lecture 3-c on phil fisheries and the urban poor

7/30/2019 Lecture 3-c on Phil Fisheries and the Urban Poor

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Fisheries in the Philippines (I)and Urban Poor Sector (II)

Asserting Rights, Defining ResponsibilitiesPerspectives from Small-scale Fishing Communities onCoastal and Fisheries Management in the Philippines

Cesar Allan Vera, Randee Cabaces and Leonard ReyesInternational Collective in Support of Fishworkers

27 College Road, Chennai 600 006, Indiawww.icsf.net

Comprehensive National Fishery Industry Development Plan((CNFIDP)

Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, 2005
http://www.icsf.net/http://www.icsf.net/


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Types of Fisheries

The Fisheries Code classifies commercial fisheries,

municipal fishers and aquaculture.

Municipal fishing as within municipal waters

using fishing vessels of three (3) gross tonnage(GT) or less, or not requiring the use of fishingvessels.


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Types of Fisheries

Commercial fishing is classified into three,namely:

small-scale (utilizing passive or active gear on fishing vessels of 3.1-20 GT);

medium-scale (utilizing active gear andvessels of 20.1-150 GT); and

large-scale (utilizing active gear and vessels of more than 150 GT).


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Population per Fishery Sector

Fishing Sector Operator Aquaculture 226,195

Municipal 1,781,057Commercial 7,849

Total 2,015,101 Source: National Statistics Office, 2002


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Poverty Status of Fisherfolks


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Status of Resources Philippine coral reefs revealed that only 5.5 per

cent are in excellent condition (Yap and Gomez,1985).

commonly attributed to siltation, destructivefishing practices and overfishing. Mangrove forest cover has been reduced from an

estimated 400,000-500,000 ha in the early 1900sto only 200,000 ha in 1994 (Calumpong 1994).Forty-fi ve percent of this mangrove loss isattributed to fishpond conversion


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Status of Resources

Fishery production began to level off duringthe early 1980s, indicating that the maximumsustainable yield (MSY) has been reached.

Capture-fisheries production, especially by themunicipal fishing sector, steadily declinedbetween 1991 and 1998.


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Fisheries Code (RA 8550) of 1998

The Fisheries Code is an act providing for thedevelopment, management and conservationof the fisheries and aquatic resources of thecountry.

It establishes coastal resource management asthe approach for managing coastal and marineresources.


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Fisheries Code (RA 8550) of 1998

The salient new features of the Code include the following: the expansion of municipal waters from seven to 15 km; the decentralization of management of municipal waters to

local government units (LGUs); the reconstitution of BFAR from a staff agency to a line

agency; the limitation on size and duration of leases of fishponds; the prohibition on converting mangrove forests into fishponds

and the reversion of converted mangrove forests; the adoption of MSY as a basis for fi sheries management; and the creation of fisherfolk-led Fisheries and Aquatic Resource

Management Councils (FARMCs) at different levels of

government


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The Characteristics of Urban Povertyand Vulnerability

What is distinctive about urban poverty and vulnerability?

The specific character of urban poverty maybe related to three distinctive characteristicsof urban life:

commoditization, environmental hazard, andsocial fragmentation.


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Commoditization. One set of risks faced by urbandwellers arises from their integration into the casheconomy.

Urban households are for the most part obliged to payfor their food and shelter (rather than rely on their ownproduction), and

more dependent upon purchasing services such astransportation and education than rural dwellers.

Employment is frequently unavailable, insufficient, orinsecure. Shelter is frequently illegal and insecure.


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Environmental hazard. The poor aredisproportionately affected by urbanenvironmental problems. Special characteristicsof low-income communities include:

(a) inadequate access to water, sanitation, drainage,and solid waste management;

(b) Poor quality housing;(c) overcrowding; and(d) settlement on marginal or degraded land.


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Urban Poverty Reduction There are three broad approaches to reducing urban

poverty. The first focuses on habitat : seeking to secure housing tenure, provide

housing finance, and/or provide housing infrastructure

services (water, sanitation, electricity) The second focuses on social services and assistance :

seeking to extend social services (health andeducation) and social assistance (often throughconditional cash transfers) to the urban poor.

A third focuses on livelihoods : seeking to increaseincomes, reduce risks, and address urban regulatory orpolicy challenges faced by the urban working poor.


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Urban Poverty Reduction


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An INFORMED POLICY ON THEINFORMAL ECONOMY

the informal economy is growing in bothdeveloping and developed countries and takingon new forms.

observers view informal workers1. as a nuisance to be eliminated or contained,2. while others see them as a vulnerable group to

be assisted through social policies,

3. and still others see them as dynamicentrepreneurs to be freed from cumbersomegovernment regulations.


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Given the size, resilience, and diversity of theinformal economy, it is important thatgovernments develop context-specific policiesthat recognise its

size, contribution , and composition in different locales or industries.


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Value chains and social protection : Value chain analysis provides a way of

understanding the significant contributions that informal workers make to the economic value of

a product or service. Value chain analysis offers the opportunity to

situate informal work within the economy of acountry and to see at which points along thechain informal workers could get access to socialprotection.


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While informal work arrangements need appropriateregulations, policies towards the informal economyshould aim to

increase the productivity and improve the working

conditions of those who work in it. Besidesgovernment, a number of other social actors can intervene to promote the interests of

informal workers including: employers and companies;trade unions and cooperatives;

non-governmental and community-basedorganisations; consumers and the public; informalworkers and their families.


