Fisheries production down in Q1

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s fisheries production declined in the first quarter due largely to lower output of the marine municipal and commercial fisheries sectors.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the volume of fisheries production declined by 0.2 percent to 971,501 metric tons (MT) in the first quarter from 973,620 MT in the same period last year.

The latest decline, however, was slower than the 1.3 percent drop registered in the first quarter of 2021 to 973,622 MT from 986,408 MT in the same period in 2020.

“Decreases in production were noted in commercial and marine municipal fisheries, while aquaculture and inland municipal fisheries pulled up their outputs,” the PSA said.

The commercial fisheries sector posted an eight percent decline in volume of production to 177,165 MT in the first quarter from 192,672 MT in the same period a year ago.

Similarly, the marine municipal fisheries sector also registered a 0.9 percent decline in the first quarter to 218,732 MT from last year’s 220,679 MT.

In contrast, the inland municipal fisheries sector posted a 4.7 percent increase in production volumes to 39,050 MT from January to March from 37,313 MT in the same period last year.

For its part, the aquaculture sector recorded a 2.6 percent increase in harvest from aquaculture farmers to 536,553 MT from 522,959 MT in the first quarter of last year.

The aquaculture sector accounted for the bulk or 55.2 percent of the total fisheries output in the first quarter.

This was followed by the marine municipal fisheries sector with a 22.5 percent share.

The commercial fisheries sector had an 18.2 percent share to the total, while inland fisheries contributed a four percent share to the total output during the period.

Of the 20 major species, large declines in the production were mainly attributed to mudcrab or alimango (-24.8 percent), skipjack or gulyasan (-20.2 percent), and fimbriated sardines or tunsoy (-13.5 percent).

In contrast, double-digit increments were reported in threadfin bream or bisugo (34.1 percent), squid (12.7 percent), and bigeye tuna (10.9 percent).