1.

Ancillary Industries – companies related to the supply, construction and maintenance

of fishing vessels, gears, nets and other fishing paraphernalia; fishery machine shops;
and other facilities such as hatcheries, nurseries, feed plants, cold storage/refrigeration,
processing plants and other pre-harvest and post harvest facilities.

2. Appropriate Fishing Technology – adaptable technology, both in fishing and ancillary

industries, that is ecologically sound, locally source-based and labor intensive.
3. Aquaculture – fishery operations involving all forms of raising and culturing fish and
other fishery species in fresh, brackish and marine water areas.
4. Aquatic Pollution – the introduction by human or machine, directly or indirectly, of
substances or energy to the aquatic environment which is likely to result in such
deleterious effects as to harm living and non-living aquatic resources, pose potential
and/or real hazard to human health, hindrance to aquatic activities such as fishing and
navigation, including dumping/disposal of waste and other marine litters, discharge of
petroleum or residual products of petroleum or carbonaceous materials/substances and
other radioactive, noxious or harmful liquid, gaseous or solid substances, from any
water, land or air transport or other human-made structure. Deforestation, unsound
agricultural practices such as the use of banned chemicals and excessive use of
chemicals, intensive use of artificial fish feed, and wetland conversion, which cause
similar hazards and deleterious effects shall also constitute aquatic pollution.
5. Aquatic resources – includes fish, all other aquatic flora and fauna and other living
resources of the aquatic environment, including but not limited to salt and corals.
6. ARMM - is an acronym for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
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7. Artificial Reefs – any structure of natural or man-made materials placed on a body of
water to serve as shelter and habitat, source of food, breeding areas for fishery species
and shoreline protection.
8. Catch Ceilings – the annual catch limits allowed to be taken, gathered or harvested
from any fishing area in consideration of the need to prevent overfishing and harmful
depletion of breeding stocks of aquatic organism.
9. Closed Season – the period during which the taking of specified fishery species by a
specified fishing gear is prohibited in a specified area or areas.
10. Coastal Area / Zone – is a band of dry land and adjacent ocean space in which
terrestrial processes and uses directly affect oceanic processes and uses, and vice
versa. Its geographic extent may include areas within a landmark limit of one (1)
kilometer from the shoreline at high tide to include mangrove swamps, brackish water
ponds, nipa swamps, estuarine rivers, sandy beaches and other areas within a seaward
limit of 200 meters isobar.
11. Commercial Fishing – the taking of fishery species by passive or active gear for trade,
business or profit beyond subsistence or sports fishing, to be further classified as:
a. Small scale commercial fishing – fishing with passive or active gear utilizing
vessels or 3.1 gross tons (GT) up to 15 gross tons, (GT);
b. Medium scale commercial fishing – fishing utilizing active gears and vessels
of 15.1 GT up to 100 GT; and
c. Large scale commercial fishing - fishing utilizing active gears and vessels of
more than 100 GT.
12. Commercial scale – a scheme of producing a minimum harvest per hectare per year of
milkfish or other species in consultation with the concerned sectors shall be determined
by the Regional Department
13. Coral – the hard calcareous substance made up of the skeleton of marine coelenterate
polyps which include reefs, shelves and atolls or any of the marine coelenterate animals
living in colonies where their skeletons form a stony mass.
They include:
skeletons of anthozoan coelenterates characterized as having rigid axis of
compact calcareous or horny spicules, belonging to the genus corallium as
represented by the red, pink and white corals which are considered precious;
skeletons of anthozoan coelenterates characterized by thorny, horny axis such
as antipatharians represented by black corals which are considered semiprecious;
and ordinary corals that are neither precious nor semi-precious.
14. Coral Reef – a natural aggregation of coral skeleton, with or without living coral polyps,
occurring in intertidal and subtidal marine waters.
15. Demarcated areas – boundaries defined by markers and assigned exclusively to
specific individuals or organizations for certain specified and limited uses such as:
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Aquaculture, sea ranching and sea farming;
Fish aggregating devices;
Fixed and passive fishing gears; and
Fry and fingerling gathering.
