By Prashanth Parameswaran
Manila is boosting its capabilities to protect its fisheries.
The Philippines is purchasing nearly 100 new patrol boats to better protect its fisheries from poaching by foreign vessels, an official said Monday.
According to Asis Perez, chief of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, the Philippines has ordered 98 new vessels – 71 short-range boats for coastal patrols and 27 that are able to go out farther into the sea. Most of them will be delivered this year. The agency is also reportedly seeking funding to acquire 10 larger boats that can patrol the high seas.
The vessels, Perez said, would be used to protect Philippine fisheries. He said that the agency’s current 20 patrol boats were woefully inadequate to cover 36,000 kilometers (22,370 miles) of coastline and over 7,100 islands. Though he admitted that Manila would still fall short of its needs with the new additions, he said it was all that the country could currently afford.
Read the full story at The Diplomat