MALACAANG Manila PRESIDENTIAL DECREE No.

534 August 8, 1974 DEFINING ILLEGAL FISHING AND PRESCRI ING STIFFER PENALTIES THEREF!R WHEREAS, the productive potentialities of the vast fishing grounds and other fishery resources in the country upon which the people depend as major and cheap source of food are being greatly reduced through the employment of various methods of illegal fishing WHEREAS, loss of human lives oftentimes occur and varied diseases and ailments are suffered by those who parta!e of fish and fishery products which have been illegally caught or gathered WHEREAS, in the interest and welfare of the people who depend mostly upon fish and sea or marine products for their daily"food, positive steps must be adopted by the government through interrelated programs and projects including subsidiary laws and measures towards the implementation thereof# $%W, &HERE'%RE, (, 'ER)($A$) E# MAR*%S, +resident of the +hilippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the *onstitution, do hereby decree and order to be part of the law of the land, the following, S"#t$o% 1. )efinition of &erms# 'or purposes of this )ecree, the following terms are defined, a# +hilippine Waters# include all bodies of water within +hilippine &erritory, such as rivers, streams, cree!s, broo!s, ponds, swamps, lagoons, gulfs, bays and seas and other bodies of water now e-isting, or which may hereafter e-ist in the provinces, cities, municipalities, municipal districts, and barrios and the sea or fresh water around, between and connecting each of the islands of the +hilippine Archipelago, irrespective of its depth, breadth, length and dimension, and all other waters belonging to the +hilippines by historic or legal title, including the territorial sea, the seabed, the insular shelves and other submarine areas over which the +hilippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction# b# 'ish and 'ishery.A/uatic +roducts# fish includes all fishes and other a/uatic animals such as crustaceans 0crabs, prawns, shrimps and lobsters1, mollus!s 0clams, mussels, scallops, oysters, snails and other shellfish1# 'ishery.a/uatic products include all products of a/uatic resources in any form# c# 'ishing with the use of E-plosives# means the use of dynamite, other e-plosives, or chemical compound that contain combustible elements or ingredients that, upon ignition by friction, concussion, percussion, or detonation of all or parts of the compound, !ill, stupefy, disable or render unconscious any fish or fishery.a/uatic product# (t shall also refer to the use of any other substance and.or device that causes e-plosion capable of producing the said harmful effects on fish or fishery.a/uatic products#

d# 'ishing with the use of %bno-ious or +oisonous Substance# means the use of any substance or chemical, whether in raw or processed form, harmful or harmless, which !ill, stupefy, disable, or render unconscious fish or fishery.a/uatic products# e# Electro"fishing# means the use of electricity generated by dry cell batteries, electric generators or other source of electric power to !ill, stupefy, disable or render unconscious fish or fishery.a/uatic products# (t shall include the use of rays or beams of whatever nature, form or source of power# f# 2iolation of Rules and Regulations# means violations of 'isheries Administrative %rders, rules and regulations promulgated by the Secretary of $ational Resources# g# +ersons# include natural and juridical persons, unless the conte-t intends otherwise# S"#t$o% &. +rohibition# (t shall be unlawful for any person to catch, ta!e or gather or caused to be caught, ta!en or gathered fish or fishery.a/uatic products in +hilippine waters with the use of e-plosives, obno-ious or poisonous substances or by the use of electricity, +rovided, that the Secretary of $atural Resources may, subject to such safeguards and conditions he deems necessary, allow for research, educational or scientific purposes only the use of e-plosives, obno-ious or poisonous substances or electricity to catch, ta!e or gather fish or fishery.a/uatic products in specified areas# S"#t$o% 3. +enalties# 2iolations of this )ecree and the rules and regulations mentioned in paragraph 0f1 of Section 3 hereof shall be punished as follows, a# by imprisonment from 34 to 35 years, if e-plosives are used, +rovided, that if the e-plosion results 031 in physical injury to person, the penalty shall be imprisonment from 35 to 54 years, or 051 in the loss of human life, then the penalty shall be imprisonment from 54 years to life, or death 4b# by imprisonment from 6 to 34 years, if obno-ious or poisonous substances are used, +rovided, that if the use of such substances results 031 in physical injury to any person, the penalty shall be imprisonment from 34 to 35 years, or 051 in the loss of human life, then the penalty shall be imprisonment from 54 years of life, or death c# by imprisonment from 7 months to 8 years, or by a fine of from +944 to +9,444 for violation of rules and regulations mentioned in paragraph 0f1 of Section 3 hereof# (f the violation is committed by a partnership, association or corporation, the managing partner or director or president who ordered or allowed the violation to be committed shall be liable together with other persons who actually committed the prohibited acts# S"#t$o% 4. )ealing in illegally caught fish or fishery.a/uatic products# Any person who !nowingly possesses, deals in, sells, or in any manner disposes of, for profit, any fish, fishery" a/uatic products which have been illegally caught, ta!en or gathered shall, upon conviction by a competent court, be punished by imprisonment from 5 to 7 years#

S"#t$o% 5. Repealing *lause# Act $o# 844:, as amended, Republic Act $o# 7893, laws, decrees, orders, rules and regulations or parts thereof which are inconsistent with this )ecree are hereby repealed or modified accordingly# S"#t$o% '. Effectivity# &his )ecree shall ta!e effect upon promulgation# )one in the *ity of Manila, this 6th day of August, in the year of %ur ;ord, nineteen hundred and seventy"four#