16. Electrofishing – the use of electricity generated by batteries, generators and other
source of electric power to kill, disable or render unconscious fishery species, whether or
not the same are subsequently recovered.
17. Endangered, Rare and/or Threatened Species – aquatic plants, animals including
some varieties of corals and sea shells in danger of extinction as provided for in existing
fishery laws, rules and regulations or in the protected area of the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources- ARMM and in the Convention of the International
Trade of Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES).
18. Fine Mesh Nets – net with mesh size of less than three centimeters (3 cm.) measured
between two (2) opposite knots of a full mesh when stretched or as otherwise
determined by the appropriate government agency.
19. Fish Cage – an enclosure which is either stationary or floating made up of nets or
screens sewn or fastened together and installed in the water with opening at the surface
or covered and held in a place by wooden/bamboo posts or various types of anchors
and floats.
20. Fish Fingerlings – a stage in the life cycle of the fish measuring to about 6-13 cm.
depending on the species.
21. Fish Fry – a stage, which a fish has just been hatched usually with, sizes from 1cm to
2.5cm.
22. Fishery/Aquatic Products – include not only finfish but also mollusk, crustaceans,
echinoderms, marine mammals, and all other species of aquatic flora and fauna and all
other products of aquatic living resources in any form.
23. Fish Coral or “Baklad” – a stationary weir or trap devised to intercept and capture fish
consisting of rows of bamboo stakes, plastic nets and other materials fenced with split
bamboo or wire matting with one or more enclosures, usually with easy entrance but
difficult exit, and with or without leaders to direct the fish to the catching chambers, purse
or bags.
24. Fish pen – an artificial enclosure constructed within a body of water for culturing fish
and fishery/aquatic resources made up of poles closely arranged with wooden materials,
screen or nylon netting to prevent escape of fish.
25. Fisherfolk – people directly or personally and physically engaged in taking and/or
culturing and processing fishery and/or aquatic resources.
26. Fisherfolk Cooperative – a duly registered association of fisherfolk with a common
interest, who have voluntarily joined together to achieve a lawful common social or
economic end, making equitable contribution to the capital requirement and accepting a
fair share of the risks and benefits of the undertakings.
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27. Fisherfolk Organizations – an organized group, association federation, or alliance of
fisherfolk which has at least fifteen (15) members, a set of officers, a constitution and bylaws,
an organizational structure and a program of action.
28. Fisheries – all activities relating to the act or business of fishing, culturing, preserving,
processing, marketing, developing, conserving and managing aquatic resources and the
fishery areas, including the privilege to fish or take aquatic resource thereof.
29. Fish Pond – a land-based facility enclosed with earthen or stone material to impound
water for growing fish.
30. Fishing Boat/Gear License – a permit to operate specific types of fishing boat/gear for
specific duration in areas beyond municipal waters for demersal or pelagic fishery
resources.
31. Fishery Management Areas – a bay, gulf, lake or any other fishery area, which may be,
delineated for fishery resource management purposes.
32. Fishery Operator – one who owns and provides the means including land, labor,
capital, fishing gears and vessels, but does not personally engage in fisheries.
33. Fishery Refuge and Sanctuaries – a designated area where fishing or other forms of
activities which may damage the ecosystem of the area is prohibited and human access
may be restricted.
34. Fishery Reserve – a designated area where activities are regulated and set-aside
educational and research purposes.
35. Fishery Species – all aquatic flora and fauna including, but not restricted to fish, algae,
coelenterates, mollusks, crustaceans, echinoderms and cetaceans.
36. Fishery Gear – any instrument or device and its accessories utilized in taking fish and
other aquatic resources, classified into:
a) Active fishing gear – characterized by gear movements, and/or the pursuit of the
target species by towing, lifting, and pushing the gears, surrounding, covering,
dredging, pumping and scaring the target species to impoundments, such as, but not
limited to, trawl, purse seines, Danish seines, bag nets, paaling.
b) Passive fishing gear –characterized by the absence of gear movement and/or the
pursuit of the target fish, such as, but not limited to hook and line, fish pots, traps and
gill nets across the path of the fish.
