Bulacan’s Fisheries Volume of Production decreases by 21.5 percent

The volume of production of fisheries in Bulacan was estimated at 28,396.57 metric tons which reflects a decrease of 21.5 percent during second quarter of 2023 compared to same quarter last year with 36,156.80 metric tons.

The Fisheries Sector comprises of three sub-sectors: Commercial Fishing, Municipal Fishing and Aquaculture. Among these sub-sectors, Aquaculture contributes the largest production with 26,723.02 metric tons during the quarter. This showed a decrease of 23.4 percent compared to the same quarter last year. Aquaculture shared a total of 94.1 percent of the total fisheries volume of production of Bulacan.

It was then followed by Municipal Fishing with a total volume of production of 1,620.67 metric tons which had an increase of 48.7 percent compared to the same quarter last year with 1,090.13 metric tons. It represented the 5.7 percent in the total volume of production in Bulacan. Of the total production of Municipal Fishing, 4.9 percent came from Inland Fishing while the rest were from Marine Fishing. The Municipal Fishing shared 0.8 percent to the total fisheries volume of production of the province.
Lastly, Commercial Fishing with a total volume of production of 52.88 metric tons. It recorded a decrease of 72.1 percent compared to the production of the previous year with 189.74 metric tons. This represented the remaining 0.2 percent of the total fisheries volume of production of Bulacan. (Table 1)

Commercial Fishing Volume of Production decreases by 72.1 percent 

The Commercial Fishing volume of production in Bulacan decreased by 72.1 percent from 189.74 metric tons a year ago to an estimated production of 52.88 metric tons during the second quarter of this year.
Among the species caught during the quarter, Mullet (Kapak) had the highest production with an estimated of 10.96 metric tons with a percent share of 20.7 percent. This was followed by Squid (Pusit) with 5.33 metric tons (10.1%), Blue Crab (Alimasag) with 4.36 metric tons (8.3%), Indo pacific mackerel (Hasa-hasa) with 2.66 metric tons (5.0%), Slipmouth (Sapsap) with 2.19 metric tons (4.1%), Fimbriated sardines (Tunsoy) with 1.76 metric tons (3.3%), Bali sardinella (Tamban) with 1.67 metric tons (3.2%), Anchovies (Dilis) with 1.21 metric tons (2.3%), Threadfin bream (Bisugo) with 1.00 metric tons (1.9%) and Crevalle (Salay-salay) with 0.88 metric tons (1.7%), Cavalla (Talakitok) had lowest among the catch with 0.33 metric tons (0.6%) and the remaining 38.8 percent were from other species with a total production of 20.52 metric tons. (Refer to Table 2)

Marine Municipal Fishing Volume of Production goes down by 63.2 percent

Marine Municipal Fishing volume of production decreased during the quarter compared to the same quarter last year from 621.30 metric tons to 228.56 metric tons. Among the species in the municipal fishing, the Acetes (Alamang) had the largest catch with 54.86 metric tons with a percent share of 24.0 percent. This was followed by blue crab (Alimasag) with 44.48 metric tons (19.4%) and Anchovies (Dilis) with 22.38 metric tons (9.8%) which represent the top three most caught species. On the other hand, among the catch, Indo-pacific mackerel (Hasa-hasa) has the least production with 0.11 metric tons (0.0%). (Refer toTable 3)
 

Volume of Production for Inland Municipal Fishing increases by 196.9 percent

The volume of production for Inland Municipal Fishing had increased from 468.83 metric tons in the same quarter last year to 1,392.12 metric tons during the second quarter of 2023. The top three species caught in terms of production were Tilapia exhibited the largest catch with an estimated value of 407.31 metric tons with a percent share of 42.3 percent in fish production, followed by Mudfish (Dalag) with 227.78 metric tons (23.6%) and Milkfish (Bangus) with 106.53 metric tons (11.1%).

Meanwhile, among the Crustaceans, Blue Crab (Alimasag) had the largest production with 189.31 metric tons with a percent share of 44.3 percent in crustacean production. This was followed by White Shrimp (Hipong Puti) with 110.63 metric tons (25.9%), Mud Crab (Alimango) with 73.29 metric tons (17.1%), Freshwater shrimp (Hipon) with 38.32 metric tons (17.1%), Endeavor prawn (Suahe) with 12.67 metric tons (3.0%), while the least species caught was Lobster (Ulang) with 3.05 metrics tons (0.7%). For Mollusks, only Freshwater clams (Tulya) had production for this quarter with 1.56 metric tons.

Comparing catches from the second quarter of 2022 to 2023, new species caught this quarter were Eel (Igat), Silver perch (Ayungin), Mullet (Kapak), Big head carp, Lobster (Ulang) and Freshwater clams (Tulya). (Refer to Table 4)
 

Aquaculture goes down by 23.4 percent in production

During the Second Quarter of 2023, the volume of production in aquaculture decreased by 23.4 percent compared to the same quarter last year, from 34,876.93 metric tons to 26,723.02 metric tons.

Among the aquafarm type and environment, the Oyster had the largest contribution in production with 20,124.23 metric tons with a percent share of 73.3 percent in the total aquaculture production, followed by Brackishwater Pen with 3,150.00 metric tons (11.8%), Brackishwater Fishpond with 2,099.30 metric tons (7.8%), Freshwater Fishpond with 979.34 metric tons (3.7%), Mussel with 351.04 metric tons (1.3%), Small Farm Reservoir with 17.86 metric tons (0.1%) and the least was Freshwater Cage with 1.25 metric tons (0.0%).

ELMOR G. BARROQUILLO
(Chief Statistical Specialist)
Officer-in-Charge