Guidelines for Artificial Reefs in Municipal Waters

Legal basis and controlling issuances

The Order is issued pursuant to Section 2, Article XII of the Philippine Constitution requiring the State to protect the nation’s marine wealth.
The Order is issued pursuant to the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998, the Local Government Code of 1991, and Executive Order No. 192 (s. 1987).
The Order is issued pursuant to DENR Administrative Order No. 19 (s. 1993) and the Joint DENR-DA-DILG-DND Administrative Order No. 97-01 (s. 1997).
The Order requires municipal permit-making to operate within an approved Special Municipal/City Fishery Ordinance (Section 5).

Policy, purpose, and program intent

The government policy is to initiate rational and sustainable development of the environment and natural resources and institute management measures to rehabilitate and enhance productivity of degraded coastal reefs and their environment for stakeholders’ livelihood and job opportunities (Section 2).
Artificial reefs are treated as a fisheries management tool to support sustainable development of fishery and aquatic resources and to rehabilitate degraded coral reefs (Sections 2 and 3).
The Order’s objectives include ensuring sustainable fisheries, addressing food security, enabling natural regeneration and recolonization, enhancing habitat and recruitment of fish species, improving diversity and sizes of fish caught, alleviating poverty among fisherfolk, and developing community-based coastal resource management initiatives (Section 3).

Scope and covered waters

The Order covers the establishment, management, and utilization of Artificial Reefs (ARs) in municipal waters, including bays and gulfs (Section 3).
Municipal Waters include inland and tidal waters within the municipality not included within protected areas defined under Republic Act No. 7586 (NIPAS Law), public forest, timber lands, forest reserves, or fishery reserves, and also marine waters between two (2) lines drawn perpendicular to the general coastline from points where municipal boundary lines touch the sea at low tide and a third line parallel to the general coastline including offshore islands and 15 kilometers from such coastline (Section 4).
Where two municipalities are on opposite shores and there is less than 30 kilometers of marine waters between them, the third line is equally distant from the opposite shore of the respective municipalities (Section 4).
The Order’s permit system and operational rules apply to AR areas technically described under the permit and to the adjacent buffer distance stated in the permit conditions (Sections 11 and 5).

Express definitions used

Artificial Reef is any structure of natural or man-made materials placed on the sea bed to serve as shelter and habitat, source of food, breeding areas for fishery species, and other marine organisms (Section 4).
Bay is an inlet of the sea or a body of water forming an indentation of the shoreline usually smaller than a gulf (Section 4).
Commercial fishing is taking fish and fishery/aquatic products using fishing vessels more than three (3) gross tons and using either active or passive gear for trade, business, and profit beyond sustenance or sports fishing (Section 4).
Coral covers hard calcareous substance made up of the skeleton of marine coelenterate polyps including reefs, shelves, atolls, and certain marine coelenterate animals living in colonies where their skeletons form stony mass, including precious corals, semi-precious corals, and ordinary corals (Section 4).
Coral Reef is a natural aggregation of coral skeleton with or without living coral polyps occurring in inter-tidal and sub-tidal marine waters (Section 4).
Fisherfolk are people directly and personally and physically engaged in taking and/or culturing and processing fishes and/or aquatic resources (Section 4).
Fisherfolk Cooperative is a duly registered association of fisherfolk under the Fisheries Code with a common bond of interest, voluntary membership, equitable contributions to capital, and fair share of risks and benefits under universally accepted cooperative principles (Section 4).
Fisherfolk Organization is a duly registered group association federation alliance or institution of fisherfolk with at least fifteen (15) members, officers, a constitution and by-laws, an organizational structure, and a program of action registered with SEC or CDA (Section 4).
Food Security refers to plans, policies, or strategies ensuring adequate supplies of appropriate food at affordable prices through self-sufficiency, self-reliance, or pure importation (Section 4).
Gratuitous Permit is authority issued by the Municipal/City Mayor free of charge to accredited private research institutions, LGUs, and national government agencies for educational, research, and scientific purposes (Section 4).
Gulf is a portion of the ocean or sea partly enclosed by land and usually larger than a bay (Section 4).
Habitat Enhancement is improving the condition of the water environment to produce more of its resources (Section 4).
People’s Organization is a bona fide association of citizens with demonstrated capacity to promote the public interest with identifiable leadership, membership, and structure; its members belong to the fisheries sector and voluntarily band together for upliftment, development, and the greater good (Section 4).
Stock Assessment is evaluation of effects of fishing on fishery status, primarily estimating catches that can be taken from fish stocks (Section 4).
Subsistence Fishing is taking fish through hook and line by municipal fisherfolks using fishing vessels less than three (3) gross tons or fishing not requiring fishing vessels (Section 4).
Fisherfolk Organization and Fisherfolk Cooperative are distinct permit-priority categories used in the AR permit-granting framework (Sections 4 and 6).