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Schools of Thought on InformalEconomy

The dualist school sees the informal sector of theeconomy as comprised of marginal activities that aredistinct from and not related to the formal sector andthat provide income for the poor and a safety net intimes of crisis ( Hart 1973 ; ILO 1972;Sethuraman1976 ; Tokman 1978 ).

The structuralist school sees the informal economy assubordinated economic units (micro-enterprises) and

workers that serve to reduce input and labour costsand, thereby, increase the competitiveness of largecapitalist firms ( Moser 1978 ;Castells and Portes 1989 ).
http://wiego.org/publications/informal-income-opportunities-and-urban-employment-ghanathe-journal-modern-african-studhttp://wiego.org/publications/employment-incomes-and-equality-strategy-increasing-productive-employment-kenya-0http://wiego.org/publications/urban-informal-sector-concept-measurement-and-policyinternational-labour-reviewhttp://wiego.org/publications/urban-informal-sector-concept-measurement-and-policyinternational-labour-reviewhttp://wiego.org/publications/exploration-nature-informal%E2%80%94formal-sector-relationshipsworld-developmenthttp://wiego.org/publications/browser?search=&pub_author[]=907&sort_by=field_pub_last_name_auto_value&sort_order=ASChttp://wiego.org/publications/world-underneath-origins-dynamics-and-effects-informal-economyhttp://wiego.org/publications/world-underneath-origins-dynamics-and-effects-informal-economyhttp://wiego.org/publications/world-underneath-origins-dynamics-and-effects-informal-economyhttp://wiego.org/publications/world-underneath-origins-dynamics-and-effects-informal-economyhttp://wiego.org/publications/world-underneath-origins-dynamics-and-effects-informal-economyhttp://wiego.org/publications/browser?search=&pub_author[]=907&sort_by=field_pub_last_name_auto_value&sort_order=ASChttp://wiego.org/publications/exploration-nature-informal%E2%80%94formal-sector-relationshipsworld-developmenthttp://wiego.org/publications/exploration-nature-informal%E2%80%94formal-sector-relationshipsworld-developmenthttp://wiego.org/publications/exploration-nature-informal%E2%80%94formal-sector-relationshipsworld-developmenthttp://wiego.org/publications/urban-informal-sector-concept-measurement-and-policyinternational-labour-reviewhttp://wiego.org/publications/urban-informal-sector-concept-measurement-and-policyinternational-labour-reviewhttp://wiego.org/publications/employment-incomes-and-equality-strategy-increasing-productive-employment-kenya-0http://wiego.org/publications/informal-income-opportunities-and-urban-employment-ghanathe-journal-modern-african-stud


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The legalist school sees the informal sector ascomprised of plucky micro-entrepreneurs who chooseto operate informally in order to avoid the unnecessaryand burdensome costs, time and effort of formalregistration and who need legal rights to convert theirassets into formal property (de Soto 1989 , 2000 ).

The voluntarist school sees the informal sector ascomprised of micro-entrepreneurs who choose to

operate informally in order to avoid taxation,commercial regulations, electricity and rental fees, andother costs of operating formally (e.g. Maloney 2004 ).
http://wiego.org/publications/other-path-invisible-revolution-third-worldhttp://wiego.org/publications/mystery-capital-why-capitalism-triumphs-west-and-fails-everywhere-elsehttp://wiego.org/publications/informality-revisitedworld-developmenthttp://wiego.org/publications/informality-revisitedworld-developmenthttp://wiego.org/publications/mystery-capital-why-capitalism-triumphs-west-and-fails-everywhere-elsehttp://wiego.org/publications/other-path-invisible-revolution-third-world


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The dualists argue that informal operators areexcluded from modern economicopportunities due to

a) imbalances between the growth rates of thepopulation and of modern industrialemployment; and

b) a mismatch between peoples skills and thestructure of modern economic opportunities.


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The structuralists argue that informality is due to thenature of capitalism/capitalist growth: specifically,

the attempts by formal firms to reduce labour costsand increase competitiveness;

the reaction of formal firms to the power of organizedlabour, state regulation of the economy, and

global competition ; and the process of industrialization (notably, off-shore industries, sub-contracting chains, and flexible specialization).


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The legalists argue that a hostile legal systemleads to informal activities and informal,extralegal norms.

The voluntarists argue that informal operatorschoose to operate informally after weighingthe costs-benefits of informality relative to

formality.


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The debates between these dominant schools of thought have tended to generate more heat thanlight in large part because each school of thoughthas focused on one or another slice of the(informal economy) pie, not the whole pie. Thedualists focus on those engaged in traditional andsurvival activities; the structuralists on petty

traders and producers as well as sub-contractedworkers; both the legalists and voluntarists oninformal enterprises and entrepreneurs.


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World Bank: A Holistic Framework Composition: Three Pairs of Economic Agents Labour :

insufficient human capital to get formal job quit formal job in order to: be their own boss + make more

money + avoid taxes + enjoy flexibility Micro-firms :

no intention or potential for growth, hence no intention of engaging with state

stymied by high barriers to entry Firms :

avoiding taxation and other regulations partially registering their workers and sales

lecture 3-c on phil fisheries and the urban poor

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