BFAR

Maritime Law 22-Nov-2017

Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM), an Imperative for the Health and Livelihood, and Disaster Resilience for the ASEAN and Central Indo-Pacific Coastal Communities

Introduction: Archipelagic and Maritime Philippines, an ICZM case study and proposition for ASEAN Vision 2025. The ocean management concerns of the Philippines as an archipelagic State encompass its archipelagic and internal waters, territorial sea, exclusive economic zone, and continental shelf (including a possible Extended Continental Shelf). The same situation exists for the two other archipelagic States in the Central Indo-Pacific…

Marine Environment 22-Nov-2017

Operational Plan for The Manila Bay Coastal Strategy: Implementing the Supreme Court Order to Cleanup, Rehabilitate and Preserve Manila Bay

The Supreme Court rendered a decision on 18 December 2008 ordering 13 government agencies, including the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to clean up, rehabilitate, and preserve Manila Bay, and restore and maintain its waters to SB level to make them fit for swimming, skin-diving, and other forms of contact recreation. The case stemmed from a complaint filed…

Events 22-Sep-2017

Maritime Conference 2017 Synthesis

The Maritime Conference 2017 was held on 12-July-2017. It was organized by the Maritime League led by its President Commo. Carlos L. Agustin (AFP Ret), and co-sponsored by the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources led by its Director Commo. Eduardo Gongona (AFP Ret). The conference took place in partnership with the PhilMarine 2017 organized by Fireworks…

Marine Environment 22-Sep-2017

Seahorses in the Philippines

There are 54 species worldwide of marine fishes called the Seahorse belonging to the genus Hippocampus, of which 14 species are known to live in Southeast Asian waters, and 10 species are known to inhabit Philippine waters. “Hippocampus” comes from two ancient Greek words, hippos meaning “horse,” and kampos meaning “sea monster.” The Seahorse has a head and neck with…

Sustainable Fishery 31-Jul-2017

Fisherfolk and Agri Officials Sail to Benham Rise, Stake PH Claim with Fishing Markers

On board the government’s multi-mission research vessel, M/V DA-BFAR, fisherfolk and officials from the Department of Agriculture and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR) sailed to Philippine Rise on 06-May-2017 and deployed fish aggregating devices, commonly called payao, to stir up more fishing in the region. A traditional Philippine payao is a simple bamboo raft with a superstructure at…

Marine Environment 31-Jul-2017

Giant and Reef Mobula Rays in the Philippines

Prior to June 2017, there were two species classified as genus Manta: Birostris and Alfredi. According to Marine Wildlife Philippines, the new taxonomy now classifies them as genus Mobula (White et al, 2017) as Mobula birostris and Mobula alfredi. Both mobula ray species are found in the Philippines, and are closely related to sharks, skates, and other rays. Collectively, they…

Chairman's Page 24-May-2017

Is it time to create a Department for Maritime Affairs?

During the 120th Maritime Forum held at the Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific where we were once again awed by the progress and development of that excellent institution founded by AMOSUP Chairman Capt Greg Oca and nurtured by its President, VADM Eduardo Ma R Santos, I asked the Forum to remember former Senator Leticia R Shahani, likewise an…

Marine Environment 24-May-2017

Irrawaddy Dolphins in the Philippines

The Irrawaddy Dolphin belongs to the scientific family Delphinidae (marine dolphin), and Orcaella brevirostris species. Sir Richard Owen first identified the Irrawaddy Dolphin in 1866. It lives in shallow tropical and sub-tropical waters near coasts, and at the mouth of rivers or estuaries, land semi-enclosed lakes, bays, sounds and mangroves in Southeast Asian countries like Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos,…

Chairman's Page 31-Mar-2017

Time to Reactivate Naval Station Bicobian

An Order was issued proclaiming a Naval Reservation at Bicobian, Isabela by former President Ferdinand Marcos after the Karagatan incident wherein the CPA/NPA/NDF landed some 500 M14 rifles (made in China) on a fishing boat that ran aground at Digoyo Point, Isabela due to rough seas in mid-1972. I later got ordered to move the RPS Iloilo (PS32) from Northern…

Maritime Security 30-Jan-2017

Experts’ Dialogue on Maritime Security Governance 2016

The Philippine Navy (PN), through the Office of Naval Strategic Studies, in partnership with the Foreign Service Institute and the National Coast Watch Council Secretariat, organized the first Experts’ Dialogue on Maritime Security Governance to discuss the different approaches and mechanisms on how to effectively manage the nation’s maritime domain. Drawing from the experiences and best practices of Indonesia and…

No Picture

Chairman's Page, Uncategorized 30-Jun-2011

The Philippine Navy should plan to procure locally now

In the last issue we talked about the departure of the Philippine Navy contingent that was going to San Diego in connection with the PN’s acquiring the USCG Cutter Hamilton and some concerns expressed by some in the PN forum interested in development of the Navy. The update on this is that the PN contingent would take over officially on…