Aquaculture remainedas the main source of fishery products in 2019

La Union’s total volume of fishery production in 2019 was 11,462.71metric tons.It shows an increase of 9.02 percent from the production a year ago of 10,513.88 metric tons. By subsector, aquaculture remained as the main source of fishery production in the province for both 2018 and 2019 with a share of 74.39 percent (7,821.34 metric tons) and 65.07 percent (7,459.28metric tons) respectively.

Municipal fishery subsector ranked second for both 2018 and 2019with a share to the total production of 17.09 percent (1,796.35 metric tons) in 2018 and 26.08 percent (2,990.20 metric tons) in 2019 or an increase of 66.45 percent in the volume of production. The municipal fishery subsector has two categories namely: marine municipal fisheries and inland municipal fisheries. Marine municipal fisheries category accounted 90.41% percent of the total volume of production for municipal fisheries products while 9.59 percent came from inland municipal fisheries category. Both categoriesshowed an increasingtrendfrom 2018 to 2019 with acomputed percent change of 59.40percent for marine municipal fisheries and 132.85percent for inland municipal fisheries. Municipal fisheries data were gathered from administrative records of the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA), LGU-managed landing centers and traditional landing centers.

Commercial fisheries subsector had the smallestproportion to the total fishery volume of production in the province with 8.52 percent (896.19 metric tons) in 2018 and 8.84 percent (1,013.41 metric tons) in 2019. Data for commercial fisheries were obtained from LGU-managed fish landing centers, privately-managed fish landing centers and traditional fish landing centers.

Value of fishery production increased by 15.93 percent in 2019

The total value of all fishery production in La Uniongrew by 15.93 percent fromPhp1,197,627.70 in 2018 to Php1,388,356.17 in 2019.

Aquaculture leads the three sectors in terms of value of production in 2019having a share of 64.28 percent of the total value of fishery production in the province. The remaining 35.72 percent of the provincial total value of production was shared by municipal fisheries with Php378,623.38(27.27% share) and commercial fisheries with Php117,246.38(8.44% share).The three subsectors, aquaculture, commercial and, municipalfisheries exhibitan increasein the value of fishery production compared withthe last period. Aquaculture recorded an increase of 3.25 percent from Php864,370.29in 2018 to Php892,486.16in 2019. Similarly, value of production from commercial fisheries grew by 21.18 percent from Php96,753.73 in 2018 toPhp117,246.63 in 2019 together with             the municipal fisheries with an increase of 60.09 percent from 236,503.68 in 2018 to 378,623.38 in 2019.

All Fishery Production

In 2019, the total volume of all fishery production inLa Union estimated at11,462.71 metric tons was higher to 948.83 metric tons (9.02% increase) than the volume reported in 2018 of 10,513.88 metric tons.

The top five species in terms of volume of production were milkfish (6,667.75 metric tons or 58.17 % share to total),  others (Marine Fisheries) with 1,058.88 metric tons (9.24 % share to total), threadfin bream (617.95 metric tons (5.39 % to total), Tilapia (478.97 metric tons or 4.18 % share to total) and oyster with 433.68 metric tons (3.78 % share). Among these species, the other two (tilapia and other marine fisheries) showed an increase in volume production with tilapia having the higher increase at 380.12 percent from 99.76 metric tons in 2018 to 478.97 metric tons in 2019. The three species (threadfin bream, milkfish, and oyster) declined with threadfin bream (bisugo) having the highest decreased at 17.56 percent.

Commercial Fisheries

The volume of production from commercial fisheries was posted at 1013.41 metric tons in  2019. It went up by 13.08percent compared to its level a year ago of 896.19 metric tons. This subsector comprised 8.84 percent of the total provincial fishery output in 2019.

Municipal Fisheries

Volume of production from municipal fisheries went up by 66.45 percent from the estimated production in 2018 of 1,796.35 metric tons to 2,990.02 metric tons in 2019. This subsector comprised 86.58 percent production from marine municipal fisheries and 13.42 percent inland municipal fisheries. Municipal fisheries contributed 26.08percent share to the total provincial fishery production.

Aquaculture

The aggregatedproduction from aquaculture in 2019 was 7,459.29 metric tons. This portrays a decrease of 4.63 percent from the production in 2018 of 7,821.34 metric tons. The bulk of the provincial total fisheries output was attributed by aquaculture with a share of 65.07 percent.

By specie, milkfish culture accounted the biggest share in Aquaculture at 89.20 percent (6,654.01metric tons)in 2019. It was distantly followed by oyster production  with5.31 percent share (395.72 metric tons) and tilapia production at 5.28 percent (351.56 metric tons). Among the top three aquaculture species, milfish and oyster showed a decrease at 8.84 percent and 8.96 percent respectively while tilapia had a three digit percent increase at 499.93 from the volume a year ago.

TECHNICAL NOTES

Aquaculture is a fishery operation involving all forms of raising and culturing of fish and other fishery species in fresh, brackish and marine water areas. The operation is comprised of activities from stocking to harvesting of species under controlled conditions in farming facility called aquafarm.

Aquaculture Production refers to the volume harvested from the aquafarm. It includes those species harvested in marketable/matured size and in fresh form.

Inland Municipal Fishing– the catching of fish, crustaceans, mollusks and other aquatic animals and plants in inland waters like lakes, rivers, dams, marshes, etc. using simple gears and fishing boats some of which are non-motorized with a capacity of less than three (3) gross tons, or fishing not requiring the use of fishing boats.

Quarterly Aquaculture Surveyis a quarterly survey that generates estimates of volume and value of production per aquafarm type and species for the subsector.

Quarterly Inland Fisheries Surveyis a survey on volume and price of fish by species, caught by households engaged in inland fishing. It gathers quarterly data with monthly catch from sample fishing households. Respondents are fishermen or any knowledgeable member of the sample household.

Quarterly Commercial Fisheries Survey(Traditional Landing Center) is a quarterly survey on the volume of fish unloadingin traditional landing centers and the price of fish by species.  It gathers data on a quarterly basis but the information that is collected is about monthly fish unloading.

Quarterly Commercial Fisheries Survey (Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA), Local Government Units (LGUs), Privately-Managed Landing Centers) is the gathering of data from the records of the PFDA, LGU and privately-managed landing centers. It is done on a quarterly basis but the information being collected is on each of the three months included in the reference quarter.

Quarterly Municipal Fisheries Survey (Traditional Landing Center) – is a survey on volume and price of fish, by species, unloaded by fishing boats three (3) gross tons or less. It gathers quarterly data for the entire sample landing center with information on monthly fish unloading.

SGD. NIÑO E. TUAZON

(Supervising Statistical Specialist)

Officer-in-Charge