THE country's fisheries production volume reached 4.26 million metric tons (MT) in 2023, reflecting a 1.8 percent annual decline, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.
The latest result was lower than the 4.34 million MT posted a year earlier. Decreases in production were noted for the commercial, marine municipal fisheries, and inland municipal fisheries subsectors.
Only the aquaculture subsector reported an annual increase in production, the PSA said.
During the current year, the commercial fisheries sector yielded a total of 820,300 MT, a 4.9 percent decrease compared to the prior year's output of 862,690 MT.
This sub-sector represented 19.3 percent of the overall fisheries production in 2023.
Marine municipality fisheries, meanwhile, posted an 881,250 MT total output.
"This was 7.3 percent lower than the 2022 level of 950,910 MT," said PSA. The subsector's share of the total fisheries production last year was 20.7 percent.
On the other hand, the inland municipal fisheries produced 174,580 MT, marking a slight decrease of 0.4 percent compared to the prior year's output of 175,350 MT. This sector accounted for 4.1 percent of the overall fisheries production for the year.
Aquaculture production, meanwhile, increased by 1.5 percent to 2.38 million MT compared to the previous year's 2.35 million MT.
Aquaculture contributed the largest portion, or 56.0 percent, to the overall fisheries production this year.
Among the 20 monitored species, PSA said that 14 recorded an annual drop in production. These were primarily noted in fimbriated sardines (tunsoy) with a 33.5 percent drop; bigeye tuna (tambakol/bariles) that fell by 25.1 percent; threadfin bream (bisugo) by 21.2 percent; tiger prawn (sugpo) by 19.4 percent; skipjack (gulyasan) by 18.8 percent; frigate tuna (tulingan) by 13.3 percent; and milkfish (bangus) with 8.9 percent drop.
On the other hand, increases in production were mainly reported in Indian mackerel (alumahan) with a 17.6 percent rise in production; round scad (galunggong) up by 11.2 percent; big-eyed scad (matangbaka) by 6.8 percent; yellowfin tuna (tambakol/bariles) by 6.6 percent; seaweed by 5.3 percent; and tilapia by 1.3 percent.
Last week, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) said it aimed to increase local fisheries production and achieve 100 percent food-fish sufficiency by 2028.
BFAR, through its Strategic Plan, aims to distribute interventions such as new fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP) boats, fishing gears, and paraphernalia; establishment of mariculture parks; reassessment and maintenance of existing mariculture parks; and development and recommendation of supplemental guidelines for the operation and management of legislated hatcheries.
In 2022, BFAR said the Philippines' food-fish sufficiency level was 92.5 percent.
The bureau also aims to strengthen its partnership with the private sector and establish a direct linkage between fisherfolk borrowers and financing institutions to boost the local fisheries industry.
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