37. Fishing Vessel – any boat, ship or other watercraft equipped to be used for taking of
fishery species or aiding or assisting one or more vessels in the performance of any
activity relating to fishing, including, but not limited to, supply, storage, refrigeration,
and/or processing.
38. Fishworker – a person regularly or not regularly employed in commercial fishing and
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related industries, whose income is either in wage, profit-sharing stratified sharing basis,
including those working in fish pens, fish cages, fish corrals, fishponds, prawn farms, sea
farms, salt beds, fish ports, fishing boat or trawlers, or fish processing and/or packing
plants. Excluded from this category are administrators, security guards and overseers.
39. Fishing with Explosives – the use of dynamite, other explosives or other chemical
compounds that contain combustible elements which upon by ignition by friction,
concussion, percussion or detonation of all or parts of the compound, will kill, disable or
render unconscious any fishery species. It also refers to the use of any other substance
and/or device which causes an explosion that is capable of producing the said harmful
effects on any fishery species and capable of damaging and altering the natural habitat.
40. Fishing with Noxious or Poisonous Substances – the use of any substance, plant
extracts or juice thereof, sodium cyanide and/or cyanide compounds or other chemicals
either in a raw or processed form, harmful or harmless to human beings, which will kill,
disable or render unconscious any fishery species and capable of damaging and altering
the natural habitat.
41. Food Security – any plan, policy or strategy aimed at ensuring adequate supplies of
appropriate food at affordable prices. It may be achieved through self-sufficiency (i.e.
ensuring adequate food supplies from domestic production), through self-reliance (i.e.
ensuring adequate food supplies through a combination or domestic production and
importation), or through pure importation.
42. Gross Tonnage – includes the under deck tonnage, permanently enclosed spaces
above the tonnage deck, except for certain exemptions. In broad terms, all the vessel’s
closed-In spaces expressed in volume terms on the basis of the one hundred cubic feet
(equals one gross ton).
43. Inland Fishery – the freshwater and brackish water fishponds, fish cages, fish pens and
fish traps.
44. Lake – an inland body of water, an expanded part of a river, reservoir formed by a dam,
or a lake basin intermittently or formerly covered by water.
45. Mangroves – a community of intertidal plants including all species of trees, shrubs,
vines and herbs found on coasts, swamps, or border of swamps.
46. Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) – the largest average quantity of fish that can be
harvested from a fish stocks/resource within a period of time (e.g one year) on a
sustainable basis under existing environmental conditions.
47. Migratory species – any fishery species which in course of their life could travel from
freshwater to marine water or vise versa, or any marine species which travel over great
distances in the ocean as part of their behavioral adaptation for survival and speciation,
classified into:
Anadromous species – marine fishes that migrate to freshwater areas to spawn;
Catadromous species – freshwater fishes that migrate to marine areas to spawn.
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48. Municipal Fishing – fishing within municipal water using fishing vessel of three (3)
gross tons or less, or fishing not requiring the use of fishing vessels.
49. Municipal Waters – include not only streams, lakes, inland bodies of water and tidal
waters within the municipality except protected areas defined under the Republic Act No.
7586 (The NIPAS Law), public forest, timber lands, forest reserves or fishery reserves,
but also marine waters included between two (2) lines drawn perpendicular to the
general coastline from points where the boundary lines of the municipality touch the sea
at low tide and third line parallel with the general coastline including offshore islands and
twelve (12) kilometers from such coastline. Where two (2) municipalities are so situated
on opposite shores that there is less than twenty (20) kilometers of marine waters
between them, the third line shall be equally distant from opposite shore of the
respective municipalities.
50. Non-governmental Organization (NGO) – an agency, institution, a foundation or a
group of persons whose purpose is to assist people’s organizations in various ways
including, but not limited to, organizing, education, training, research and resource
accessing.
51. Payao – a fish-aggregating device consisting of a floating raft anchored be a weighted
line with and suspended materials such as palm fronds to attract pelagic and schooling
species common deep waters.
