By Cindy Ferrer – PNA
ILOILO CITY — All fishing vessels operating in the municipal waters of Iloilo will soon be painted with their assigned municipal colors.
This after the members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) approved a resolution prescribing the color coding and numbering of vessels to give identity to fishing boats owned by fisherfolk, cooperative and marginal fish workers.
The resolution, sponsored by board member Valentin Serag, who chairs the Committee on Agriculture, was passed by the provincial board during their regular session last Tuesday.
In a follow-up interview Wednesday, Serag said the color coding would easily identify the fishing vessels in the coastal towns.
“If they have the identity, we will be able to easily identify those fishing vessels encroaching in our municipal waters especially those doing illegal fishing activities,” he said.
In the four-page resolution, different colors were designated to the 19 coastal municipal towns in the province.
For the municipal towns in the first district of Iloilo, San Joaquin town was assigned with neon green; Miag-ao, red; Guimbal, yellow gold; Tigbauan, orange; and Oton, neon yellow.
For second district, Leganes town was assigned with dark blue and orange for Zarraga. In the fourth district, Dumangas was assigned with bright green; Barotac Nuevo, aqua blue; Anilao, gold; and Banate with brown.
For the fifth district, Barotac Viejo was assigned with yellow; Ajuy, green; Concepcion; light blue; San Dionisio, red; Batad, neon violet; Estancia, dark blue; Balasan, yellow green; and Carles with orange.
Fishing vessels that will fail to follow or refuse to comply with the prescribed color coding may not be issued with permits by the concerned local government units.
Serag advised the concern municipal towns to register all the fishing vessels in their areas, particularly those three gross tonnage and below, through their municipal agriculture office.
He also advised them to keep a registry of these fishing vessels, so they could easily be monitored and for smooth information dissemination.
