermen and their families. No wonder the main organization of small-scale fishermen is opposing the importation – the first time in about two decades that the country is importing fish. The government says the importation is meant merely to ensure steady supply while a moratorium on fishing is observed for several months. The moratorium is part of efforts to rehabilitate fishing grounds destroyed by a trawler-type fishing method employed by commercial fishing operators using the Danish seine or hulbot-hulbot.

Sustainable fishing. (2018, August 30). The Philippine Star, p. 6.