In the second quarter of 2011 Palawan become the country’s leading province in municipal fisheries production with 59,806 metric tons (MT) of unloadings in major fishing ports. The information revealed in the report of the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) for the period April-June 2011.
Municipal fisheries refer to fishing in municipal waters using fishing vessels of three (3) gross tons or less, or fishing not requiring the use of fishing vessels. The report says that the production has risen almost 40 percent in the second quarter in volume.
Other provinces with big volume of production in the same category are Iloilo (13,673 MT), Zamboanga City (13,450 MT), Capiz (12,898 MT) and Surigao del Norte (11,611 MT).
According to the information the volume of production for marine municipal fisheries of Palawan comprises 89.6 percent of the total production of the MIMAROPA region with 66,692.42 MT. Philippines fisheries production is divided into three categories – commercial sector sharing 24.95 percent, municipal sector with 28.47 percent share, and aquaculture with the largest share of 46.58 percent. In aquaculture, Palawan is still the number one seaweeds producing province in the country with 86,011 MT production for the 2nd quarter valued at Ph626 million.
