Southern Iloilo Coastal Resource Management Council (SICRMC), the fi ve member-municipalities bordering the northern part of Panay Gulf agreed to implement a uniform ordinance in order to promote integrated management, reduce confl ict, and contribute to effi cient fi sheries law enforcement. These will eventually lead to an effective resource management of the contiguous zone they commonly share.

Seven issues were identifi ed in the study to be important and deemed to be best addressed through the implementation of a unifi ed provision for these in the municipalities. The issues include closed season for the use of fi ne mesh net; penalties for common violations; fi sheries licensing; municipal water boundary; use of hulbot-hulbot (Danish seine); use of superlight in municipal water; and deployment of payao.

Content analysis of the respective MFOs of the municipalities was done to identify policy gaps, overlaps, and confl icting provisions. Specifi c policy recommendations were also presented to serve as basis for drafting the proposed unifi ed provisions that will eventually result in the revision of the ordinances. At present, there are efforts in soliciting the support of the SICRMC in the proposed amendments in the MFOs.

Key words: Municipal Fisheries Ordinance (MFO), Unifi ed Fisheries Ordinance (UFO), SICRMC, fi sheries law enforcement, resource management