52. Pearl Farm Lease – public waters leased for the purpose of producing cultured pearls.
53. People’s Organization (PO) – a bonafide association of citizens with demonstrated
capacity to promote the public interest and with identifiable leadership, membership and
structure. Its members belong to sector, which voluntarily bands themselves together to
work for and by themselves for their own upliftment, development and greater good.
54. Post-harvest facilities – include, but are not limited to fish port, fish landing, ice plants/
cold storages, and fish processing plants.
55. Purse Seine – a form of encircling net having a line at the bottom passing through rings
attached to the net, which can be drawn or pursed. In general, the net is set from a boat
or pair of boats around the school of fish. The bottom of the net is pulled closed with the
purse line. The net is then pulled aboard the fishing boat or boats until the fish are
concentrated in the bunt or fish bag.
56. RBFAR – refers to Regional Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
57. Regional Department – the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries in the ARMM.
58. Sea Farming – stocking of natural or hatchery-produced marine plants or animals,
under controlled or natural conditions for purposes of rearing and harvesting.
59. Sea Ranching – release of the young of fishery species reared in hatcheries and
nurseries into natural bodies of water for subsequent harvest at maturity or the
manipulation of fishery habitat, to encourage the growth of the wild stocks.
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60. Superlight – also called magic light, is a type of light using halogen or metal halide bulb
which may be located above the sea surface or submerged in the water. It consists of a
ballast, regulator, electric cable and socket, and its energy comes from a generator,
battery or dynamo coupled with the main engine.
61 Total Allowable Catch – the maximum harvest allowed to be taken during a given
period of time from any fishery area, or from any fishery species or group of fishery
species, or a combination of area and species and normally would not exceed the MSY.
62. Trawl – an active fishing gear consisting of a bag shaped net with or without outer
boards to open its opening which is dragged or towed along the bottom/mid-water or
through the water column to take fishery species by straining them from the water.

Coastline – refers to the outline of the mainland shore touching the sea at mean lower
lowtide;
Director – refers to the Director of the Regional Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic
Resources;
Endangered species – inland and marine species considered endangered as listed
under FAO and DENR circulars.
Fishing Industry – refers to an industry relating to catching, growing, harvesting,
processing, marketing, developing, conserving and managing of fisheries and aquatic
resources.
Foreign Aquatic Species – refers to any aquatic resources not indigenously found in
Philippine waters;
Health hazard – refers to any biological, chemical contamination or physical agent that
has adverse effects on human or aquatic organisms;
Rare Species – refers to species and sub-species of aquatic organism found in unusual
small number in specialized areas or habitat in the country;
Threatened Species - refers to species and sub-species or aquatic organisms, which
have reached critical level of depletion and care threatened with extinction;
Archipelagic Doctrine – refers to the principle where appropriate points are set along
the coast of the archipelago including the outermost islands and then connect those
points with straight lines;
Regional EEZ – an area beyond and/or adjacent to the municipal water which shall not
extend beyond the territorial sea of ARMM as provided for by the law;
Bordering LGUs – municipalities or cities adjacent to the ARMM waters but are
politically under the administrative region;
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Poaching – means fishing or operating any fishing vessels in Philippine waters,
committed by any other person, corporation, entity, provided that this does not include
foreigners engaged in leisure or game fishing as may be defined by the Department
pursuant to Section 86.1 of DAO No. 3, Series or 1998;
Transshipment - the process, in which the fish from foreign fishing vessel is unloaded,
cleaned, classified and packed at the designated government-owned or controlled fish
port complex, and transshipped by airfreight to other countries of destination.
Regional Waters- refers to ARMM waters which shall extend to offshore fishing
grounds, up to and including all waters twenty-two and one-half (22 1/2) kilometers from
its coastline but inside the territorial waters of the Philippines, regardless of depth, the
sea bed and sub-soil that the included between two (2) lines drawn perpendicular to the
general coastline from points where the boundary lines of the ARMM touch the sea at
low tide and third line parallel to the general coastline;
Fisheries Management – refers to the integrated process of information gathering,
analysis, planning, consultation, decision making, allocation of resources, and
formulation and implementation with enforcement as necessary, of regulations or rules
which govern fisheries activities in order to ensure the continued productivity of the
resources.