Fisheries Management

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Trawling
  • Fishing Vessels
  • Fishing Industry
  • Traditional Fishing
  • Fishing Business

Fisheries Management

Header Banner

Fisheries Management

  • Home
  • Trawling
  • Fishing Vessels
  • Fishing Industry
  • Traditional Fishing
  • Fishing Business
Fishing Industry
Home›Fishing Industry›Lingayen Gulf mining threatens food security, group says

Lingayen Gulf mining threatens food security, group says

By Bridget Becker
September 27, 2021
0
0


IN DANGER This beach in the town of Binmaley, in the province of Pangasinan, is part of the Lingayen Gulf, which will be the site of a magnetite (black sand) mining project that threatens to destroy the environment and the industry of local fishing. —WILLIE LOMIBAO

An advocacy group said on Monday that the approval by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) of an offshore mining project in the Lingayen Gulf province of Pangasinan could destroy the marine ecosystem of the region and threaten the livelihoods of fishing communities.

Tugon Kabuhayan was referring to the approved Financial or Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) of Iron Ore, Gold and Vanadium Resources Phils. Inc. which would allow it to exploit 9,252 hectares of seabed spanning the towns of Alaminos, Dagupan and San Fernando where magnetite is abundant, an economical material that can be used to make steel.

Asis Perez, president of Tugon Kabuhayan and former director of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), said the project was located between two protected areas – the Hundred Islands of Alaminos National Park and the Protective Landscape and the seascape of Agoo-Damortis – and would affect the fishing farms of Sual, considered to be the leading producer of milkfish in the country.

He added that this could be grounds for filing a petition for a kalikasan order, a legal remedy to stop projects potentially damaging to the environment.

“If it’s true that [the DENR has issued] an FTAA without a proper process, then it is possible [ground] for short of kalikasan, ”Perez said. “But cases can only be filed if there are clients, so let’s see what the decision of the communities in the region will be.”

According to Perez, BFAR has not been informed of the offshore project even though up to 250,000 tonnes of production volume comes from Pangasinan.

Changing nature

At least two members of the Pangasinan Provincial Council and a group of local fishermen have already protested the project, calling it disastrous for the marine environment and the province’s fishing industry which could potentially affect at least 5,000 fishermen. .

“We are very concerned about the danger this project will bring to various sectors, including aquaculture. We are also concerned about the food security of the country knowing full well that the government has authorized the importation of fish. We call on the government to examine and study the negative impact of this on the livelihoods of fishing, ”he said.

Fernando Siringan, a well-known geologist from the University of the Philippines, said dredging the seabed would immediately change the nature of the substrate and lead to the resuspension of the material.

“The immediate impact is that you change the nature of the substrate, so whatever benthic organisms are there, they will be disturbed… Anywhere they suck up sediment, there will also be resuspension… ‘they will have the magnetic components, they will return the waste. materials, like the sand particles and the water they used to wash off the mud, ”he said.

“There are several protected areas and key biodiversity areas in the Gulf of Lingayen where resuspended material can go. i really wonder how [the company] is able to obtain permits when it is adjacent to a marine protected area, ”he added.

Malacañang’s approval

Vanadium Resources’ FTAA application was approved but not followed by the President’s office during the tenure of the late President Benigno Aquino III.

The Duterte administration referred the request back to the DENR for further assessment. It was then approved again in Malacañang and was finally approved in November of last year.

In April, President Duterte issued Executive Decree No.130 lifting the nine-year ban on the issuance of new mining permits to stimulate more investment in the extractive industry to help the country recover from difficulties financial consequences caused by the coronavirus pandemic. INQ

Read more

Don’t miss the latest news and information.

Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to access The Philippine Daily Inquirer and over 70 titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download from 4 a.m. and share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.

KEY WORDS:

For comments, complaints or inquiries, contact us.



Related posts:

  1. A yr later, researchers try and quantify the impression of COVID on the seafood trade
  2. Fisheries cooks hail employee visa motion
  3. NOAA Could Enable Bigger Spiny Dogfish Harvest in Subsequent 12 months | Fishing Business Information
  4. England is fishing a sufferer of the decentralization coverage
Tagsfishing industrynatural resources

Recent Posts

  • The dangerous amount of sleep the actors in the deadliest take actually get
  • French missile tests put lives of Irish fishermen at risk, industry says
  • Hull marks 40 years since the end of the Falklands War – in pictures
  • State-of-the-art fishing vessel navigation simulator launched in… – Donegal Daily
  • Fuel prices and cheap shrimp cripple Louisiana’s shrimp industry, still recovering from Ida | New

Archives

  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021

Categories

  • Fishing Business
  • Fishing Industry
  • Fishing Vessels
  • Traditional Fishing
  • Trawling

Recent Posts

  • The dangerous amount of sleep the actors in the deadliest take actually get
  • French missile tests put lives of Irish fishermen at risk, industry says
  • Hull marks 40 years since the end of the Falklands War – in pictures
  • State-of-the-art fishing vessel navigation simulator launched in… – Donegal Daily
  • Fuel prices and cheap shrimp cripple Louisiana’s shrimp industry, still recovering from Ida | New

Archives

  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021

Categories

  • Fishing Business
  • Fishing Industry
  • Fishing Vessels
  • Traditional Fishing
  • Trawling
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy