MANILA, Philippines โ The Philippines is losing tens of millions of kilos of fish annually as its once-bountiful waters steadily shrink, a new report from international ocean advocacy group Oceana Philippines warned Monday.
According to the study The Philippine Fisheries Assessment, the nation has lost an estimated 45 million kilograms โ roughly 45,000 metric tons โ of fish catch each year since 2010, a decline experts attribute to weak enforcement of fisheries laws and persistent overfishing.
Catch plunge tied to overfishing, governance gaps
Data presented at the reportโs launch at the University of the Philippines Diliman show total capture fisheries production falling from 2.6 million metric tons in 2010 to about 1.9 million metric tons in 2023 โ a steep contraction that has wiped out more than 590,000 metric tons of fish over 13 years.
Oceana said 88% of assessed fish stocks are overfished or depleted, according to the governmentโs own National Stock Assessment Program, signaling severe biological stress across commercial species.
The report also flagged illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, including commercial incursions into municipal waters โ areas legally reserved for small-scale fishers โ as a key driver of the collapse. Oceanaโs satellite monitoring recorded hundreds of thousands of apparent commercial vessel intrusions into protected zones between 2017 and 2024.
National food security at stake
Fish remain a vital source of protein for Filipinos.
But the shrinking catch is already taking a toll on fishing communities: some 353,000 fisherfolk families were below the poverty line in 2023, with over 93,000 classified as โfood-poor,โ the report found โ meaning they struggle even to afford basic food needs.
Oceana Vice President Von Hernandez called the decline โa national food security emergency,โ urging the Marcos administration to act swiftly to enforce the Philippine Fisheries Code (RA 10654) and hold accountable officials and interests he said have neglected the sector.
โOur fisheries are being emptied, and with them, the livelihoods and food sources of millions of Filipinos,โ Hernandez said.
Calls for government action
The groupโs findings come amid broader concerns over weak regulatory capacity. Fisheries law enforcement has been hampered by limited monitoring, budgeting gaps, and declining staff at the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), advocates say.
Oceana is urging expanded BFAR capacity, completion of municipal water delineation, strengthened enforcement in intrusion hotspots, and a full embrace of science-based recovery measures โ steps it says are critical to reversing the downward spiral.
Without urgent reforms, the report warns, the Philippines โ an archipelagic nation that has long depended on the sea for food and livelihoods โ could soon watch its marine resources collapse entirely.
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