The volume of commercial fisheries production in the Ilocos Region was posted at 1,733.01 metric tons in third quarter 2022. This was 15.05 percent higher than the production of 1,506.36 metric tons during the same period of 2021. The province of La Union and Ilocos Sur posted decreases in production by 30.98 percent and 59.11 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, Pangasinan registered positive growth in output by 37.01 percent.

The top contributor of commercial fisheries in the region was Pangasinan with share of 83.73 percent. Meanwhile, La Union and Ilocos Sur contributed 14.03 percent, and 2.24 percent, respectively.

During the third quarter 2022, roundscad has the highest volume of production in commercial fisheries at 507.12 metric tons or 29.26 of the total catch. Skipjack ranked second with 323.25 metric tons of production or 18.65 percent. Meanwhile, frigate tuna (281.15 metric tons) and yellowfin tuna (271.70 metric tons) production are close to each other with less than ten metric tons difference. Other commercial fish species recorded 349.79 metric tons of catch during the period.

Commercial Fisheries Production by Province

In third quarter 2022, Ilocos Sur’s production in commercial fisheries was 38.87 metric tons. Among the four fish species caught, roundscad posted 28.12 metric tons and rendered a contribution of 72.34 percent to the provincial production. Skipjack was also caught in the commercial water with  6.39 metric tons (16.44 percent) volume of catch. Meanwhile, 4.26 metric tons (10.96 percent) of yellowfin tuna were recorded in different landing centers in Ilocos Sur.  Lastly, covering 0.26 percent of commercial fisheries production in the province was the big-eyed scad at 0.10 metric tons.

A total of 243.07 metric tons of commercial fisheries production was recorded in the province of La Union in third quarter 2022. The fish species that contributed most was goatfish, with a share of 15.07 metric tons of catch. The figure is 6.20 percent of the province's total commercial fisheries production. In second place was threadfin bream at 13.91 metric tons catch or equivalent to 5.72 percent. Other fish species with more than five metric tons of volume caught were hairtail (8.95 metric tons), big-eyed scad (7.62 metric tons), and group (5.02 metric tons). Meanwhile, species with less than five metric tons accumulated 192.50 metric tons or 79.19 percent of the total production.

The production of commercial fish species in Pangasinan was 1,451.07 metric tons. About 33.01 percent of the production was roundscad at 479.00 metric tons. The other top fish species caught during the period were skipjack, frigate tuna, and yellowfin tuna. Other commercial fish species collectively produced 106.63 metric tons with share of 7.34 percent of the province output.

SGD. ATTY. SHEILA O. DE GUZMAN
Regional Director, RSSO I