FISHERIES PRODUCTION fell 0.8% year on year to 978,618 metric tons (MT) in the first quarter after reduced output from commercial and municipal fisheries, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.
The PSA said in its fisheries situation report issued Thursday that commercial fisheries output fell 3% to 195,673 MT, or 20% of the total.
Production by municipal fisheries fell 0.7% to 257,622 MT, or 26.3% of the total.
Of this subtotal, output from marine fisheries fell 0.9% to 220,308 MT, while output from inland fisheries rose 0.5% to 37,313 MT.
Aquaculture farm output rose 0.02% to 525,321 MT, accounting for 53.7% of overall production.
Milkfish (bangus) production during the quarter rose 1.2% to 67,217 MT, while tilapia output rose 8% to 96,604 MT.
Galunggong (round scad) production fell 4.6% to 47,064 MT, while squid output dropped 3.3% to 10,377 MT.
According to the PSA, double-digit declines were recorded in output of fimbriated sardines (tunsoy), which fell 37.5% to 10,900 MT; threadfin bream (bisugo), which contracted 18.7% to 8,110 MT; yellowfin tuna (tambakol), which dropped 17.6% to 17,086 MT; and grouper (lapu-lapu), which slipped 13% to 3,756 MT.
It added that double-digit gains were recorded in the output of mud crab (alimango), which rose 20.2% to 8,232 MT; skipjack (gulyasan), which grew 19% to 65,220 MT; and slipmouth (sapsap), which increased 15.8% to 9,179 MT.
Earlier in the month, the PSA announced that the value of production in the agriculture sector at constant 2018 prices fell 3.3% during the first quarter.
The PSA said that in value terms, the fisheries subsector improved 0.6%. The subsector also accounted for 13.7% of the total value of production in the agriculture sector. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave