Headed to commence another important statistical undertaking as part of the continuous efforts towards the improvement of fisheries surveys and statistics, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) -La Union Provincial Statistical Office conducts the 2021 Listing of Marine Fish Landing Centers (LMFLC) on September 1 to 30, 2021.

The LMFLC is a nationwide activity that aims to collect data and information on all landing centers in the whole country. It also aims to develop a statistical sampling frame that contains an updated list of fish landing centers and to come up with a reliable and timely sampling frame for commercial and municipal fisheries surveys.

The information will be used for the continuous development of sampling frame for quarterly fisheries surveys.

A landing center is defined as a designated place where unloading and trading of fish catch and other aquatic products are conducted.  The activity involves listing and geotagging of commercial and municipal fisheries landing centers in the provinces. A commercial landing center covers fishing operations in marine waters which make use of boats more than three (3) gross tons, while municipal landing center covers fishing operations in marine waters which use fishing vessels of less than three (3) gross tons or fishing activities that do not require the use of any fishing vessel. Also included in the listing are the traditional landing centers that operate within the shoreline where fish catch is unloaded and traded without any regulatory or managing administration. Aquafarm landing centers and inland fishing landing centers are excluded in the listing.

Designed to generate sampling frame for the conduct of the quarterly commercial and municipal fisheries surveys, data items to be collected in the listing include the type of landing center, average daily unloading, peak unloading time, and peak and lean unloading months.

For the 2021 LMFLC, not all landing centers will be visited and will be interviewed by the Enumerators (ENs).  Only landing centers that are currently operational or are temporarily closed will be geotagged and only operational landing centers will be visited for interview.

In La Union, one Assistant Statistician, one Team Supervisor and six ENs were hired under the supervision of Chief Statistical Specialist Danites E. Teñido, Ph.D., Statistical Analyst Edmundo Jose B. Peralta (Provincial Focal Person), and Statistical Specialist II Susan Cora F. Hufana, (Alternate Focal Person), to ensure that the requirements are met by the field personnel during field operation.

The enumeration will be implemented using Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI).   In this process, the ENs will be working on a handheld tablet device to facilitate the interview using questionnaires converted into digital format.  However, for areas wherein the use of tablet device may pose risks to the EN or TS, the listing and interview may be done using Paper and Pencil Interview (PAPI) technique and will be encoded in the tablet.

The authority and mandate of the PSA to conduct the LMFLC emanates from Republic Act (RA) No. 10625 also known as the Philippine Statistical Act of 2013, which states that “the PSA shall be primarily responsible for all national censuses and surveys, sectoral statistics, consolidation of administrative recording system, and compilation of national accounts.”  The public are assured that all of the information obtained during the listing and enumeration that pertains to any particular person are kept in strict confidence under Section 26 of RA No. 10625.  

PSA-La Union enjoins all landing center officials, fishermen, boat owners/operators, officers/members of the fisherfolk organization, and traders/brokers at the fish landing centers in the country to support the 2021 LMFLC by providing the information needed. 

Respondents are assured that all field personnel involved are in good health condition and shall observe and abide with the health and safety protocols laid down by the Local Government Units (LGUs).

SGD. DANITES E. TEÑIDO, Ph.D.
Chief Statistical Specialist