Section
1. There is hereby created under the Department of
Agriculture and Commerce an office to be known as the Bureau of
Fisheries.
Sec. 2. The Bureau of Fisheries shall have one
chief who shall be known as the Director of Fisheries, to be appointed
by the President with the consent of the Commission on Appointments of
the Congress and shall receive a compensation of seven thousand two
hundred pesos per annum. Subject to the general supervision and control
of the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce, the Director of Fisheries
shall possess the powers generally conferred upon Bureau Chiefs.
There shall be in the said Bureau such experts and other officials and
employees to be appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce
as may be required to carry out the purposes of this Act and of the
Fisheries Act.
Sec. 3. The divisions, sections, field districts,
experimental stations, and all activities and agencies of the National
Government connected with fishery work are hereby transferred to the
Bureau of Fisheries, and such powers, functions, and duties relative to
fisheries vested by law or executive orders in such divisions,
sections, field districts, experimental stations, and other fishery
agencies, are hereby transferred to the Director of Fisheries.
The Director of Fisheries shall, subject to the approval of the
Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce, organize its personnel into such
divisions or sections as will insure maximum efficiency.
Sec. 4. The Director of Fisheries shall have the
following powers, duties, and functions:
(a) To supervise and control the demarcation,
protection, management, development, reproduction, occupancy, and use
of all public fishery reserves and national and municipal fisheries and
fishery reservations.
(b) To issue, in accordance with law, licenses or
permits for the removal or taking of aquatic products and to suspend or
revoke the same for cause.
(c) To carry out the provisions of this Act and all
other laws pertaining to the supervision, administration, and
disposition of aquatic resources and all rules and regulations
promulgated thereunder.
(d) To increase and conserve the fishery resources of
the Philippines by: studying the life cycle of fishes; establishing
hatcheries; and protecting the spawning or breeding grounds of fishes.
(e) To conduct studies of fishing practice and
methods relative to the protection of the aquatic resources, economy of
operation, prevention of waste and disseminate the results and
information on appropriate bulletins or circulars.
(f) To conduct a demonstration service to acquaint
the people with the various modern methods of fishing. For this
purpose, a fishing vessel shall be duly equipped and go from place to
place.
(g) To make a survey of the fishing areas, fishing
banks and fisheries of the Philippines and maintain an adequate
collection of commercial fishes and other aquatic products of the
Philippines.
(h) To collect and disseminate information and
conduct investigations concerning oceanography, fishery administration
and operation, the utilization of fishery products and the
establishment of fishery industries.
(i) To prepare, with the approval of the Secretary of
Agriculture and Commerce, forms, instructions, rules and regulations
consistent with law.
(j) To promote further the development of the fishing
industry in the Philippines.
(k) Personally or by his duly authorized
representatives to make arrest without warrant any person committing or
attempting to commit an offense against the provisions of the Fisheries
Act; and, to make seizures of products liable to seizure under said Act
or under the provisions of any other law on fisheries and fishery
products. The property seized may be delivered to the nearest municipal
treasurer and held subject to orders of the Director of Fisheries or
the person acting in his stead.
(l) Personally or by his duly authorized
representatives, to administer oaths and take acknowledgment in matters
of official business; issue subpoenas and take testimony in official
investigations authorized by law.
(m) To make investigations concerning the nature,
organization and resources of the business of all persons engaged in
the fishing industry.
Sec. 5. Any person who fails or refuses to comply
with the legal summons of the Director of Fisheries or the person duly
authorized by him or who refuses to be sworn prior to his testimony or
who refuses to answer pertinent questions, or gives or furnishes false
or misleading data or information in an investigation made pursuant to
subsections (l) and (m) of section four of this Act, shall be punished
by a fine not to exceed one thousand pesos, or imprisonment not to
exceed one year or both in the discretion of the court. If the false
information or misleading data have been given under oath, the
penalties prescribed by law for perjury shall be imposed.
Sec. 6. The sum of twenty-five thousand pesos or
so much thereof as will be necessary to carry out the purposes of this
Act is hereby appropriated.
The Division of Fisheries is hereby abolished and its activities,
properties, equipment, records, assets and liabilities are transferred
to the Bureau of Fisheries.
Sec. 7. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent
with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed.
Sec. 8. This Act shall take effect on July first,
nineteen hundred and forty-seven.
Approved: June 20, 1947
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