An Act to Create the Bureau of Fisheries

REPUBLIC ACT No. 177

An Act to Create the Bureau of Fisheries

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippine Congress Assembled:

Section 1. There is hereby created under the Department of Agriculture and Commerce an office to be known as the Bureau of Fisheries.

Section 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.

Section 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.

Section 4. The Director of Fisheries shall have the following powers, duties, and functions:

Section 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.

Section 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.

Section 7. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed.

Section 8. This Act shall take effect on July first, nineteen hundred and forty-seven.

Approved: June 20, 1947.