First quarter fishery production in Eastern Visayas drops by 29.0%

By PSA-8
May 25, 2018

TACLOBAN CITY – Fishery production in Eastern Visayas dropped by 29.0% from 37,607 metric tons (MT) in the first quarter of 2017 to 26,704 MT in the first quarter of 2018.

All provinces registered decreases in fishery production, except Samar, the only province that recorded a significant increase of 24.5%, from 9,498 MT in the first quarter of 2017 to 11,822 MT in the same quarter in 2018. Leyte recorded the highest decrease of 68.4%, from 17,517 MT in the first quarter of 2017 to 5,527 MT during the quarter in review.

Among provinces, Samar produced the highest volume of fishery production at 11,822 MT, which comprised 44.3% of the total fishery production in the region. Leyte ranked second with 5,527 MT, which accounted for 20.7% of the region’s total fishery production. Southern Leyte, meanwhile registered the lowest volume of production with 4.7% share or 1,249 MT.

By subsector, volume of production in Aquaculture went down by 49.4%, from 16,291 MT in the first quarter of 2017 to 8,244 MT in the same period in 2018. All provinces registered decreases, except Samar, the only province that recorded an increase of 124.2%. Biliran recorded the highest decrease of 100.0 percent, from 5 MT in the first quarter of 2017 to zero during the quarter in review.

Similarly, volume of production in Municipal Fishing (marine and inland) registered a decrease of 16.4%, from 17,682 MT in the first quarter of 2017 to 14,776 MT in the same quarter in 2018. All provinces registered decreases, except Southern Leyte, the only province which posted an increase of 4.2%. Leyte registered the highest decrease in volume of production at 27.2%.

On the other hand, volume of production in Commercial Fishing increased by 1.4%, from 3,634 MT in the first quarter of 2017 to 3,684 MT in the same period in 2018. Among provinces, only Samar registered growth in production of 68.9%. This increase offset the decreases recorded by Biliran (44.3%), Eastern Samar (0.3%), Leyte (39.0%), Northern Samar (10.2%) and Southern Leyte (45.3%).

More than half or 55.3% (14,776 MT) of the total fishery production in the region were from Municipal Fishing. Aquaculture contributed 30.9% (8,244 MT), while Commercial Fishing accounted for 13.8% (3,684 MT).