NAVAL, Biliran -- The total fishery production in Biliran reached 1,864.03 metric tons (MT) during the first quarter of 2022. This figure is slightly lower by 0.03% compared to 1,864.62 MT production of same quarter of 2021. This can be attributed to the observed decrease in the municipal fishery and aquaculture sectors.

By sector, the municipal fishery accounted the largest share (62.58%) of the total fishery production in the province during the first quarter of 2022. Commercial fishery and aquaculture comprised the remaining 36.41% and 1.0%, respectively.

Provincial commercial fishery production was recorded at 678.74 MT during the first quarter of 2022. This posted an increase of 3.41% than its production of 656.38 MT during the same quarter of 2021.

Among the commercial fishes caught during the first quarter of 2022, Roundscad, had the biggest production with 168 MT (24.75%). Bali sardinella came in next with a production of 141.34 MT (20.82%), followed by Indo-pacific mackerel with 69.92 MT (10.30%), Frigate tuna with 63.32 MT (9.33%), and Indian mackerel with 50.12 MT (7.38%).

The province recorded a total municipal fishery production of 1,166.55 MT during the first quarter of 2022. This figure is 0.88% lower compared to its production of 1,176.96 MT during the same quarter of 2021.

By subsector, marine municipal accounted for almost all (99.96%) of the total municipal fishery production in the first quarter of 2022 while inland fishery comprised 0.04%.

The production of marine municipal fishery declined by 0.89% from 1,176.51 MT during the first quarter of 2021 to 1,166.07 MT during the first quarter of 2022.The top five catch for the marine municipal fishery during the first quarter of 2022 were Roundscad with 130.29 MT (11.17%), Bali sardinella with 127.65 MT (10.95%), Indo-pacific mackerel with 114.28 MT (9.80%), Indian mackerel with 92.0
MT (7.89%), and Big-eyed scad with 69.21 (5.94%).

In contrast, the inland fishery production of the province increased by 6.67% from 0.45 MT during the first quarter of 2021 to 0.48 MT during the first quarter of 2022.

The top catch for inland species were Tilapia with 0.16 MT (33.33%), Eel with 0.12 MT (25.0%), and Catfish with 0.08 MT (16.67%).
Aquaculture fishery contributed the least to the total provincial fishery production. A total of 18.74 MT was recorded during the first quarter of 2022 which is lower by 40.09% than its production of 31.28 MT during the same quarter of 2021.

The catch for this sector were milkfish from marine cages with a production of 16.19 MT (86.39%), tilapia from freshwater fishponds and brackishwater fishponds with a total production of 2.54 MT (13.55%), and tiger prawns from brackishwater fishponds with 0.01 MT (0.05%). (PSA Biliran)