STILL reeling from the effects of Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan), total fisheries production posted a negative growth of 3.25 percent during the first quarter of 2014, the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) reported recently.
According to the BAS, “among the major seven species, skipjack tuna was the only gainer for the quarter with an increment of 4.62 percent.”
Loses in other species were also considerable, such as the roundscad (galunggong) which is down by 6.9 percent, seaweeds with a 3.86-percent reduction, milkfish at 2.11-percent loss, and yellowfin tuna and tilapia with 2.69-percent and 0.14-percent losses, respectively.
With a 22.18-percent contribution to the total fisheries production for the reporting period, the commercial fisheries registered a 3.43-percent production shortfall this quarter, the BAS report said.
An attached agency of the Philippine Statistics Authority, the BAS also said “catch of several species showed reduced output compared with same quarter last year.”
The BAS noted that aside from roundscad and yellowfin tuna, production of other species such as the Indian and fimbriated sardines, Indian and Indo- Pacific mackerels, big-eyed scad, threadfin bream and eastern little tuna all fell short of last year’s level.
Another major sector, the municipal fisheries also registered a negative 5.64-percent growth during the reporting period, while sharing 26.58 percent to the total fisheries output for the quarter. “Decreasing volume of catch from marine waters by municipal fishermen was evident for the past three years,” the BAS observed.
Despite the 7.12-percent increase in inland fisheries, limited catch of Indian sardines, fimbriated sardines, Indian mackerels, Indo-Pacific mackerels, squid, blue crabs and threadfin bream and other species brought down the performance of the sector.
Aside from Yolanda, a series of weather disturbances in the Visayas and Mindanao regions last year disrupted the overall fishing operations of sustenance fishermen.
Aquaculture, another major sector, posted a 1.58-percent growth lower compared with same quarter last year.
The top five species of the sector—milkfish, tilapia, tiger prawn, seaweed and mudcrab—posted production decreases this quarter. These species accounted for 96.74 percent of the total aquaculture production. The sector contributed more than half, or 51.24 percent, to the total fisheries output.
In an interview, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources National Director Asis G. Perez said the areas affected by Yolanda, specifically Eastern Samar and Leyte, Eastern Samar and Leyte, produce some 25 percent of the total national production of fisheries.
Perez added that he sees fisheries production bouncing back in the succeeding quarters of the year.