Manila, Feb. 6 -- Fishery school Visayas State University (VSU) satellite campus in Tolosa, Leyte, has joined government agencies and several groups in opposing the Supreme Court (SC) decision allowing commercial vessels to operate within the 15-kilometer municipal waters previously intended for small-scale fishermen.

The Faculty of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences of the VSU Tolosa campus said in a statement Thursday that the ruling "poses a serious threat to the coastal ecosystems and the communities that depend on the resources therein."

The school calls for the status quo of the implementing rules and regulations of the Republic Act (RA) 8550, or The Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998, as amended by RA 10654, otherwise known as an Act...