THE supply and prices of fish in the market are seen to stabilize as the closed-fishing season ends, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) said on Friday.

Nazario Briguera, BFAR chief information officer and spokesman, said that fish unloading, specifically of galunggong (round scad), is also expected to increase for the next few weeks.

"The fishing ground in Palawan for galunggong has been reopened. This means it opened yesterday, February 1, after a three-month temporary closure as part of conservation measures," Briguera said in a public briefing.

In line with this, the BFAR official said that they expect an increased unloading of fish in the market.

"And when the supply of our locally produced galunggong improves, we expect that its prices will also decrease because we will have additional supply as our major fishing ground in northeastern Palawan opens," said Briguera.

The three-month closed-fishing season started in November 2023. This is done annually through the bureau's Administrative Circular 225 that aims to conserve and protect the economically important species in the said fishing ground during their spawning period.

Briguera also assured stable prices of other freshwater fish such as bangus (milkfish) and tilapia.

"We have not observed any increase in the prices of these commodities based on the regular price monitoring conducted by BFAR in the ten major wet markets in the NCR (National Capital Region)," the BFAR official said.

According to the agency, medium-sized bangus sourced from Bulacan and Pangasinan are priced at P180 per kilogram (kg), while medium-sized tilapia sourced from Batangas and Pampanga costs P120 per kg.

"The DA (Department of Agriculture)-BFAR did not observe a fluctuation in the prevailing retail prices of bangus and tilapia. The prices of these fisheries commodities have remained stable since the previous weeks due to sufficient supply from farms," BFAR said.

Additionally, there has been a decline in the farmgate prices of tilapia from P90 to P93 per kg last week to P85 to P88 per kg this week.

Similarly, bangus farmgate prices were recorded at only P130 to P140 per kg this week.

"While the general price situation of bangus and tilapia is stable, the agency notes that minor price differences are possible due to several factors, including varying sizes of unloaded supplies in wet markets as well as the type of the market," said BFAR.

For instance, large-sized bangus were sold at a higher price ranging from P200 to P240 per kg.

Furthermore, the agency also noted secondary markets that acquire their stock from primary markets may retail fisheries products at increased prices.