[As Prepared]

[Greetings]

Thank you all for the warm welcome! I arrived in the Philippines about two months ago and I have heard great things about Iloilo City’s cultural celebrations from my colleagues at the Embassy.

I am happy to visit one of the Philippines’ most economically progressive cities and experience the hospitality of the “Heart of the Philippines.” Iloilo is a close partner of the U.S. government,. and, I am honored to celebrate our two countries’ continued efforts to promote sustainable fishing in the Philippines.

One of the Philippines’ most distinguishing features is its impressive coastal and marine biodiversity. The Philippines ranks as one of the top fishing countries in the world, catching more than 4 million metric tons of fish annually. Approximately 60 percent of the Filipino population lives in coastal zones and depends on coastal resources for their livelihoods.

However, these rich and precious resources are threatened by illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources estimates that the Philippines loses nearly 68.5 billion pesos a year to these harmful fishing practices, ranging from illegal activities of domestic small-scale fishing to more complex operations carried out by industrial fishing fleets.

The United States government works closely with the Philippine government and our local partners in attaining our shared goal for advancing sustainable fisheries. We recognize that illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing practices put law-abiding fishers and seafood producers at a disadvantage. They also threaten global food security.

Since the 1990s, the U.S. Government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, has been at the forefront of supporting the Philippine government’s marine and biodiversity conservation efforts. For example, through our recently completed ECOFISH project, USAID, together with BFAR and local governments, increased the number and weight of fish by 24 percent in geographic focus sites. Our partnership with the Philippine government in this new project will build upon our successes and scale up effective approaches from the ECOFISH project.

The U.S. government remains committed to supporting BFAR’s leadership in sustainable fisheries management and ocean conservation. USAID’s Fish Right project, which we are launching today, is yet another concrete example of this commitment. .

The project builds on previous USAID-supported projects focused on an ecosystem approach to fisheries management to promote the sustainable use and resilience of critical coastal and marine resources, , and institutionalize capacity-building initiatives for sustainable fisheries.

Through Fish Right, we hope to forge new partnerships as well as reinforce existing ones with government officials, industry leaders, entrepreneurs, scientists, academia, and civil society. Our Filipino partners are at the forefront of identifying solutions to the issues at hand, and leading the protection and conservation of your ocean, coasts, and marine resources.

We will continue to work together to advance human and ecological well-being in the Philippines and to support initiatives that enhance sustainable resource use and conserve biodiversity. The U.S. government is honored to work alongside you in this crucial endeavor.

Together with all of you gathered here today and the communities that you represent, we hope to create a blue economy — where ocean resources are managed to both drive inclusive economic growth and sustain the health of our ecosystem. This is our commitment as we work with you here in the Visayas Sea. We also carry this same promise as we commence our work in the Calamianes Island Group in Palawan, and in South Negros.

This project begins with these key coastal and marine biodiversity areas, but our long-term vision and aspiration is to reach the whole country, so that one day, we can all proudly claim: “In the Philippines, we fish right!”

Thank you, and good day to all of you.