Fish imports soared in recent years due to loose importation policies, prompting the Department of Agriculture (DA) to tighten controls to protect local fishers and aquaculture producers.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. told lawmakers on Monday that questionable practices in the previous administration included allowing shipments to be unloaded in private ports instead of government-run facilities.

“Just to give you an example, we now only allow fish shipments to be unloaded in PFDA fishery ports,” Tiu Laurel said at a House budget hearing. “During the previous administration, before I came in, they were allowing unloading in private ports where anyone could just list.”

The DA chief said streamlining the import registry was necessary to accurately assess the country’s fish requirements.

To prevent abuse, the DA now requires allocations to be based on previous-year performance and mandates unloading only at Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA) ports for tax compliance, supply monitoring, and market stability.

According to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), the country imported 2.37 million metric tons of fresh, chilled, and frozen fish from 2017 to 2022, valued at P163.76 billion. This marked a sharp increase from the 1.41 million metric tons recorded from 2011 to 2016, worth P64.15 billion. 

Imports eased slightly in 2023 to 404,027 metric tons from 414,539 metric tons a year earlier. However, smuggling remains rampant, with thousands of tons of fish — particularly mackerel — being seized at several ports despite tighter regulations.