La Union’s fisheries production decreases in 2023

La Union’s total volume of fisheries production in 2023 was recorded at 11,298.92 metric tons, a decrease of 13.02 percent from the 12,990.65 metric tons production in 2022. (Figure 1)

Among the fisheries subsectors, aquaculture posted the largest contribution to the fisheries output in the province in 2023 with a share of 6,744.52 metric tons or 59.69 percent of the total fisheries production of the province. Municipal fisheries ranked second with 3,881.00 metric tons contributing 34.35 percent to the total fisheries production of the province. Commercial fisheries had the smallest contribution to the total volume of production in the province with 673.40 metric tons or 5.96 percent share.

In 2023, the top five species in terms of volume of production were: Milkfish (Bangus) with 4,436.15 metric tons (39.26 percent share); Grouper (Lapu-lapu) with 899.07 metric tons (7.96 percent share); Tilapia with 578.05 metric tons (5.12 percent share); P. Vannamei with 467.09 metric tons (4.13 percent share); and Threadfin bream (Bisugo) with 360.27 metric tons (3.19 percent share). 

Municipal Fisheries

The total municipal fisheries production in La Union decreased by 16.31 percent from the estimated production of 4,637.40 metric tons in 2022 to 3,881.00 metric tons in 2023. This subsector was comprised of 90.77 percent production from marine municipal fisheries and 9.23 percent production from inland municipal fisheries.

Similarly, the volume of production from marine municipal fisheries dropped by 15.75 percent from 4,181.08 metric tons in 2022 to 3,522.62 metric tons in 2023. Likewise, the volume of production from inland municipal fisheries went down by 21.46 percent from 456.32 metric tons in 2022 to 358.38 metric tons in 2023.

Municipal fisheries data were gathered from administrative records of the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA), Local Government Unit (LGU) - managed landing centers and traditional landing centers.

Aquaculture

The aquaculture production in La Union was posted at 6,744.52 metric tons in 2023. This translates to a decrease of 12.13 percent from the 7,675.53 metric tons production in 2022. (Figure 4)

Milkfish dominated the aquaculture production of the province in 2023 with 4,435.54 metric tons. It was distantly followed by Grouper and Tilapia production with 792.73 metric tons and 528.44 metric tons, respectively. Milkfish production decreased by 15.58 percent compared with its output of 5,254.42 metric tons in 2022. Likewise, Grouper production decreased by 2.31 percent from last year’s production of 811.46 metric tons. On the contrary, Tilapia production increased by 7.87 percent from its production of 489.89 metric tons in 2022.

Commercial Fisheries

The volume of production from commercial fisheries was posted at 673.40 metric tons in 2023. It went down by 0.64 percent from 677.73 metric tons a year ago. (Figure 5)

Data for commercial fisheries were obtained from LGU-managed fish landing centers, privately-managed fish landing centers, and traditional fish landing centers.

Value of fisheries production in La Union decreases in 2023

The total value of all fisheries production in La Union in 2023 was PhP2,470,875.96. This is 4.32 percent lower than its value a year ago of PhP2,582,427.58.

In terms of value of production, aquaculture topped the three subsectors in 2023 with a share of 67.59 percent to the total value of fisheries production in the province. The remaining 32.41 percent of the provincial total value of production was contributed by municipal fisheries with 28.28 percent share and commercial fisheries with 4.13 percent share. (Figure 6)

Aquaculture and commercial fisheries subsectors exhibited an increase of 0.14 percent and 8.22 percent from their value a year ago of PhP1,667,758.22 and PhP94,263.10, respectively. On the contrary, municipal fisheries subsector exhibited a decrease of 14.83 percent from PhP820,406.26 in 2022 to PhP698,709.50 in 2023.

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 gross tons, or fishing not requiring the use of fishing boats.

Landing Center is a place where the fish catch and other aquatic products are unloaded and traded. Traditional landing center is a type of landing center where fishermen could unload their catch and/or dock their fishing boats without any obligation or payment for the use of the place.

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

Quarterly Inland Fisheries Survey is 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 unloading in 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 gross tons or less. It gathers quarterly data for the entire sample landing center with information on monthly fish unloading.

Quarterly Municipal Fisheries Survey PFDA, LGUs, Privately-Managed Landing Centers is gathering of data on volume and price of fish from administrative records of PFDA and LGU managed landing centers. It is done on a quarterly basis with information from three-month period.

SGD. DANITES E. TEÑIDO, PhD
Chief Statistical Specialist

/MAQ/MFC