The government’s response has been to launch a series of initiatives to protect threatened marine areas and reduce the use of illegal fishing methods while promoting aquaculture to ensure the development of sustainable fisheries production in future.

In one of its latest initiatives the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources is urging fishermen to develop mariculture, or sea cage farming, to cope with the effects of the El Nino phenomenon which, together with the effects of typhoons, have reduced the previous high rate of fisheries production growth in the Philippines by more than half during the past 18 months.

Marine capture fisheries in the Philippines also has been hit by the current two year ban on tuna fishing in areas of the western and central Pacific. The ban was introduced to help tuna stocks recover and has caused the tuna fleet catch to drop while the fishing ban remains in effect until the end of 2011.

After growing at an average rate of about 7% a year since 2002 due to a large increase in aquaculture output, fisheries production growth in the Philippines dropped to 2.6% in 2009, slipping further during the past year. Aquaculture remains the strongest growth area while offshore marine capture fisheries have experienced most of the decline in production growth.

“It’s so far so good as fish farming is more favourable at the moment than capture fisheries,” commented a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman.

Developing mariculture

The Bureau is urging fishermen to adopt mariculture, as production is less affected by the current El Nino weather pattern. Among its effects, El Nino causes freshwater fish ponds to dry up, creating brackish water fishponds. In addition, the weather pattern increases water salinity which reduces fishery production.

To encourage mariculture among coastal fishermen, BFAR has signed a formal agreement with the Land Bank of the Philippines to promote mariculture ventures in coastal mariculture parks that are being established around the country. The bank is providing small fishermen with loans to help them take part in the project to develop a new, more secure source of revenue.

“This project with Land Bank will help our small fisherfolk at this critical period when El Nino has dried up not only farm land, but lakes and ponds as well, and raised the salinity level in our fishing waters, which has affected fish growth and production,” said Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources director, Malcolm Sarmiento, in a statement.

“Shifting from fishing to marine cage farming will help our fisherfolk tide over the El Nino dry spell and, at the same time, lower their production costs.”

BFAR launched its mariculture park programme 10 years ago when the first mariculture park was opened off Samal Island, Davao del Norte. After 10 new coastal parks were opened during the past year, the number around the country has been lifted to 59, with more expected to open in future.

Mariculture is a cheaper long term option for small fishermen than pond farming, according to Sarmiento, because the water used for mariculture constantly changes due to sea currents.

Costs are lower than for aquaculture as pumps and tanks used for pond farming water exchange are not needed for mariculture. Also, sea cage farming allows fish to live in fairly constant salinity and temperature levels around the year.

“This means lower production costs even with fuel and electricity rates going up, which also translates into lower fish prices for consumers,” Sarmiento said.

Promoting seaweed production

As part of efforts to increase marine production and increase incomes in coastal fishing communities, BFAR also is promoting seaweed production to supply domestic markets as well as for export.

The Philippines already is the world’s third largest seaweed producer after China and Indonesia in tonnage terms producing about 1.5 million metric tons (mt) a year worth around US$137 million. For the past seven years the Philippines has been the world’s largest supplier of carageenan.

Global demand for seaweed is growing, spurred by the fast expanding international organic food market. The United States is the largest market for Philippines seaweed followed by Europe, Australia and Japan.

BFAR also is working with the Land Bank of the Philippines to provide loans to coastal fishermen community cooperatives setting up seaweed production schemes. The Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Credit Policy Society is involved in supporting the development of seaweed production as well.

Other government-backed schemes offering loans to low income coastal fishermen and their communities include tilapia production projects, freshwater aquaculture projects and a mud crab production scheme.

Eighth top fishery producer

The Philippines is one of the world’s largest archipelagos consisting of about 7,100 islands. The nation’s total territorial water area covers 2.2 million square kilometres of which 266,000 square kilometres are coastal waters and 1.9 million square kilometres are oceanic.

Boasting a total coastline length that stretches an estimated 36,290km, the Philippines is the eighth top fishery producer in the world. For the past decade the fisheries industry, which includes municipal coastal fisheries, commercial offshore fishing and aquaculture, has been a major growth driver in the overall agriculture, fisheries and forestry sector, accounting for about 24% of the Philippines total agricultural output.

The total volume of fisheries production in the Philippines in 2009 is estimated at about 5.12 million metric tons, an increase of 2.6% from 4.97 million mt the previous year and up by 41.5% from the reported 3.62 million mt total production in 2003.

In terms of value, fisheries production in the Philippines is worth around 220 billion pesos annually, a remarkable 83% increase compared with 120 billion pesos in 2003.

According to BFAR figures, aquaculture output has shown the highest growth this decade with production rising 48.5% from 2003 to 2008 to reach 2.41 million mt. Municipal coastal fisheries production rose 26.8% over the same period to reach 1.33 million mt in 2008 while commercial offshore fisheries production rose 24.7% from 2033 to 2008 to reach 1.23 million mt.

The Autonomous region for Muslim Mindanao in the southern Philippines, where seaweed is the main product, is the largest fisheries producing region with output totalling 853,000 mt in 2008, accounting for 17% of national fisheries output.

