Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Region 02, Government Center, Carig, Tuguegarao City, Philippines
Corresponding author
evelyncame83@gmail.com
The “aramang” industry’s economic contribution to the local and export markets has been significant for more than two decades. However, due to resource overexploitation, stock depletion is being experienced. A management strategy called “Gentleman’s Agreement” (GA), an informal agreement based on oral arguments and thrusts of all parties involved has been adopted by the “aramang” fisherfolk in Aparri, Cagayan, as a tool to conserve and bring back the abundance of the stocks. This study tries to assess the status of stocks when this GA is being implemented in the area as a basis for policy formulation to improve resource utilization. Stock assessment methodologies and participatory rural appraisal (PRA) were used. Results show that GA as a strategy needs concrete policies to be effective in achieving its goal of attaining resource sustainability. The drift filter net and pair trawl, the fishing gears being used to catch N. tenuipes, have brought negative effects on the size at harvest, catch trend, and CPUE. The result of the length-converted catch curve shows that fishing mortality (F=3.23) is higher than natural mortality values (M =1.66) suggesting that most of the N. tenuipes population is experiencing high fishing pressure. Conversely, the observed exploitation ratio (E=0.66) is already beyond the sustainable level of exploitation.