Guimaras fish production drops by 4.97% in 2020

Guimaras’ fishery sector yielded 7,940.37 metric tons (MT) in 2020, a 4.97% drop compared to previous year’s production of 8,355.30 MT due to negative outputs in both municipal and aquaculture fisheries sub-sectors.

Despite the decrease in 2020, production was still higher by 2.06% compared to 2018 with 7,783.47 MT output.

Comparing production in three years (2018-2020), 2019 was a good year for the fishery sector with an 8,355.30-MT yield, which was 7.35% higher than 2018 and 4.97% more than versus 2020.

Municipal fisheries production comprised the bulk (64.54%) of the total fish production in Guimaras province with a 5,125.10-MT output in 2020.

Last year’s yield is 1.62% less compared to 5,209.61 MT in 2019, and higher by 9.64% against the 4,674.28 MT output in 2018.

Marine fisheries (97.15%) accounted for the bulk of the total municipal fisheries production in 2020, while the remaining 2.85% came from the inland fisheries sub sector.

The top five marine species found in Guimaras are Anchovies, Cavalla, Fimbriated sardines, Spanish mackerel and Siganid.

Anchovies (Dilis) production slightly decreased in 2020 by 0.36% and contributed 12.20% to the total marine production. Its highest production was in 2019 at 609.76 MT, which is 14.03% markup over its 2018 output.

Cavalla (Talakitok) contributed 7.78% to the total marine production of Guimaras in 2020 but its 387.19 MT output is 5.64% lower compared to 410.34MT in 2019.

A 44.03% downtick in Fimbriated sardines (Tunsoy) yield was also noted in 2020 after it only produced 257.2 MT against 584.20MT in 2019. Tunsoy accounted for 6.57% of the total marine output in 2020.

Spanish mackerel, or tanigue, contributed 5.83% to the total marine output. It also posted an upward production trend in the past three 3 years – from 200.14 MT in 2018 to 287.21 MT in 2019 (a whopping 43.50% increment) before going further by 1.03% to 290.16 MT in 2020.

Siganid (Samaral, ngisi-ngisi) also rose to 213.14 MT in 2019 from the 181.77 MT in 2018 (17.26% increment) before moving further to 267.95 MT in 2020 which is 25.72% higher over its 2019 level.

Provincial Statistical officer Nelida B. Losare of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)- Guimaras Provincial Statistical Office said that aquaculture production contributed 35.46% to the total fish production of Guimaras province.

Losare said the sector showed an erratic trend in three consecutive years (2018-2020), with the lowest production of 2,815.27 MT in 2020 or a 10.50% slump over its 2019 production.

“The decrease in aquaculture fisheries production was due to the reduced production in marine cage by 21.12% which accounted for 15.56% of the total aquaculture; 15.48% dropped in marine pen production, contributing 5.82 to the total aquaculture; and the slower growth of 2.18% in brackish water fishpond comprising 60.25% of the Guimaras total aquaculture production,” Losare said.

“Major contributors to the aquaculture fish production include milkfish cultured from brackish water fishpond, fish cages and fish pens comprising 80.29% of the total aquaculture which contributed 2,260.48 MT to the provincial total; seaweeds chipped in 17.96% (505.67 MT); tilapia produced from both brackish and freshwater environments shared 1.07% (30.06 MT) and Other species which include, mudcrab, oyster, catfish, white shrimp, vannamei, endeavor prawn, spiny lobster, grouper, tiger prawn and some other species gave in 0.68% (19.05 MT),” she added.