The Philippines government is aiming for a higher output from the fisheries sector at 5.48 million metric tons (MT) next year lead by aquaculture, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala revealed.
In an interview with reporters over the weekend, Alcala said, Fisheries production will be steered by the growth of aquaculture with an estimated output of 2.98 million MT.
The 5.48-million MT goal for 2013 is 6.48 percent higher than the target set for 2012.
The fisheries sector is an important component of the Agriculture Department’s food sufficiency program, Alcala noted.
Apart from aqua culture, Alcala noted that tuna fishing is also a growth driver next year.
The department and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) are banking on the resumption of tuna fishing in September covering a pocket of the Pacific High Seas, the Agriculture chief said.
A consistent growth booster for Agriculture, the fisheries sector has been registering slower growth in the last three years with the closure of the Pacific High Seas and the fishing ban imposed on selected local species.
Erratic weather disturbances that hit the country were also a factor when it comes to a steady decline in fisheries output, the department said.
With onslaught of monsoon rains from mid-July to early August, the fisheries subsector suffered at least P387 million in losses from flooding.
Fisheries output registered a negative 3.33 percent grown in the first semester of 2012 from negative 2.79 percent a year earlier.
However, prices in the first semester were higher than other agriculture products by 6.62 percent average on average.
For the whole of 2011, the fisheries subsector posted a 4.07-percent production drop to 4.98 million MT with aquaculture accounting for more than half the output for the period.
GMA Network Inc.