Status of tenure reforms Delineation of municipal waters. As the Fisheries Code gave municipal fishers priority access to the municipal waters, the delineation of the municipal waters is imperative to designate the exact areas where municipal fishers have preferential rights, and to establish violations of commercial fishing vessels, i.e. intrusion and illegal fishing in municipal waters. However, in a meeting with BFAR on 14 August 2018, BFAR reported that of the country’s 928 coastal municipalities, only 305 have delineated their municipal waters with certified maps. And of these 305 LGUs, only 67 have issued the required local ordinances thus completing the delineation process. NAMRIA also mentioned in a meeting with legislators at the House of Representatives that as of 15 August 2018, some 263 local governments have not yet applied for municipal water delineation. The common problem encountered in completing the municipal water delineation is the establishment of the reckoning point, which is often contested by adjacent LGUs. NAMRIA is the country’s central mapping agency, depository, and distribution facility for natural resources data, and is the mandated agency under the Fisheries Code to lead in the delimitation and delineation of the municipal waters. However, while NAMRIA has completed the technical description of all coastal municipalities, these are often contested by the LGUs concerned as they are reluctant to concede control over disputed territory. Thus, only 67 municipalities have completed their municipal water delineation with the enactment of a municipal ordinance, the last step of the process as shown in Figure 9. This last step is essential to firm up the legal basis for the delineation of municipal waters, and is vital for sustainable management, law enforcement, and the granting of preferential rights to municipal fisher within the 15-kilometer zone. Fisherfolk settlements. While the Fisheries Code (Section 108) mandates the setting up of fisherfolk settlement areas, there are still no clear implementing rules and regulations on how this is to be achieved, in spite of lobbying efforts from fisherfolk organizations. Many fisherfolk settlements are located in foreshores and public lands with no security of tenure, facing the constant risk of eviction. 94 Status of Land and Resource Tenure Reform in the Philippines 2018