Permit authority and ordinance requirements

Municipal/City Mayors shall issue permits to establish and operate ARs pursuant to an approved Special Municipal/City Fishery Ordinance (Section 5).
The Special Municipal/City Fishery Ordinance must provide sanctions for violations of permit terms and conditions and must provide for collection of reasonable permit and annual rental fees, with the fee rates determined by the Sangguniang Bayan concerned (Section 5).
A pro-formatted ordinance must be prepared by the DA-BFAR in coordination with the DENR (Section 5).
Permit issuance is operationally tied to the technical and managerial planning requirements imposed by the DA-BFAR and DENR before application filing (Section 8).

Permit priority, gratuitous permits, applications

AR permit grant priority is in the following order: (a) resident municipal/city fisherfolk cooperative/organization; (b) resident municipal fisherfolk/POs; (c) provincial fishery associations/federations (Section 6).
A gratuitous permit for AR establishment that adheres to the guidelines is granted to: (a) accredited academic and research institutions; (b) LGUs; and (c) national government agencies (Section 7).
If conflict exists over the applied-for area between Section 7 and Section 6, the priority order under Section 6 prevails (Section 7).
Before filing an AR permit application, the proponent must formally seek technical assistance of DA-BFAR in collaboration with DENR to determine suitability and feasibility of the proposed site (Section 8).
If found suitable, DA-BFAR requires submission of a proposed management and operation plan using a pro-formatted outline prepared by DA-BFAR (Section 8).
The proponent must file the application with the Municipal/City Mayor with required documents:
- a photocopy of SEC or CDA registration, and the fisherfolk cooperative/organization/association Constitution and By-laws duly approved by SEC and/or the agency mandated to certify or register;
- an updated list of members and their respective addresses;
- a proposed management and operation plan indicating the name, technical description and sketch plan of the proposed site, deployment scheme, and materials; and
- certificates of suitability of the site and feasibility of the proposed management and operation plan issued by the Regional DA-BFAR and DENR (Section 8).

Site selection and construction materials

AR sites must be installed not less than one (1) kilometer away from existing natural reefs, if any, and five hundred (500) meters away from existing ARs (Section 9).
Sites must be near alternative food sources such as seagrass beds, must be on a flat, barren area with relatively good visibility, and must be at 15–25m depth protected from wave action yet accessible to association members (Section 9).
Sites must be deployed outside designated navigational sea lanes, must not obstruct traditional navigational routes of local fishermen going to and from fishing grounds, and must not pose navigational hazards to ships and other sea crafts (Section 9).
AR construction materials must include concrete blocks or culverts and limestone or rocks (Section 10).
A moratorium applies to the use of scrap tires and junk vehicles or sea crafts for ARs pending completion of further studies by the DENR on environmental impact (Section 10).
Materials other than those listed are subject to prior approval by DENR and DA-BFAR (Section 10).

AR management, operation, and reporting

The primary responsibility for management and operation belongs to the cooperative/organization/association (permittee), which must abide by all permit terms and conditions (Section 11).
Commercial fishing is prohibited within the technically described AR area and within 200 meters away from the boundary lines of the permit (Section 11).
Subsistence fishing using hook and line is allowed for members of the cooperative/organization/association, subject to time and catch limitations and other restrictions prescribed by the association in coordination with DENR and DA-BFAR (Section 11).
Subsistence fishing using hook and line is allowed for members of the association and resident fisherfolk non-members, subject to restrictions imposed by the association (Section 11).
Sustenance fishing is allowed one (1) year after AR establishment and only after a coordinated stock assessment finding conducted by DA-BFAR in coordination with DENR (Section 11).
The permittee must submit a quarterly report to the Office of the Municipal/City Mayor, with copies furnished to DA-BFAR and DENR, on AR status including volume of catch by species, composition and sizes, and estimated market value (Section 11).
The permittee must assist concerned national and local agencies in conserving, managing, and protecting both municipal and offshore fishery and aquatic resources (Section 11).
ARs must be firmly anchored/secured for safety reasons (Section 11).
The permit’s core zone must be properly demarcated by buoys or other suitable materials (Section 11).

Monitoring, evaluation, and inventorying

The DA-BFAR and DENR Regional Offices, in close coordination with DILG and Department of National Defense Regional Offices, must conduct an inventory of existing ARs by number, location, status, and also capture volume, catch statistics, species/composition/sizes, and catch per unit effort (CPUE) (Section 12).
The DA-BFAR and DENR must gather baseline data on initial recruitment, standing stock, and other relevant scientific information and observations six (6) months after AR installation (Section 12).
The agencies must evaluate annually the socio-economic benefits derived from and the ecological impact of ARs (Section 12).
The agencies must investigate recruitment movements from natural reefs to ARs or vice versa and study trophic relationships in refuges or in feeding and breeding areas (Section 12).

Transitory compliance and removal at expense

A 90-day grace period from the Order’s effectivity is granted for persons, partnerships, associations, or corporations to comply with the requirements (Section 13).
If compliance is not made within the grace period, existing ARs must be removed/demolished by the LGU concerned at the expense of the operator (Section 13).

Amendments, repeals, separability, and effect

Amendments may be proposed by any of the agencies signatory to the Order (Section 14).
All Administrative Orders, Circulars, Memoranda and other Issuances inconsistent with the Order are repealed accordingly (Section 15).