CLA Drives Paradigm Shift in Approach to IUU Fishing In the Philippines

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing remains among the top threats to marine biodiversity and sustainable fisheries in the Philippines. To strengthen the Philippine Government’s response capacity, the USAID Fish Right program is complementing the traditional ‘enforcement-heavy’ approach in reducing IUU fishing in the Philippines, with a collaborating, learning, and adapting (CLA) approach. The program collaborates with the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in developing and applying the IUU Fishing Index and Threat Assessment Tool (I-FIT), an innovation in assessing IUU fishing, developing IUU fishing reduction plans, and monitoring improvement in compliance. By collaborating with its national and local government partners in rolling out the innovation, the program was able to foster collective responsibility and harness collective expertise. I-FIT has since undergone a series of CLAs. The implementation of the I-FIT showed the importance of having a broader as well as a CLA approach to assessing and reducing IUU fishing. A better picture of the IUU fishing situation in the country is emerging because of I-FIT, both in the national and local levels. As a result, the government and its partners are coming up with more targeted and adaptive solutions. Addressing IUU fishing is now seen as a multi-faceted challenge, and not just a law enforcement issue. This paradigm shift is happening within the partner government agency from national to local levels, where CLA is also becoming an organizational culture in countering IUU fishing.
The Philippines' Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and USAID Fish Right jointly launched the first-ever Philippine IUU Fishing Assessment Report in September 2022. Credit: USAID Fish Right.