MANILA, Philippines — The country’s fisheries sector recorded a decline in production in 2024, with an 8.5 percent drop in the fourth quarter alone, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported.

According to the PSA data, the total volume of fisheries production in the last quarter of 2024 was 1.07 million metric tons, lower than the 1.17 million metric tons recorded in the same period in 2023. 

The decline was attributed to lower output in commercial, marine municipal fisheries, and aquaculture, though inland municipal fisheries saw slight growth.

Commercial fisheries production fell by 15.4 percent, with output reaching 157.68 thousand metric tons compared to 186.46 thousand metric tons in 2023. 

Marine municipal fisheries also saw a decline, registering 176.24 thousand metric tons, down 8.8 percent from the previous year’s 193.25 thousand metric tons.

It said that aquaculture, which makes up the largest share of fisheries production at 64.1 percent, suffered a 7.3 percent drop to 683.93 thousand metric tons from 737.93 thousand metric tons in the same period in 2023.

Among major species, seaweed production saw a sharp decline of 12.7 percent, while skipjack tuna (gulyasan) fell by 19.1 percent, big-eyed scad (matangbaka) by 20.6 percent, and round scad (galunggong) by 14.3 percent. 

However, milkfish (bangus) and whiteleg shrimp (P. vannamei or putian) posted production increases of 10.9 percent and 59.4 percent, respectively.

For the entire year, total fisheries production stood at 4.05 million metric tons, marking a 5.0 percent drop from the 4.26 million metric tons recorded in 2023. 

The decline was largely due to decreases in marine municipal fisheries, inland municipal fisheries, and aquaculture.

Commercial fisheries was the only subsector to see growth, increasing by 4.2 percent to 857.33 thousand metric tons from the previous year’s 822.43 thousand metric tons. 

This subsector comprised 21.2 percent of total fisheries production in 2024, the PSA said.

A separate government tally in 2024 showed that fish supply in the Philippines was disrupted by bad weather and fishing restrictions. According to the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority, fish unloading in regional ports dropped by 14.17 percent, from 59,259.88 metric tons in June to 50,862.42 metric tons in July. 

General Santos and Navotas ports saw major declines of 14.95 percent and 18.48 percent, while Iloilo and Zamboanga ports increased by 21.86 percent and 3.72 percent.