Fish production in Iloilo decreases by 41.1 percent 

In the province of Iloilo, total fisheries production declined significantly by 41.1 percent, from 10,731.03 metric tons (MT) in the first quarter of 2023 to 6,323.32 MT in the same period of 2024. 

Fisheries in Iloilo consist of three subsectors, namely: Commercial Fisheries, Municipal Fisheries (which consists of both marine and inland municipal fisheries), and Aquaculture. 

For the first quarter of 2024, the following are the percentage distribution of the fisheries subsectors to the total volume of fisheries production in the province:

• Commercial Fisheries, 42.2 percent; 
• Marine Municipal Fisheries, 34.3 percent; 
• Aquaculture, 23.2 percent; and 
• Inland Municipal Fisheries, 0.4 percent. 

Commercial Fisheries

Commercial Fisheries 42.2% The total fish production volume from commercial fisheries was recorded at 2,666.51 metric tons, registering a 17.8 percent decline compared to the same quarter of last year with a production of 3,242.52 metric tons.

The major fish species in the province in terms of volume caught in commercial fisheries include Roundscad (Galunggong) with 384.39 metric tons, Threadfin bream (Bisugo) with 306.33 metric tons, Goatfish (Saramulyete) with 223.04 metric tons, Bali sardinella (Tamban) with 173.75 metric tons, and Squid (Pusit) with 167.33 metric tons. These species comprise 47.1 percent of the total commercial fisheries production in Iloilo during the first quarter of 2024.

Municipal Fisheries 

Output from the municipal fisheries during the first quarter of 2024 was recorded at 2,189.96 metric tons, posting a decrease of 59.6 percent from the same quarter of 2023 production of 5,420.37 metric tons. The marine municipal volume of production comprises 99.0 percent of the total municipal fisheries, while the remaining 1.0 percent came from inland municipal fisheries.

Marine Municipal Fisheries

Marine municipal fisheries production in Iloilo declined by 59.7 percent in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. Output decreased from 5,378.04 metric tons in Q1 2023 to 2,167.23 metric tons in Q1 2024.

The major fish catch in terms of volume of production for marine municipal fisheries includes Blue crab (Alimasag) with 399.36 metric tons, Slipmouth (Sapsap) with 303.00 metric tons, Squid (Pusit) with 222.54 metric tons, Threadfin bream (Bisugo) with 221.29 metric tons, and Fimbriated Sardines (Tunsoy) with 151.70 metric tons. Species enumerated above encompass 59.9 percent of the total marine municipal fisheries production in Iloilo during the first quarter of 2024.

Inland Municipal Fisheries

Inland municipal fisheries production during the first quarter of 2024 decreased by 46.3 percent in comparison with the production in the same quarter of 2023. Production was down to 22.73 metric tons for the first quarter of 2024 from the 42.33 metric tons produced in 2023.

Crustaceans decreased in the volume of production by 24.7 percent, given the production of 9.96 metric tons in 2024 from 13.23 metric tons in 2023. Molluscs drastically decreased in the volume of production by 99.7 percent, given the production of 0.05 metric tons from 19.27 metric tons for the same quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, Fish increased by 29.4 percent from 9.83 metric tons in 2023 to 12.72 metric tons in 2024.

Aquaculture

Volume of production from the aquaculture subsector declined by 29.1 percent in the first quarter of 2024. From a registered production of 2,068.14 metric tons during in 2023, it went down to about 1,466 metric tons in 2024.

Brackishwater fishpond production declined by 41.9 percent, from 1,184.13 metric tons in Q1 2023 to 686.93 metric tons in Q1 2024. Similarly, oyster production decreased by 59.8 percent, from 741.31 metric tons to 298.01 metric tons.

On the other hand, freshwater fishpond production increased by 254.8 percent, from 119.69 metric tons in Q1 2023 to 424.65 metric tons in Q1 2024. Seaweed production also grew by 135.6 percent, rising from 22.09 metric tons to 52.05 metric tons. Mussel production recorded a 51.4 percent increase, from 0.74 metric tons to 1.12 metric tons.

Marine cage farming, which had no recorded production in Q1 2023, reported 4.02 metric tons in Q1 2024. Meanwhile, rice fish production declined by 80.0 percent, from 0.10 metric tons to 0.02 metric tons, and small farm reservoir production decreased by 40.0 percent, from 0.10 metric tons to 0.06 metric tons.

Originally Signed

JERRY L. DOLUTAN 
(Supervising Statistical Specialist)  
Officer-in-Charge 
PSA RSSO VI - Iloilo

SPP/HJDD