February 4, 2026
MANILA – The Philippines is losing the equivalent of a fully loaded “jumbo jet” of fish each day, according to a new study by marine advocacy group Oceana—a scale of decline that the organization and fisherfolk leaders said threatens the country’s food security, coastal livelihoods and the future of its fisheries.
At the launch of its comprehensive audit, Oceana called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to declare a fisheries and food security emergency, warning that decades of weak enforcement and failed governance have pushed national fish stocks into what it described as “free fall.”
“The annual loss of 45 million kilograms of fish isn’t just a statistic,” Oceana Vice President Von Hernandez said. “If you want to visualize it, it’s the equivalent of emptying a fully loaded jumbo jet of fish out of our waters every single day.”
GRAPHICS: PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER
A crisis beneath the waves
The report, “The Philippine Fisheries Assessment, A Glimpse of RA 10654’s 10-Year Implementation,” documents a 13-year decline that has cost the country nearly 600,000 metric tons of potential catch since 2010—enough, Hernandez said, “to provide a healthy meal to every Filipino for a month, gone.”
Oceana’s findings cite government data showing 88% of fish stocks are overfished and depleted, while total production fell from 2.6 million metric tons in 2010 to 1.9 million in 2023. The group’s satellite monitoring also detected thousands of night lights—indicators of commercial fishing activity—in areas meant to be reserved for small-scale fishers.
READ: Illegal fishing, overfishing push PH fish stocks to historic lows—Oceana
For communities that rely on the sea, the numbers translate into daily hardship. More than 350,000 fisherfolk families now live below the poverty line, with tens of thousands classified as “food-poor,” unable to meet even basic dietary needs.
“We are also starving the very hands that feed us,” Hernandez said. “The 2.5 million Filipino fisherfolk who put food on our tables are now living in dire straits.”
He warned the crisis is also erasing a way of life.
“The average age of Filipino fishers is now 50. The next generation of Filipinos is walking away from fishing,” Hernandez said. “So we are not just losing fish, we are losing an entire legacy of sustainable fishing.”
READ: Oceana slams gov’t bid to open municipal waters to big fishing
Hernandez likened the situation to a national calamity unfolding out of sight.
“Imagine if 9 out of 10 rice fields were barren in this country. We would call it a national catastrophe,” he said. “But this is precisely what is happening beneath our waves.”
Oceana’s central demand is for the President to order an immediate, transparent investigation into what it called enforcement failures by key agencies and to halt any attempt to weaken the Fisheries Code and Republic Act 10654.
GRAPHICS: PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER
A ‘wake-up call’ for those in power
Instead, Hernandez said, the law’s science-based measures should be fully implemented—not amended.
“It’s like having a state-of-the-art fire truck, but no one willing to drive it and run the water,” he said. “The problem is not the lack of legal tools. … So the problem is a regrettable failure that gaps in the implementation of the law.”
On the ground, fisherfolk leaders echoed the call, framing the report as a final warning to authorities.
“Ang report na ito sana wake-up call sa kanila,” said Pablo Rosales, president of national federation PANGISDA Pilipinas. “Sa tagal-tagal ng pagkakabuo nila bilang Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), walang indikasyon ng pag-unlad, bagkus papaubos at nananatili ang mangingisda bilang number one na pinaka mahirap na sector sa Pilipinas.”
(This report should serve as a wake-up call for them. After all these years since the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources was established, there has been no sign of progress—instead, our fisheries are being depleted and fisherfolk remain the number one poorest sector in the Philippines.)
READ: Fishers push passage of ‘Atin ang Kinse Kilometro’ bill
Rosales said small fishers have no desire to remain the country’s poorest sector—or to see the fisheries collapse altogether.
“Kabuhayan namin iyon at buhay ng mga mamamayan ang nakataya dito,” he added.
(Our livelihoods depend on this, and the lives of our people are at stake.)
From the commercial fishing sector, Fausto Alpay, president of the Subic Commercial Fishing Association Inc., said responsibility ultimately lies with the state.
“Sa opinyon ko lang, wala namang ibang makakatulong sa ganitong problema kundi ang gobyerno,” Alpay said. “Gobyerno ang dapat mag push para maayos itong problema natin sa pangisdaan.”
(In my opinion, there is no one else who can help solve this kind of problem except the government. The government must be the one to push to fix what’s wrong with our fisheries.)
Oceana’s report, authored by fisheries scientists from the University of the Philippines Visayas, said the Philippines already has a strong legal framework but lacks the political will and coordination to enforce it.
“We are standing at the edge of a cliff,” Hernandez said. “Either you enforce the law faithfully, fully, and resource it well, or face empty nets and empty seas in the future.”