The Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA) recorded a 14 percent decline in fish unloading volume across all of its regional fish ports in August, attributed to three tropical depressions and one super typhoon that entered the country last month.
PFDA said total fish unloading volume for August hit 48,096 metric tons (MT) compared with July’s 56,032.87 MT.
As the fishing season reopened in the region, the Davao fish port complex almost tripled its monthly unloading volume to 2,393.83 MT or a 193.89 percent increase from 814.53 MT.
The agency said for the period, unloading at the General Santos fish port complex went up by 4.32 percent to 23,034.02 MT from 22,080.18 MT.
The Zamboanga fish port complex unloaded 560.28 M, a 12.8 percent increase from 496.72 MT while the Sual fish port had a 422.03 MT unloading or an upward adjustment of 36.25 percent from 309.75 MT.
The Iloilo fish port complex recorded a 5.3 percent increase at 2,073.47 MT from 1,969.10 MT.
The Navotas fish port complex suffered a 38 percent decline in monthly unloading volume due to severe weather conditions as it only hit 16,702.629 MT from 27,016.58 MT.
PFDA also said considering the dangers posed by month-long strong winds and heavy rains to fishing vessels and port activities, the Lucena fish port complex only delivered 2,162.88 MT, down by 9 percent from 2,380.99 MT while the Bulan fish port complex only unloaded 746.87 MT, a 22 percent drop from 965.02 MT. – Jed Macapagal
