Groups lobby for a new department

FISHERFOLK and marine conservation groups have urged incoming President Rodrigo Duterte to create a separate Department of Oceans and Fisheries (DOF) to improve the lot of the fishing communities nationwide, to protect the health of the marine ecosystems, and to immediately address the crime of illegal fishing and start rehabilitating our overfished waters.

Vince Cinches, oceans campaigner of Greenpeace Philippines, said the poverty incidence among fisherfolk reached 39.2 in 2012, the highest among the basic sectors of society, followed by farmers at 38.3 percent and children at 35.2 percent.