The country’s fisheries production in the first quarter of the year fell to its lowest level in 16 years of 980,730.72 metric tons (MT) as supply chain was disrupted by Taal Volcano eruption and Covid-19 pandemic.
In its quarterly report, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) fisheries output declined 3.2 percent to 980,730.72 MT from 1.013 million MT (MMT) in the January-to-March period of 2019.
Historical PSA data showed that this is the lowest first quarter fisheries production recorded by the country in 16 years since 2004 when output was at 974,016.08 MT. PSA data also showed that this is the first time that fisheries output in the first quarter fell below 1 MMT in the past 16 years.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) earlier attributed the decline in output to the closed fishing season in certain fishing areas of the country.
Economist Pablito M. Villegas said the decline in fisheries output could be caused by the disruption in the supply chain due to lockdowns to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Villegas explained that some fisherfolk and aquaculture producers were not motivated to harvest and sell more fish as they were unable to ship, or transport, their catch due to lockdowns.
Villegas added that the month-long activity of Taal Volcano, which effectively stopped fisherfolk from fishing in Taal Lake, also contributed to the decline in overall fisheries output.
“Volume of production declined in all the fisheries subsectors,” the PSA said in its report published on Monday.
“Of the 20 major species, 15 recorded reductions in production led by tiger prawn [31.1 percent], mudcrab [18.2 percent], slipmouth [11.2 percent], fimbriated sardines [10.6 percent] and roundscad [8.5 percent],” the PSA added.
PSA said catch from commercial fisheries, which accounted for 21.7 percent of total production, went down by 2.2 percent to 213,110 MT from 217,81 MT.
“Municipal fisheries subsector reported a 3.4-percent decrease in production as catch from both marine and inland fishing dropped. Municipal fisheries production settled to 260,050 metric tons during the first quarter of 2020, from 269,180 metric tons output a year ago,” the PSA said.
The subsector production made up 26.5 percent of the total volume of fisheries production,” the PSA added.
PSA said aquaculture output, which accounted for half of total fisheries production, declined by 3.5 percent to 507,560 MT from 526,050 MT.
Image credits: Roy Domingo
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