Fishery production in Eastern Visayas drops by 13.7% in the fourth quarter of 2020

By PSA-8
March 4, 2021

TACLOBAN CITY – The total volume of fisheries production in Eastern Visayas was estimated at 30,145 Metric Tons (MT) during the fourth quarter of 2020. It is 13.7 percent lower compare with the 34,936 MT production in the same quarter in 2019.

Eastern Visayas accounted for 2.5 percent of the country’s total fishery production during the 4th quarter of 2020. It ranked seventh among the regions with low fishery production in the country (Table 1).

Across provinces, Northern Samar produced the highest volume of fisheries at 6,849 MT, comprising 22.7 percent of the total fishery production in the region. Samar ranked second at 6,777 MT, accounting for 22.5 percent of the region’s total fishery production. Biliran, meanwhile registered 1,750 MT, the lowest volume of production which shared only 5.8 percent.

Among the subsectors, municipal fishing contributed the highest production with 22,639 MT or 75.1percent share to the total fishery production in the 4th quarter of 2020. Aquaculture shared 4,596 MT or 15.2 percent, while commercial fishing contributed 2,910 MT or 9.7 percent (Table 2).

Municipal Fisheries production inched up by 3.7 percent from the 21,834 MT in the fourth quarter of 2019 to 22,639 MT in the same quarter of 2020. Of this figure, 99.6 percent came from unloading in marine landing centers while the rest were caught from inland bodies of water. Among provinces, the increase in municipal fisheries production was noted in Southern Leyte which almost tripled from 1,340 MT in the 4th quarter of 2019 to 3,764 MT in the same quarter in 2020. While Northern Samar and Eastern Samar registered increases by 29.9 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively. A drastic drop was noted in Leyte by 65.1 percent. Minimal decreases were recorded in Biliran (7.6%) and Samar (0.5%).

Commercial fishing production on the other hand decreased by 14.3 percent, from 3,397 MT in the fourth quarter of 2019 to 2,910 MT in the same quarter of 2020. The subsector comprised 9.7 percent of the total fisheries production. Samar, Southern Leyte and Leyte, recorded a significant decline of 44.6 percent, 33.8 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively. Biliran recorded the highest increase of 19.6 percent, from 432 MT in the fourth quarter of 2019 to 517 MT during this period in 2020 (Table 2).

Meanwhile, volume of harvest from aquaculture went down by 52.6 percent. Its 9,705 MT production in the fourth quarter of 2019 dropped to 4,596 MT in the same quarter of 2020. The share of aquaculture subsector to the total fisheries was 15.2 percent. Only Eastern Samar recorded increase in production estimated at 177 MT at 56.6 percent. On the other hand, the decrease in the volume of harvest in aquaculture was contributed by the decreases in the provinces of Northern Samar (71.5%), Leyte (53.7%), Samar (53.6%), Biliran (42.4%) and Southern Leyte (13.1%).