Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM)’s Community-based Coastal Resource Management (CB-CRM) Fish Right Project

Published 24 Feb 2025in SDG 14by

The CB-CRM Fish Right Project is an initiative of the PRRM which aims to build the capabilities of local fishing communities in combatting Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing (IUUF). IUUF is a global issue that affects the enforcement of fisheries law and negatively impacts the ocean’s health. The PRRM has implemented the CB-CRM in the cities of Manapla and Victorias in the province of Negros Occidental, in partnership with the OCEAN Project of the NGOs for Fisheries Research (NFR). The CB-CRM Fish Right Project is responsive towards the attainment of SDG indicator 14.5.1.p1 (coverage of marine protected areas in relation to total marine areas) under SDG 14 (Life Below Water). As part of its implementation of the CB-CRM Fish Right Project, the PRRM conducted capacity building activities for local fishers’ organizations and associations, civil society networks, and local government units in the use of the indexing tool, and in advocacy work and networking. It participated in organizing socioeconomic activities such as livelihood and savings mobilization. It also assisted in mainstreaming gender and development in the fisheries management plan, and in building partnerships toward sustainable development in the region. In addition to the CB-CRM Project, the PRRM is actively involved in the Negros Anti-Mining Alliance (NAMA), where it serves as the Secretariat. NAMA is composed of small fishers’ organizations, social and environmental movements, and church-based groups. Through its participation in NAMA, the PRRM supports these groups in opposing coastal and marine offshore black sand mining activities in the Negros and Panay coastal corridors. Black sand mining activities pose a threat to the environment and local livelihoods through coastal erosion, habitat destruction, and fisheries depletion. The PRRM is also conducting local consultations on climate change and renewable energy with communities and local government units in the province of Guimaras under the NFR’s Just Energy Transition for Fisheries and Coastal Communities Project.