Philippines fish supply sufficient ­— DA

MANILA, Philippines — The country has sufficient supply of fresh fish in the market even with the extended enhanced community quarantine, the Department of Agriculture said.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar said projections by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources showed that the country would enjoy an 11-day surplus by the end of June. This is equivalent to 101,792 metric tons with supply at 934,920 MT, exceeding the demand of 833,128 MT by 12.2 percent.

Outlook for the entire year is also bright with supply at 3.35 million MT, slightly exceeding demand of 3.33 million MT.

“Since the implementation of the quarantine, we have been adopting the ‘not business-as-usual’ as a policy in all DA field offices and attached agencies, including the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority that manages major fish ports nationwide,” Dar said.

“There is enough fish unloaded in our fish ports to meet our national demand,” he said.

PFDA general manager Glen Pangapalan said the agency has facilitated the unloading of 71,025 MT of fish or an average of 2,088 MT daily since the implementation of the lockdown.

Currently,  all nine regional fish ports in the country — Navotas, Lucena, Sual, Camaligan, Bulan, Iloilo, General Santos, Zamboanga, and Davao — are operating to meet demand.

“We assure the unhampered operation of the PFDA-managed fish ports nationwide — particularly the Navotas Fish Port Complex that supplies around 70 percent of the fish demand of Metro Manila as well as neighboring areas in Luzon,” Pangapalan said.

“The other good news is that the wholesale prices of popular fish species like bangus, tilapia, galunggong, yellowfin tuna, and matambaka at all PFDA regional fish ports, have remained stable compared to other commercial species during the quarantine period,” he said.

DA said it would continue collaborating with various government agencies and the private sector to address issues and concerns in the fishery sector.