Fishery rentals or fees.
Section 21
SEC. 21. Fishery rentals or fees. — Municipalities, in the exercise of their authority to grant exclusive fishery rights and license individual fishing gears in municipal waters, may levy or fix rentals or fees therefor in accordance with the provisions of this Section in conjunction with other operative laws and regulations on municipal fisheries. (a) Municipal water — Municipal waters includes not only streams, lakes and tidal waters included within the municipality, not being the subject of private ownership, and not comprised within national parks, public forest, timber lands, forest reserves, or fishery reserves, but also marine waters included between two lines drawn perpendicularly to the general coast from points where the boundary lines of the municipality or city touch the sea at low tide and a third parallel with the general coastline and distant from it three nautical miles. Where two municipalities are so situated on the opposite shores that there is less than six nautical miles of marine water between them, the third line shall be a line equally distant from the opposite shores of the respective municipalities. (b) Grant of fishery rights and licensing of fishing vessels. — Pursuant to the authority of the municipality, the municipal council may: Grant the exclusive fishery rights to erect fish corrals, operate fishponds or oyster beds, or take or catch bangus fry or kawag-kawag or fry of other species for propagation, by public auction, within definite portion or area of the municipal waters, for which purpose the council shall divide the municipal waters into fishing zones with fixed areas and boundaries and minimum annual rental for each zone; Grant the privilege of taking fish from municipal waters by nets, traps or other fishing gears to persons qualified under the provisions of this Section and other existing laws on municipal fisheries; Issue licenses for the operation of fishing vessels of three (3) Lons or less, for which purpose the council is empowered to promulgate, subject to the approval of the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources, rules and regulations regarding the issuance of such licenses to qualified applicants under existing law. A licensee of any locality shall not fish in the municipal waters of another locality without first securing the necessary license from, and paying the corresponding taxes and fees therefor to the latter municipality. Deep-sea fishermen duly licensed under Section 18, of Act 4003, as amended, may be allowed to fish in municipal waters if they secure the necessary license therefor from the municipal authorities concerned and pay the corresponding taxes or fees. (c) Issuance of individual licenses in case no bidders opt to lease fishing zones. — If, after two notices for the grant of exclusive fishery rights thru public auction, no interested bidders opt to lease any fishing zone within the municipal waters, the municipal council is authorized to grant the privilege of erecting fish corrals, operating fishponds or oyster culture beds, or catching bangus fry or kawag-kawag within a definite area or portion of the municipal waters to individuals upon payment of license fees therefor at the rates not exceeding those fixed hereunder: (1) Fish corrals: Annual Fee Less than 3 meters 30.00 3 meters or more but less than 5 meters 60.00 5 meters or more but less than 8 meters 200.00 8 meters or more but less than 10 meters 360.00 10 meters or more but less than 15 meters 500.00 15 meters or more 800.00 (2) Operation of fishponds or oyster culture beds: Per hectare 10.00 (3) catching bangus fry or kawag-kawag: Less than 1,000 square meters 500.00 1,000 sq. m. or more but less than 2,000 sq. m. 800.00 2,000 sq. m. or more but less than 4,000 sq. m. 1,500.00 4,000 sq. m. or more but less than 6,000 sq. m. 2,200.00 6,000 sq. m. or more but less than 8,000 sq. m. 3,000.00 8,000 square meters or over 4,000.00 (d) Privilege of residents to take fish in municipal waters. — Any person who is not a grantee of a license or privilege to engage in commercial fishing shall be allowed to fish for domestic use, in any municipal waters, in case no communal fishery therein has been established: Provided, however, That in no case shall fishing be allowed within two hundred meters from a fish corral licensed by the city or municipality: And provided, further, That no fish caught under this privilege shall be sold.