BUTUAN CITY – The Philippine Statistics Authority – Regional Statistical Services Office XIII (PSA-RSSO XIII) will conduct the 2021 Listing of Marine Fish Landing Centers (LMFLC) on September 1 to 30, this year.

PSA-RSSO XIII Regional Director Dr. Rosalinda C. Apura said, hired enumerators (ENs) will do the conduct of the survey in a face-to-face interview with the existing Marine Fish Landing Centers’ Key Informant (Fisherfolks/Officer of the Fisherfolk Organization/Boat owner/Operator/Landing Center Official) in the entire region using the Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI). The hired ENs will be trained prior to field operation to ensure that the procedures and concepts are understood and to assure that they adhere to the prescribed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) safety protocols during the conduct of the interview, Apura said.

Apura said, the 2021 LMFLC is a nationwide activity that will cover all provinces with existing landing centers based on the current sampling frame used by the PSA. “The activity will involve listing and geotagging of commercial and municipal fisheries landing centers in the provinces. However, only landing centers that are currently operational or are temporarily closed will be geotagged and only operational landing centers will be visited for interview,” she added.

Also, Apura said that the conduct of the activity is aimed to provide an updated list of landing centers throughout the country. Specifically, to generate a sampling frame for the conduct of quarterly commercial and municipal fisheries surveys based on the following information: Type of Landing Center; Average Daily Unloading; Peak Unloading Time; and Peak and Lean Unloading Months.

The enumerators will be working on a handheld tablet device to facilitate the interview using the following questionnaires converted into digital format: LMFLC Form 1A – Commercial Landing Centers; LMFLC Form 1B – Municipal Landing Centers; LMFLC Form 2A – New Commercial Landing Centers; LMFLC Form 2B – New Municipal Landing Centers; and LMFLC Form 3 – Landing Center Characteristics. 

Apura encourages everyone, especially the provinces with existing Marine Fish Landing Centers, to support and cooperate in the conduct of the 2021 Listing of Marine Fish Landing Centers. (NCLM, PIA Caraga)