#sdg 14.4

[oaresearchpaper]

Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing continues to seriously threaten the sustainability of marine resources in Alicia, Zamboanga Sibugay, Philippines. However, nothing has been done yet to evaluate the IUU fishing in Alicia. This paper presents the first ever assessment of the vulnerability of coastal waters of Alicia to IUU fishing, using the Philippine IUU Fishing Index and Threat Assessment Tool (I-FIT) developed by DA-BFAR and USAID. The assessment focused on eight indicators with a scaling score from 1 (low vulnerability) to 4 (very high vulnerability) and a data quality score of 1-3 (low -high data quality). Alicia obtained a vulnerability score of 2.63, indicating a moderate risk to IUU fishing. This score is higher than the national average of 2.53. The key vulnerability factors include rich fishing grounds in the municipality that attract legal and illegal fishers, increasing prices of illegally caught fish, and a very low budget allocation for fisheries and coastal resource management. Yet, these are alleviated mainly by other factors such as well-defined jurisdictional borders and a combined enforcement pact with neighboring municipalities, as well as the absence of powerful groups defending illegal fishers. The data quality score is 3, denoting high data reliability. Recommendations include intensifying habitat protection, raising funding allocation, increasing enforcement operations, providing livelihood programs, monitoring, engaging community participation, and conducting regular vulnerability assessments. This study aligns with the Sustainable Development Goal Target 14.4, which seeks to end illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

[oaresearchpaper]

Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing remains a significant challenge to sustainable fisheries in the Philippines, especially at the municipal level. As of 2023, IUU fishing risk in Mabuhay, Zamboanga Sibugay has not been evaluated yet. This study assessed for the first time the prevalence of IUU fishing in Mabuhay across 16 coastal barangays using the Philippine IUU Fishing Index and Threat Assessment Tool (I-FIT) developed by DA-BFAR and USAID. The IUU fishing prevalence was measured using 10 indicators and a scoring scale of 1-4 (low-very high) with a data quality scoring of 1-3 (low-high). The findings of this study revealed that Mabuhay has a prevalence score of 2.5, indicating a moderate risk to IUU fishing, slightly lower than the national average score of 2.58. The key prevalence factors included very high apprehensions relative to the patrolling effort (62.5%), absence of regular monitoring or reporting of fish catches, low registration of fishers (41.3%) and fishing vessels (4.31%), and most illegal activities were coastal habitat-damaging (97.44%). The data quality of this assessment scored 2.2, denoting medium reliability. This study recommends enhancing enforcement and monitoring in high-risk areas of IUU fishing, increasing and improving the registration of both fishers and fishing vessels, establishing catch reporting and monitoring system, raising awareness on IUU fishing through IEC campaigns, engaging community participation, and conducting an annual assessment of IUU fishing to track changes and improve management strategies to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU fishing in Mabuhay.