In terms of value, aquaculture fisheries is the largest sector in the fisheries industry with output valued at 81.7 billion pesos in 2008, accounting for 37.8% of the Philippines fishing industry overall production value.

Municipal fisheries is the next largest producer with fisheries output worth 71 billion pesos in 2008 of which the coastal marine capture share was 64 billion pesos (90%) and the inland wild capture share 7 billion pesos (10%).

Commercial offshore fisheries production, meanwhile, was worth 63.2 billion pesos or 29.3% of total fisheries output.

Rich marine ecosystem

With 2,300 species of fish, hundreds of seaweed species and thousands of marine invertebrate species, the Philippines has one of the richest marine and coastal ecosystems in the world.

Round scad, sardines and tuna are the main species caught by the commercial and municipal fishing fleets. Seaweed, milk fish and tilapia are the main fisheries products from aquaculture.

According to BFAR figures, the Philippines produced 1.6 million mt of seaweed in 2008 accounting for 69% of total 2.4 million mt aquaculture output. Some 351,000 mt of milkfish were produced representing a further 14.6% of aquaculture output along with 257,000 mt of tilapia accounting for 10.7% of production.

Ten major species account for 49% of the total 1.15 million mt municipal fisheries output in 2008 while various other species made up the remaining 51% share of the municipal coastal fisheries catch.

The major coastal fish species caught is roundscad with some 82,000 mt of roundscad caught in 2008 representing 7.1% of the Philippines’ total municipal catch followed by 68,700 mt of Indian sardines accounting for 6% of the municipal catch, 68,000 mt of frigate tuna (5.9%), 61,500 mt of fimbriated sardines (5.3%) and 58,600 mt of Big-eye scad or 5.1%

Round scad also account for the largest share of the commercial fishing fleet catch with some 212,000 mt caught in 2008 representing 17.3% of the 1.2 million mt commercial catch followed by 181,5000 mt of skipjack tuna accounting for 14.8% of the commercial catch and 167,000 mt of Indian sardines (13.6%).

The growth of fisheries is of major importance to the Philippines which has a large fish consuming population. Fisheries are an important source of income in coastal communities with over 1.5 million people employed in fisheries and related industries such as fisheries processing countrywide.

Some 832 or 54% of the country’s 1,541 municipalities are located in coastal regions. In addition 25 major cities are located on the coast including the capital Manila with the result that 62% of the population lives in a coastal zone. According to BFAR figures over 1.3 million or more than 87% of all fishermen work in the municipal coastal fisheries sector.

Not surprisingly, most coastal communities are involved in fisheries activities with more than 8,500 official municipal landing sites in operation across the country. Most of the municipal catch is processed by drying, smoking, salting and other traditional methods.

The commercial fisheries catch is typically landed at larger commercial fishing ports where major species including sardines, tuna and others are sold for industrial processing and are then canned or frozen for domestic distribution or export.

Staple diet

Fish is part of the staple diet along with rice. According to government figures, fish remains the most important of meat protein in the Philippines which has experienced a near 50% increase in population size over the past 25 years and now has an estimated 94 million people.

In 2003, when the national situation was last surveyed, fishery products accounted for 104 grams of the 185 grams of meat products consumed per capita each day compared with 111 grams of the 157 grams of meat products consumed daily in 1987.

In addition to being a large consumer of fishery products, the Philippines also is a significant fisheries exporter. The fishery export trade is important in generating employment and income in many coastal regions.

In 2008 the Philippines exported fishery products worth US$768 million while imported fishery items, some of which are used for export processing, were worth $195 million. The net export surplus for the year was $573 million.

The United States, which takes 25% of the Philippines fishery exports, Japan taking 13% and Germany 10% are the three main export markets.

Indonesia provides 17% of fishery imports, China 15%, Papua New Guinea 14% and Taiwan 12%. Chilled and frozen fish represent 48% of fishery imports, the major share being tuna for canning.

In tonnage terms, fishery exports grew 19% in 2008 to reach 205,000 mt. Tuna, seaweed, shrimps and prawns were the major exports accounting for 140,000 mt or 68% of the total 205,000 mt seafood export tonnage in 2008 and US$569 million or 74% of the total $770 million value of fishery exports that year.

However, fish exports are believed to have dipped since then due to bans on tuna fishing in areas of the central and western Pacific.

Tuna, in fact, was the top fishery export item in 2008 with 106,000 mt of tuna products including fresh/chilled/frozen, smoked/dried, and canned tuna worth US$378 million being exported.
Canned tuna is the main tuna export product. According to BFAR figures, tuna exports rose 41% in volume and 73% in value in 2008. Major markets for tuna items are the United States, Germany and Japan.

Tuna are caught in the Philippines territorial waters from January to June each year. Most of the tuna caught are yellow fin which are sent to Davao fish market in Mindanao where they are graded and the sashimi quality tuna are separated for export to Japan. Other tuna grades are used mainly for canning.

The Philippines’ fishing fleet also catches tuna outside of the Philippines including in Indonesian and Papua New Guinean waters, and previously fished in the central and western Pacific before the two year ban was imposed. BFAR operates a traceability scheme so that accredited fish exporters are compliant with European Union and other major import markets’ fishery import regulations.