Philippine province records slight growth in '09 fish output

Fisheries production in Cagayan Valley, northeastern Luzon, has registered a 3.5% increase in 2009, thanks to the re-intensified aquaculture in the region.

According to the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS), fisheries production in the region was 63,466 tonnes in 2009 compared to 61,320 tonnes in 2008.

The municipal subsector had accounted for 51% of total production, followed by commercial production with 26% and aquaculture with 34%.

Cagayan province was the region's top fish producer, accounting for 80.8% of total production, followed by Isabela with 13.4%. The rest or 6.8% of production was contributed by Batanes, Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino.

The fisheries data showed that the region contributed 1.27% to national fisheries production of 5,015,997 tonnes for 2009.

An annual average growth rate (AAGR) of 6.43% since 2001 was recorded, the BAS said. The expansion in production percentage increase since 2001 was led by the aquaculture subsector with an AAGR of 14.5%, followed by the municipal subsector at 6.81%. The commercial subsector is near steady with a 1.2% average annual growth since 2001, it added.

The impressive growth in aquaculture is led mainly by tilapia commodity which accounts for 74% of total production in the subsector. Adding its 45% contribution in municipal inland, tilapia accounts for more than one-fourth of total fisheries production in Region 2 for 2009.

Fish sufficiency, on the other hand, stands at 61% with average increase of 2.88% since 2001. Per province only Cagayan and Batanes have exceeded per-capita requirement for fish with sufficiency level of 140% and 159%, respectively. Isabela is only 18% fish-sufficient followed by Quirino and Nueva Vizcaya with 16% and 14% each.

The 2009 growth is mainly attributed to the increase in municipal production as some operators from the commercial subsector have shifted to municipal fishing due to higher cost of operation of fishing in the high seas. Aquaculture experienced a downtrend due to the successive typhoons in the latter part of the year.