November 21, 2023

Philippines records strong aquaculture growth in Q3 fisheries production

Domestic aquaculture took the lead in the Philippines' overall fisheries production in Q3 2023, constituting 51.8% of the total output, based on data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), The Manila Times reported.

The quarter witnessed a notable surge in aquaculture production, reaching 527,150 metric tonnes (MT), reflecting a 7.4% increase from the Q3 2022 output of 490,960 MT.

Overall fisheries production experienced a 2.1% uptick, totalling 1.01 million MT from July to September, compared to the 996,320 MT recorded in the same period last year. The PSA highlighted annual growth in production across commercial fisheries and inland municipal fisheries subsectors.

The commercial fisheries subsector posted a modest increase of 0.5%, reaching an estimated 230,676 MT in Q3, contributing 22.7% to the total fisheries production. Inland municipal output rose by 2.8% to 53,037 MT, constituting 5.2% of the total.

However, the marine municipal fisheries subsector reported a 7.9% decline, amounting to 206,639 MT and representing 20.3% of the total fisheries output.

Among the monitored species, reductions in production were primarily observed in tiger prawns (-49%), bigeye tuna (-41%), fimbriated sardines (-37.8%), mud crab (-28.1%), and squid (-26.3%). Conversely, increases were noted in Indian mackerel (+60.6%), big-eyed scad (+32.8%), yellowfin tuna (+28.5%), and galunggong (round scad) (+17.2%).

The Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA) reported that regional fish ports recorded a total of 123,813.37 MT of fish unloaded in Q3, marking a 2.27% increase from the second quarter. The average daily unloading reached 1,345.80 MT of fish.

-      The Manila Times