QuestionsQuestions (Republic Act No. 3512)
The policy is to encourage, promote, and conserve fishing resources to ensure a steady and sufficient supply of fish and other fishery products for the growing population, minimize importation to stabilize the national economy, and enlarge the office charged with development, improvement, management, and conservation of fishery resources.
The law creates the Philippine Fisheries Commission, placed under the direct control and supervision of the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
It has one Commissioner and two Deputy Commissioners. They are appointed by the President with the consent of the Commission on Appointments.
The advisory committee on fishery and allied matters is composed of the Commissioner as chairman, the two Deputy Commissioners, and four members from the private sector engaged in deep-sea fishing, fish culture, fish processing, and allied industries.
Each private sector member receives a per diem not exceeding twenty pesos for each meeting actually attended, with meetings held not more than twice each month.
The Commissioner may organize the Commission into divisions/sections/units to ensure maximum efficiency (subject to the approval of the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources) and may establish field offices and stations in suitable places as needed to carry out the Act’s purposes.
The Commissioner may issue licenses or permits in accordance with law, and may suspend or revoke them for cause.
Examples include: studying life cycles and establishing hatcheries/nurseries/demonstration fishponds; intensifying fish stocking in inland waters; protecting spawning/breeding grounds; studying fishing practices/methods to prevent waste and protect resources and disseminating results; conducting oceanographical and limnological surveys and exploring fishing areas/banks (including international waters); and conducting demonstration services for modern fishery practices.
The Commissioner may make arrests personally or through duly authorized representatives in accordance with Rule 109 of the Rules of Court, and may make searches and seizures personally or through authorized representatives when the things to be seized include specified items such as explosives used in fishing (blasting caps/dynamites), fish poison, and poisoned or dynamited fish and related fishery products/equipment subject to seizure under existing fishery laws—also in accordance with the Rules of Court.
The Commissioner may administer oaths, receive affidavits, issue subpoenas, and take testimonies in official investigations, personally or through duly authorized representatives.
The Commissioner may establish regional, city, provincial, and municipal fisheries stations whenever necessary for extension work, facilitating practical training of fishermen in modern fishing gear and devices.
It provides technical assistance and advisory services to fishing boat operators on proper construction, operation, rigging, appropriate gear, equipment, and other devices for deep-sea fishing, and may perform related functions promoting development and exploitation of deep-sea fisheries.
The certification is required when a loan is applied for a vessel/gear with the Development Bank of the Philippines or other government financing institutions. The Commissioner issues certification only upon payment of a fee determined by the Commissioner but not exceeding twenty pesos.
Powers/functions/duties previously exercised by the Bureau of Customs, Philippine Navy, and Philippine Constabulary over fishing vessels and fishery matters are transferred and vested in the Philippine Fisheries Commission.
The corresponding records and documents kept in the custody of those agencies are transferred to and vested in the Philippine Fisheries Commission.
Violations of RA 3512 or its implementing rules may be punished by an administrative fine of not more than one thousand pesos or cancellation of a permit/license at the Commissioner’s discretion. Decisions of the Commissioner are appealable to the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources, whose decision is final.
The law provides that a person who fails/refuses to comply with legal summons, refuses to be sworn, or gives/furnishes false or misleading information (or causes to mislead in an investigation) may be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred pesos or imprisonment not exceeding six months, or both, at the court’s discretion. If false/misleading data were given under oath, penalties for perjury apply.
The Bureau of Fisheries is abolished, and personnel, records, appropriations, property, and equipment identified with fisheries work are transferred to the Philippine Fisheries Commission. No official or employee of the Bureau of Fisheries shall be laid off in implementing this transfer/abolition.
Section 8 repeals RA No. 177 and all other inconsistent acts/orders/regulations or parts thereof. Section 10 provides that the Act takes effect upon its approval.