The Department of Agriculture has clarified that pelagic fish species caught by fishing vessels carrying Philippine colors even outside territorial waters “are not considered imported.”
DA officer-in-charge and Undersecretary for Operations Roger Navarro issued the clarificatory guidelines to Memorandum Order 14 that suspended the issuance of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances for the importation of round scad, mackerel and bonito under the Fisheries Administrative Order 195 series of 1999.
MO 14 was issued by Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. after repeated reports that imported pelagic fish species intended for canning are being diverted to wet markets.
The DA chief’s import ban excludes mackerel, which will be used for canning, provided that the volume of mackerel imports is based on the VATable sales of canned products from 2023, with an additional 10 percent of said sales for buffer.
Usec. Navarro said the Philippine Fisheries Code defines fish caught “by Philippine-flagged fishing vessels with distant water fishing permit shall be considered as caught in Philippine waters and therefore not subject to all import duties and taxes when the same is landed in duly designated fish landings and fish ports in the Philippines.”
Since those catch are considered domestic, Navarro said they are subject to verification, exempted from restrictions listed under MO 14.
